--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Who did the council fight?\" \"It split in…" description: "\"“Who did the council fight?\" \"It split in two and fought itself.\" \"That's suicide!\" \"No, ordinary behaviour. The efficient half eats the less efficient..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bb/alasdair-gray-13383_dystopia_who-did-the-council-fight-it-split-in-tw_1225245.jpg" --- # Who did the council fight?" "It split in two and fought… ![“Who did the council fight?" "It split in two and fought itself." "That's suicide!" "No, ordinary behaviour. The efficient half eats the less efficient half and grows stronger. War is just a violent way of doing what half the people do calmly in peacetime: using the other half for food, heat…” quote by Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bb/alasdair-gray-13383_dystopia_who-did-the-council-fight-it-split-in-tw_1225245.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bb/alasdair-gray-13383_dystopia_who-did-the-council-fight-it-split-in-tw_1225245.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bb/alasdair-gray-13383_dystopia_who-did-the-council-fight-it-split-in-tw_1225245.jpg) > ““Who did the council fight?" "It split in two and fought itself." "That's suicide!" "No, ordinary behaviour. The efficient half eats the less efficient half and grows stronger. War is just a violent way of doing what half the people do calmly in peacetime: using the other half for food, heat, machinery and sexual pleasure. Man is the pie that bakes and eats himself, and the recipe is separation." "I refuse to believe men kill each other just to make their enemies rich." "How can men recognize their real enemies when their family, schools and work teach them to struggle with each other and to believe law and decency come from the teachers?" "My son won't be taught that," said Lanark firmly. "You have a son?" "Not yet.”” [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage critiques how societies pit groups against each other, using competition and violence to sustain hierarchies, while individuals are taught to accept this conflict as normal. **In simple terms:** Society creates conflict for power and profit, teaching people to accept it. Key Takeaway Question the narratives that justify competition and seek cooperative alternatives. Themes power conflict societal structures human nature philosophy Mood critical reflective Type philosophical social commentary When to use this quote - education reform - family discussions - workplace policies - community building - media analysis Key Concepts competition survival exploitation social conditioning Questions to Reflect On - How does your environment shape your view of conflict? - What alternatives to competition exist in your daily life? A Different Perspective It overlooks cooperative instincts and the potential for systemic change through collective action. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dystopia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dystopia/) [Fight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fight/) [Fought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fought/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society/) [Split Fought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/split-fought-3767305/) [Violent Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violent-way-549701/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) [War Just](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war-just/) ## Related quotes > [“War is just a violent way of doing what half the people do calmly in peacetime: using the other half for food, heat, machinery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/war-is-just-a-violent-way-of-doing-what-half-the-people-do-calmly-in/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [No, ordinary behaviour. The efficient half eats the less efficient half and grows stronger. War is just a violent way of doing what half…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/no-ordinary-behaviour-the-efficient-half-eats-the-less-efficient-half/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [My father, he wouldn't be belligerent or violent. It was never that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carter-cash/my-father-he-wouldn-t-be-belligerent-or-violent-it-was-never-that-way/) [John Carter Cash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carter-cash/) > [We who claim to love peace and justice must always be careful that we do not use our righteousness to provoke the violent, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-who-claim-to-love-peace-and-justice-must-always-be-careful-that-we/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [I don't believe that art makes people violent in any way. I don't. 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Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/smedley-butler/war-is-just-a-racket-a-racket-is-best-described-i-believe-as/) [Smedley Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/smedley-butler/) > [For a war to be just three conditions are necessary - public authority, just cause, right motive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/for-a-war-to-be-just-three-conditions-are-necessary-public-authority/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [As the war was just in its origin and necessary and noble in its objects, we can reflect with a proud satisfaction that in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/as-the-war-was-just-in-its-origin-and-necessary-and-noble-in-its/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [The whole idea that the rescue was staged or the soldiers were shooting blanks, that's just obvious stuff. Why would you do that in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessica-lynch/the-whole-idea-that-the-rescue-was-staged-or-the-soldiers-were/) [Jessica Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessica-lynch/) ## More by Alasdair Gray > [“At last she interrupted with a harsh rattle of laughter. "Oh, yes, I like this book! Crazy hopes of a glamorous, rich, colorful life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/at-last-she-interrupted-with-a-harsh-rattle-of-laughter-oh-yes-i-like/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [“Only bad religions depend on mysteries, just as bad governments depend on secret police." A character's response to a discussion about eating from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/only-bad-religions-depend-on-mysteries-just-as-bad-governments-depend/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [But I do enjoy words—some words for their own sake! Words like river, and dawn, and daylight, and time. 