Kareem’s Daily Quote
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent
— often attributed to Thomas Jefferson
This is not a quote by Thomas Jefferson, though Google would have you believe it is. Google tends to be a poor teacher, in that it’ll list the most popular answer, not necessarily the most accurate. In fact, Jefferson’s Monticello estate (Monticello.org) lists the quote as “spurious”—not found in his letters, speeches or papers. But whoever said it or didn’t, it’s not half bad. And we know, from simply having lived our lives, that it’s mostly true.
The idea behind the quote isn’t complicated. Bad things don’t usually happen because a huge number of people want them to. Bad things happen because enough people look the other way. People who know better—or should—decide it’s safer, easier, less messy, or less exhausting to stay quiet. People also don’t act because, frankly, we have other interests, other concerns. We might have a family member who is not well, or conflicts with a spouse. We might have financial difficulties. Or maybe an ice storm is coming our way, and we’re not prepared. When our choice is whether to pay a healthcare bill or the electric bill, it’s hard to focus on much else.
Silence, in other words, is not simply a failure to engage because “we won’t look.” It’s also that our national government plays itself out in a city far, far away, while we have immediate concerns much closer to home. Far, far away may as well be another galaxy and will just have to wait. Then, when our immediate concerns pass, other immediate concerns quickly replace them.
Besides, most of us have already done our duty. We voted. We voted so that senators and congresspeople that we put in power could fight for us. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work? Why lay the guilt on us when it’s the system that’s breaking or broken?
Those in power depend on the fact that, in general, people won’t act unless they’re personally affected by a change or a law. And even then, it usually takes a small avalanche of negative changes before people realize they’re in it up to their necks. By that time, it takes a lot of effort and suffering to dig our way out.
We’re living in a time when trust in our representatives is low, misinformation spreads faster than we can stop or contradict it, and people are exhausted by constant conflict, most of it starting from the top. It’s awfully tempting to wash our hands of it, to tune out. It’s tempting to assume that someone else will speak up, someone with a perfect life and no personal problems to contend with. Instead, we should remember that we’re all dealing with personal difficulties, and that those cannot distract us from looking at the bigger picture. Because the only “trickle-down theory” that actually works is this: “A fish rots from the head down.”
The ancient Greeks had a version of this quote. So did the ancient Chinese, the ancient Egyptians, and the ancient Romans. It’s been true, in other words, for five thousand years. We don’t have to be heroes or experts. A healthy society isn’t built by perfect people with perfect lives. It’s built by people with messy, difficult lives who—when the fish starts to stink—refuse to pretend they can’t smell it.
