Plan B Forum

Proof positive that "the good die young"...

Mugabe, like Gadhaffi, died 30 or 40 years ago. Both were men who saw injustice visited on their countries by foreign occupiers and led movements to oust them. Mugabe in particular - and in its beginning - modeled his movement on Gandhi and the Irish independence struggles. Gadhaffi was starstruck by Nasser in Egypt.

In the beginning they were good men. Rhodesia was a paradise of wealth and status for those whose skins were white. Libya under the weasel King Idris was a haven for a very few connected and related families while ordinary citizens had little and absolutely minimal health care and education.

But as Lord Acton told us:" Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." Placido Domingo is a wonderful singer; I have in my car the CD set of Verdi's Requiem with Bernstein conducting and Placido Domingo doing the tenor bits and he has given me enormous pleasure on long solo journeys. But the evidence now is that Domingo, despite his luminous talent, is also an asshole. Maybe he always was.

Feet of clay.

There is a big difference between being an asshole and torturing one's opponents (OK, some people may call opera torture) and heading up a murderous regime.