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Yet it can't be a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/the-world-sometimes-seems-a-chessboard-where-the-pieces-move/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [A good poem is a tautology. It expands one word by adding a number which clarify it, thus making a new word which has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/a-good-poem-is-a-tautology-it-expands-one-word-by-adding-a-number/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [“But leaders need to be mostly dead. People want solid monuments to cling to, not confused men like themselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/but-leaders-need-to-be-mostly-dead-people-want-solid-monuments-to/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [“One day after the exams, the teachers sat at their desks correcting papers while the pupils read comics, played chess or cards or talked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/one-day-after-the-exams-the-teachers-sat-at-their-desks-correcting/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [Think of Florence, Paris, London, New York. Nobody visiting them for the first time is a stranger because he's already visited them in paintings,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/think-of-florence-paris-london-new-york-nobody-visiting-them-for-the/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [I distrust speech therapy. Words are the language of lies and evasions. Music cannot lie. Music talks to the heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/i-distrust-speech-therapy-words-are-the-language-of-lies-and-evasions/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [Movement turns dead dogs into maggots and daisies, and flour butter sugar an egg and a tablespoon of milk into Abernethy biscuits, and spermatozoa…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/movement-turns-dead-dogs-into-maggots-and-daisies-and-flour-butter/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [“He watched them with the passionate regret with which he saw them play football or go to dances: the activity itself did not interest,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/he-watched-them-with-the-passionate-regret-with-which-he-saw-them/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [“It is, but we can only help people by giving less than we take away from them. We enlarge the oasis by increasing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/it-is-but-we-can-only-help-people-by-giving-less-than-we-take-away/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [“She is the swelling sail, trim rigging and bust sunlit deck of our matrimonial yacht. I am the low hull, with the invisible ballast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/she-is-the-swelling-sail-trim-rigging-and-bust-sunlit-deck-of-our/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) [Explore all 47 Alasdair Gray quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) ## More Dystopia quotes > [“He tried. That's the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him. He should get a nice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/he-tried-that-s-the-big-thing-he-tried-to-do-the-best-he-could-with/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [“The author is not impartial. 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Obsessed with success and wealth and despising failure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-re-creating-a-dystopia-where-the-mania-of-the-state-isn-t-secrecy/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 198 Dystopia quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dystopia/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Who did the council fight?\" \"It split in two and fought itself.\" \"That's suicide!\" \"No, ordinary behaviour. The efficient half eats the less efficient half and grows stronger. War is just a violent way of doing what half the people do calmly in peacetime: using the other half for food, heat, machinery and sexual pleasure. Man is the pie that bakes and eats himself, and the recipe is separation.\" \"I refuse to believe men kill each other just to make their enemies rich.\" \"How can men recognize their real enemies when their family, schools and work teach them to struggle with each other and to believe law and decency come from the teachers?\" \"My son won't be taught that,\" said Lanark firmly. \"You have a son?\" \"Not yet.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alasdair Gray" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/who-did-the-council-fight-it-split-in-two-and-fought-itself-that-s/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dystopia" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/who-did-the-council-fight-it-split-in-two-and-fought-itself-that-s/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bb/alasdair-gray-13383_dystopia_who-did-the-council-fight-it-split-in-tw_1225245.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bb/alasdair-gray-13383_dystopia_who-did-the-council-fight-it-split-in-tw_1225245.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bb/alasdair-gray-13383_dystopia_who-did-the-council-fight-it-split-in-tw_1225245.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Who did the council fight?\" \"It split in two and fought itself.\" \"That's suicide!\" \"No, ordinary behaviour…” — Alasdair Gray", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Alasdair Gray", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Who did the council fight?\" \"It...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/who-did-the-council-fight-it-split-in-two-and-fought-itself-that-s/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/who-did-the-council-fight-it-split-in-two-and-fought-itself-that-s/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```