"Thing about bad guys: they always lose!"
To be united by hatred is a fragile alliance, at best.
Combat injustice but in moderation:
Such things will freeze to death if left alone.
Such things will freeze to death if left alone.
—Peachum, The Threepenny Opera, "Third Threepenny-Finale"
“Are you saying that humanity couldn’t have won the war without the yeerks?” the guy said.
“I’m saying that the yeerks’ technological advantage forced the Animorphs to rely on an utterly untrustworthy insider to bypass the security systems,” I said. “And that the Yeerk Empire’s massive, embarrassing, system-wide communications problems did as much to bring the structure down as any attack from the outside did.”
Jake was nodding along as I spoke.
“That said, you all figured out plenty of ways to find and exploit those weaknesses.” I made a gesture of acknowledgement at Jake. “But the weaknesses were there. The super-strict power structure induced subordinates to lie to sub-vissers, encouraged sub-vissers to stab each other in the back rather than valuing the greater good, allowed vissers to pursue ego-driven pet projects with no one to tell them they were wrong, and all in all created more waste than advancement.”
“Yeah, and all that meant that some other visser deciding to kill Visser One was...” Jake tilted his head in thought. “Pretty much inevitable. In the end, that power structure was its own worst enemy.”
I spun to look at the class as a whole. “Moral of the story: think for yourselves! Question your leaders—” I made a grandiose gesture at Jake. “To the point of obnoxiousness!”
Jake sighed loudly. “Thank you so much for your assistance.”
“I’m saying that the yeerks’ technological advantage forced the Animorphs to rely on an utterly untrustworthy insider to bypass the security systems,” I said. “And that the Yeerk Empire’s massive, embarrassing, system-wide communications problems did as much to bring the structure down as any attack from the outside did.”
Jake was nodding along as I spoke.
“That said, you all figured out plenty of ways to find and exploit those weaknesses.” I made a gesture of acknowledgement at Jake. “But the weaknesses were there. The super-strict power structure induced subordinates to lie to sub-vissers, encouraged sub-vissers to stab each other in the back rather than valuing the greater good, allowed vissers to pursue ego-driven pet projects with no one to tell them they were wrong, and all in all created more waste than advancement.”
“Yeah, and all that meant that some other visser deciding to kill Visser One was...” Jake tilted his head in thought. “Pretty much inevitable. In the end, that power structure was its own worst enemy.”
I spun to look at the class as a whole. “Moral of the story: think for yourselves! Question your leaders—” I made a grandiose gesture at Jake. “To the point of obnoxiousness!”
Jake sighed loudly. “Thank you so much for your assistance.”
— Eleutherophobia: Slaughterhouse-Five
"When others like the powerful necromancer, Sandro, sought to control the world, the force of destruction supported them temporarily. Then, for lack of a better description, it changed its mind. Destruction and death turned upon itself. That's why no single man has ever ruled the world for long."
— Gauldoth Half-Dead, Heroes of Might and Magic IV
