--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: How is it possible to live in world where…" description: "\"How is it possible to live in world where people can rule millions of others? It's incredible! It's like we've gone back to the 12th century. That's wh..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e77/jon-lee-anderson-28056_country_how-is-it-possible-to-live-in-world-wher_691872.jpg" --- # How is it possible to live in world where people can rule… ![“How is it possible to live in world where people can rule millions of others? It's incredible! It's like we've gone back to the 12th century. That's what happens when you decapitate intelligentsia and repeatedly traumatize and brutalize a country for decades on end: you do not get virtue. Victims…” quote by Jon Lee Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e77/jon-lee-anderson-28056_country_how-is-it-possible-to-live-in-world-wher_691872.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e77/jon-lee-anderson-28056_country_how-is-it-possible-to-live-in-world-wher_691872.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e77/jon-lee-anderson-28056_country_how-is-it-possible-to-live-in-world-wher_691872.jpg) > “How is it possible to live in world where people can rule millions of others? It's incredible! It's like we've gone back to the 12th century. That's what happens when you decapitate intelligentsia and repeatedly traumatize and brutalize a country for decades on end: you do not get virtue. Victims do not make nice people.” [Jon Lee Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-lee-anderson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote criticizes societies that empower oppressive leaders, suggesting that silencing intellectuals and sustained trauma erode virtue and produce hostile citizens. **In simple terms:** Oppression kills virtue and creates cruelty. Key Takeaway Guard intellectual freedom and resist oppression. Themes politics power human rights history violence Mood somber critical urgent Type political reflective analytical When to use this quote - journalism - human rights advocacy - education reform - community resilience Key Concepts authoritarianism social decay psychology of oppression Questions to Reflect On - How can societies rebuild virtue after widespread trauma? - What safeguards protect intellectuals from oppression? A Different Perspective Oppressed societies may still produce resilient, compassionate individuals. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country/) [Nice people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nice-people/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Victim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/victim/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Illumination by the Spirit is the endless end of every virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/symeon-the-new-theologian/illumination-by-the-spirit-is-the-endless-end-of-every-virtue/) [Symeon the New Theologian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/symeon-the-new-theologian/) > [What I find most injurious to mankind in modern advertising is the constant appeal to material standards and values, the elevating of material things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/what-i-find-most-injurious-to-mankind-in-modern-advertising-is-the/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [Virtue is not an end in itself. 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Nothing, as a rule, is further from the truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-johnson/nothing-appeals-to-intellectuals-more-than-the-feeling-that-they/) [Paul Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-johnson/) > [We on the left have forgotten that the question is not how do you get good people to rule, most people who rule are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hedges/we-on-the-left-have-forgotten-that-the-question-is-not-how-do-you-get/) [Chris Hedges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hedges/) > [“Only two types of people will rule. The one who king and the other one who belonging to Queen.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikhil/only-two-types-of-people-will-rule-the-one-who-king-and-the-other-one/) Nikhil > [“If the heart had a brain kind people would rule the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matshona-dhliwayo/if-the-heart-had-a-brain-kind-people-would-rule-the-world/) [Matshona Dhliwayo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matshona-dhliwayo/) > [But people as a rule believe only what they want to believe, and if you tell them anything else they'll call you a trouble-maker…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-francis/but-people-as-a-rule-believe-only-what-they-want-to-believe-and-if/) [Dick Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-francis/) ## More by Jon Lee Anderson > [You need to be hyper-aware because it's your survival at stake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-lee-anderson/you-need-to-be-hyper-aware-because-it-s-your-survival-at-stake/) [Jon Lee Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-lee-anderson/) > [I think in a sense this is a house that was built on a bad foundation. And the foundation was the Americans coming here…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-lee-anderson/i-think-in-a-sense-this-is-a-house-that-was-built-on-a-bad-foundation/) [Jon Lee Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-lee-anderson/) > [“One day in May 1930, Celia took her twoyear- old son for a swim at the yacht club, but it was already the onset…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-lee-anderson/one-day-in-may-1930-celia-took-her-twoyear-old-son-for-a-swim-at-the/) [jon lee anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-lee-anderson/) > [That's what's terrible about wars when whole societies adopt an impulse of objectification. 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