PLATO
IN THE
By
Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira (*)
The mediocre man has some notions about many things; I
mean vague and fluctuating notions which demand no effort to acquire or
preserve. Whenever he wants to express his notions, he thinks he attains utter
fulfillment by finding a showy word, or at least one that is not part of
trivial speech.
In our milieu, the term "radical" is one of
the mediocre man's favorite words. He senses that branding a foe a radical will
be harmful to him. To be "radical" provokes a meticulous and
exacerbated rejection. So, it is a good thing to be antiradical because it wins
one much support. Thus, we can see our mediocre man quixotically displaying
antiradicalism wherever he goes. But as soon as someone contends that such a
fiery antiradicalism is nothing but another form of radicalism, he will shrink
and change the subject, because in order to refute that objection — so
obviously true by the way — the mediocre man would have to know in depth the
exact meaning of the word "radical". Now, his idle spirit abhors
precise and profound concepts.
Analogous to this is the mediocre man's use of the
word "liberty." It reminds him right away of the hackneyed trilogy he
likes (and of which he has already heard a thousand eulogies): "
When he was a child, this word found its way into his
mind. His teacher used to keep undisciplined students after school and have
them copy endlessly sentences like "A good boy is obedient and
studious." When time was up, the teacher would happily exclaim: "
The mediocre man has no idea that his superficiality
can have profound effects. If someone were to tell him so, he would laugh in
disbelief.
It would be an easy task for anyone to face a mediocre
man. It is less easy to face hundreds or thousands of them. This, however, is
the inevitable contingency awaiting whoever publishes today, because the
mediocre fill the earth.
I do not believe the mediocre will be the greater part
of those who will read these lines about them. It is understandable that they
will not find them pleasant. But a glance at one or another topic of this
article will be sufficient to infuriate many, because every man — even the
mediocre one — is sharp and perspicacious when he is spoken of.
Nevertheless, I do not hesitate to declare, even
before the mediocre ones, the noxiousness, the profound noxiousness of their
frivolity.
Being persuaded that liberty is good, the mediocre one
concludes that the more liberty there is, the better.
For him, absolute liberty is total happiness. As a voter, the mediocre one will
cast his ballot for the candidate who will promise him unrestricted liberty. As
a candidate, the mediocre one draws the support of all of his
ilk. Whence he transforms his electoral campaign into a
foretaste of absolute, total and unbridled liberty. This naturally
brings about, for all slates, the listing and the victory of a varying though
sizable percentage of mediocre ones. Hence, the diffuse impetus
of legislation and government towards the foolish, the offensive and the gross.
Because, when anything goes, then... That impetus also
spreads from the sphere of the state to all other sectors of society.
Is all this no more than the very well known picture
of today's reality? — Let the reader examine the following text:
"When a people is
devoured by the thirst for liberty, it will have leaders who are ready to
minister to this craving as much as the people wish, to the point of
inebriation.
"If rulers then resist their subjects' ever more
demanding desires, they will be called tyrants.
"It also happens that he who is orderly under his
superiors is singled out as a servile man without backbone.
"And that fathers, in dismay,
end up treating their sons as their equals and are no longer respected by them.
"Masters dare no longer reprove their pupils, who
laugh at them.
"The youth will claim the same rights and
consideration given to their elders and the elders will say the youths are
right, so as not to seem too severe.
"In this atmosphere of liberty there is no
consideration or respect for anyone, for liberty's sake.
"Amidst so much license there springs up and
develops an evil plant: tyranny."
Is this a picture of present day reality? — Certainly,
the picture describes very well the stormy days we are living in. And with
genial subtlety and precision it points out how the sowers of tyranny — the
communists nowadays — profit from the typhoon of demo-mediocrity.
But this picture originated...long ago: in the Fourth
Century before Christ. Its author is Plato, who so denounces the radicals of
liberalism in a democracy, as the true fathers of dictatorship. The passage is
taken from The Republic.
It fits not only the Fourth Century before Christ or
today. It is perennial. It is in the very nature of things.
And I have something else to add: I did not transcribe
it directly from the great philosopher's work. I limited myself to verifying
that those words are truly his. They are simply extracted from the original by
way of condensation (cfr. "The Dialogues of
Plato," Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., Chicago,
A friend of mine found it framed and hung on a wall
of... a union headquarters. Thus did the great and solemn Plato penetrate into
a union. Not a union of rich employers, nor of
scholarly professors; but rather one of... taxi drivers in
Such a fruit is not born of demagogy, but of a
people's culture and tradition. And I emphasize the word "tradition."
(*)
“Folha de S. Paulo”,