Famous Adopted Words

You know that oft-quoted ditty “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”? Often attributed to Edmund Burke.

Turns out, he never said it. Martin Porter, a person I do not know, but think I’d certainly enjoy talking to, did some research on this web-incited axiom and found out that it is officially un-attributable. Nobody ever said it. At least, nobody can find any actual document attributable to Edmund Burk that includes these—or even approximately these—words. http://www.tartarus.org/martin/essays/burkequote.html

So, okay. Well, I kind of like them. So I’m going to say them myself. Right now:

ALL THAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING. – Kristen D Randle.

And you can quote me on this.

Of course, if I hadn’t run into the thought couched in that particular phrase, I might have put it differently:

All it would take to send the world to hell in a hand basket is for the capable and/or ethically aware to decide to narrow the scope of what they consider to be their own business.

Or something ilke-wise.

In a aphoristic fit, I have gone beyond even this (ladies and gentleman to be found at quality truck stops anywhere):

All that is necessary for the triumph of mediocrity is for good men to buy tickets to vapid movies, to spend money on stupid, poorly written books, to be satisfied with stories that tell them what they want to hear and continue to pay attention to new stories that feature Paris Hilton (including avatars).

All that is necessary for the triumph of incivility and ignorance is for good parents to let their children go unchecked, to care more about being their kids’ “friends” than parents, to turn the responsibility for bringing up their kids over to schools, friends and media, and to forgive themselves for not doing what it takes to live admirable, polite, civil and unselfish lives themselves.

All that is necessary for totally disaster is for good people (is there a shade of irony here?) to assume that everything’s going to be all right in the end. In my experience, there are few aspects of “all right” that don’t come marked “more than some assembly required.”

Where is Edgar A Guest when you really need him?