There are no innocent bystanders ... what are they doing there in the first place?
Interpretation
The quote suggests that everyone has a role in the events happening around them and that inaction can imply complicity.
William S. Burroughs' quote challenges the notion of innocence in the context of societal events. It implies that to witness a situation without intervening or taking action makes one a participant, and prompts reflection on the responsibilities of individuals within any given context. In other words, there are no truly passive observers; to be present is to be engaged in some way.
In practice
In a discussion about social responsibility, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of not remaining silent.
God save the Queen and a fascist regime β¦ a flabby toothless fascism, to be sure. Never go too far in any direction, is the basic law on which Limey-Land is built. The Queen stabilizes the whole sinking shithouse and keeps a small elite of wealth and privilege on top. The English have gone soft in the outhouse. England is like some stricken beast too stupid to know it is dead. Ingloriously foundering in its own waste products, the backlash and bad karma of empire
Like most qualities, cuteness is delineated by what it isn't. Most people aren't cute at all, or if so they quickly outgrow their cuteness ... Elegance, grace, delicacy, beauty, and a lack of self-consciousness: a creature who knows he is cute soon isn't.
There is nothing more provocative than minding your own business.
Gentle reader, the Fountain of Youth is radioactive, and those who imbibe its poisonous heavy waters will suffer the hideous fate of decaying metal. Yet almost without exception, the wretched idiot inhabitants of our benighted planet would gulp down this radioactive excrement if it were offered.
Language is a virus from outer space.
One very important aspect of art is that it makes people aware of what they know and donβt know they know... Once the breakthrough is made, there is a permanent expansion of awareness. But there is always a reaction of rage, of outrage, at the first breakthrough... So the artist, then, expands awareness. And once the breakthrough is made, this becomes part of the general awareness.
The childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day.
The essence of government is force, and most often that force is used to accomplish evil ends.
No, I'm not interested in politics. I have zero interest. I have interest in hope and people.
...for whether we want to or not, we belong to our time and we share in its opinions, its feelings, even its delusions.
The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it.
If God is to create or to preserve a creature, God must be present and must make and preserve God's creation both in its innermost and outermost aspects.
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