Increasing one’s vocabulary is always a good thing. And I learned the word kakistocracy quite recently while reading Paul Krugman’s last column for the New York Times. It means government by the worst. In Krugman’s case he was being predictive. I think there’s a deeper way to think of the word: What do we mean by worst? There’s Mr. Maduro in Venezuela, Mr. Putin in Russia, Mr. Lukashenko in Belarus, The Ayatollah in Iran… There was Stalin, Saddam Hussain and Bashir Al-Assad. The list could go on of course. The point is what is worst, what is worst to us, what is worst for the society we live in? Kakistocracy is a word that may have its own meaning but which is also going to mean what we want it to mean, and that is why we need to give it thought. I know I’m being philosophical, intentionally I might add. And perhaps that is because I do believe it is usually a good idea to be prepared for the worst.
Kakistocracy
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4 responses to “Kakistocracy”
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for me to see this…( + I too saw it in paper)… a few comments.. caca in French. in greek kako=bad so thank you for wise thoughtful words dear Danielle,
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Thank you Bea. That makes a lot of sense.
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I keep on thinking the worst has happened, or us about to happen, only to realize I am failing to prepare for what could be the worst of the worst….the addition of E.M. to the mix was frightening, as well as the empowerment of Patel.
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if that helps Debra, David French in his NYT column after the election suggested we do 2 things, remember those who are vulnerable and speak the truth. I’d like to add we are not powerless if we do those 2 things. Take care.
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