Years ago, when Dick Cheney and I were having mimosas and a few finger sandwiches from Ludwig's, he said to me, "Harry, your duplicity and charm have created an almost inexhaustible stream of revenue, but I'm at a loss here. I thought being a "public servant" would provide me with the same amount of riches. What do I do?"
I said, "Big Dick, not to worry. Warfare is your thing. You need to make the terms of your next conflict, ambiguous. If it's a specific enemy, generalize. If it's a specific place, abstract to the point that it could be anywhere. And if you are unfortunate enough to be bound to an enemy and a place... well... make sure your endgame actually includes one of the tenets of war, namely, occupation."
He said, "Harry, you're a genius!" I said, "No, Big Dick. I'm just evil, but when it comes to getting rich from the deluded or helpless, they look equivalent."
Years ago, when Dick Cheney and I were having mimosas and a few finger sandwiches from Ludwig's, he said to me, "Harry, your duplicity and charm have created an almost inexhaustible stream of revenue, but I'm at a loss here. I thought being a "public servant" would provide me with the same amount of riches. What do I do?"
ReplyDeleteI said, "Big Dick, not to worry. Warfare is your thing. You need to make the terms of your next conflict, ambiguous. If it's a specific enemy, generalize. If it's a specific place, abstract to the point that it could be anywhere. And if you are unfortunate enough to be bound to an enemy and a place... well... make sure your endgame actually includes one of the tenets of war, namely, occupation."
He said, "Harry, you're a genius!" I said, "No, Big Dick. I'm just evil, but when it comes to getting rich from the deluded or helpless, they look equivalent."
Perfect.
ReplyDelete