... Poets Against War. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I like this quote from Auden:
“There are many people, and they number some artists among them, who today seek in politics an escape from the unhappiness of their private lives, as once people sought refuge in the monastery and convent. Driven by envy and hatred they spread discomfort wherever they go and ruin everything they touch. A wise political party will have nothing to do with them.”
A hell of a lot of aggression gets sumlimated into the world of politics, presumably where it gets to masquerade as as one of the exalted isms- realism, idealism, etc. Huxley has a quote how this aggression gets masked in the political field: "Idealism is the noble toga that political gentlemen drape over their will to power." Also much to be said for the nation as a group ego which gets to behave in a manner which would be clearly disgusting in a normal solitary ego.
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