Casting a net, Laos.
A young Katang fisherman casts his net into a river in Laos, a land-locked country of the Far East hemmed in by Burma, China, Vietnam and Cambodia. The pejorative labels of ‘demagogue’ and ‘populist’ are frequently applied to political opponents simply because they have touched a chord with the public, but being popular is not the same as being a populist. A demagogue or populist knows how to divide and rule, cynically pitting races or socio-economic groups against each other; he promises handouts of public money to those that will support him; he spreads alarm for the safety of the nation, focusing fear on some imaginary catastrophe or prosperous neighbour; and he sends troops abroad to win glory for the nation in war.
ONCE upon a time, a man was catching fish in a river. He stretched out a net, tied a stone to the end of a piece of cord, and then began to slap the waters with the stone to frighten the fish into his net.
Someone from a neighbouring village saw him and ran over, shouting that the man was stirring up mud and spoiling the villagers’ drinking water. ‘But I have to muddy the waters,’ he answered simply. ‘It’s how I put food on my table.’
And that is not unlike the way the demagogues in our cities* make a living from stirring up social unrest.
* In Greek, τῶν πόλεων οἱ δημαγωγοὶ, literally ‘the demagogues of the cities’. The word demagogue strictly speaking means ‘leader of the common people’. These community leaders or organisers were often commoners themselves, who, working within a democratic system in which aristocracy remained a dominant force, initially performed a useful function; but they quickly gained an unwholesome reputation by fanning the flames of fear, envy and prejudice, recklessly encouraging social unrest and military adventures. Some achieved high political standing, if only for a time: see Pericles and the Fickle Public of Athens and Alcibiades. However, when it came to rabble-rousing much of the harm was done by a noisy band of political analysts, speech-writers, image consultants and opinion-formers who did not aspire to high office themselves, but made a less-than-honest living by helping ambitious politicians to rise in provincial and State government. See Socrates on Rhetoric and the Beast.
Précis
Once upon a time, said the Greek fabulist Aesop, a fisherman whipped the waters of a river to drive fish into his net. A villager complained that he was muddying the drinking water; but the fisherman did not care, so long as he caught his supper. Aesop likened him to political activists who stir up social unrest for a living. (60 / 60 words)
