Bitter Words From An Old Anarchist

Disgusted by the happenings in Washington and on Wall Street? Absolute power corrupts – absolutely. Still true. A curious character in the 1991 cult film Slacker called the Old Anarchist had some parting words for a misguided would-be thief. The character was played by Louis Mackey (1926-2004), a well-known Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas. Maybe his words will offer some sort of antidote for your rage.

To those (few) humans in whom I have faith:

I wish suffering, being forsaken, sickness, maltreatment, humiliation.

I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt,

the torture of self-mistrust and the misery of the vanquished.

I have no pity for them because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not – that one endures.

The Old Anarchist