QuoteProject
Terrorism works better as a tactic for dictatorships, or for would-be dictators, than for revolutionaries .
Christopher Hitchens
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Terrorism is often more effective for authoritarian regimes than for those seeking genuine liberation.

Christopher Hitchens emphasizes that while terrorism is a tactic employed by various groups, it tends to favor oppressive governments or those aspiring to power rather than genuine revolutionary movements. This suggests that oppressive regimes can manipulate terror to maintain control, while true revolutionaries often struggle to gain support and legitimacy through violent means.

Themes

TerrorismDictatorshipPowerRevolutionOppression

In practice

Example use cases

Discussing the impact of terrorism in a political science class.

More from Christopher Hitchens

In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
Christopher HitchensRead
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Christopher HitchensRead
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
Christopher HitchensRead
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
Christopher HitchensRead
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Christopher HitchensRead
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way β€” because it’s had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But you’ve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
Christopher HitchensRead

Similar quotes

The Voting Rights Act was, and still is, vitally important to the future of democracy in the United States.
Coretta Scott KingRead
All of the great patriots now engaged in edging and squirming their way toward the Presidency of the Republic run true to form. That is to say, they are all extremely wary, and all more or less palpable frauds. What they want, primarily, is the job; the necessary equipment of unescapable issues, immutable principles and soaring ideals can wait until it becomes more certain which way the mob will be whooping.
H. L. MenckenRead
Whenever you put a man on the Supreme Court he ceases to be your friend.
Harry S. TrumanRead
The vote is a trust more delicate than any other, for it involves not just the interests of the voter, but his life, honor and future as well.
Jose MartiRead
You know, the cure for all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government. You get that alternative and you'll never put Singapore together again: Humpty Dumpty cannot be put together again... my asset values will disappear, my apartments will be worth a fraction of what they were, my ministers' jobs will be in peril, their security will be at risk and their women will become maids in other people's countries, foreign workers.
Lee Kuan YewRead
If you're going to have any kind of political opposition in the 21st century, then it has to be as fundamentally liquid as the rapidly changing society we're living in.
Alan MooreRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.