#10

Discussing excerpts from Niccolo Machiavellis “The Prince.”

Instagram: kbrdgttl

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Alright, today I am going to be talking about another reading within my International Relations Theory textbook, Conflict After the Cold War. The last up uh episode I didn't specify, but this is by Richard K. Betts. And you can find these editions in just about any thrifted store, new or used. So I will be discussing The Prince, or an excerpt from The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. Uh Machiavelli lived from 1469 to 1527 in Italy. And during his exile from Florentine, he wrote The Prince around 1513. It wasn't uh really um what's the word formally published until after his death. And in this excerpt, he talks about doing evil in order to do good. Within the prince, he is basically giving like a layout of how a ruler should rule in different taxi and different tactics in order to maintain power, some of them being kind of you know unhinged. The first quote I want to bring up underneath of the things for which men and especially princes are praised or blamed. He says that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done will rather learn to bring about his own ruin than his preservation. So in this quote, Machiavelli points out that people who do things opposing what is usually done because they think it's what should be done risk their lives. So we see a lot of things in the world that go on, and one thing that I wanted to bring up that's you know in current news, um CBS covered a story by I'm sorry, I Imtyaz Tiab, I think that's how you say it. Uh they published it in September on September 10th in 2026. They went to Afghanistan and they found a group of Afghan girls gathering in a secret school. The Taliban had closed secondary schools to girls in 2021. So these girls basically risked their lives to study. They could be killed because of these insane laws and rules that the well not really laws, but insane rules that the Taliban has forced on women in Afghanistan. Um obviously these newscasters, um, these journalists risk their lives as well for what they believe they should do. They believe that they should uncover the truth. They believe that they should show the world what is actually happening in other parts of the world, um, and what's happening in countries that are being um oppressed, especially the female population being oppressed in Afghanistan. The Taliban definitely rules with fear, and they like to maintain that fear, or they like to, you know, keep fear in people's hearts to maintain their power. So, you know, what ought to be done is well, what the Taliban believes ought to be done is that they continue in this misogynistic patriarchy that they've built and keep women oppressed, and what they probably think the rest of the world should do is that we should keep our you know noses out of their business. But what many people are doing is uncovering the truth, really exposing how horrible these men are. These men are oppressors at their core. They what they value is religious extremism and really extremism in a lot of ways. Um a lot of their tactics are brutal. Obviously, how they take away a lot of women's rights, they take away their ability to be educated. A lot of these women can't even read because they've been, you know, uh pulled out of schools, and men and their households kind of just follow what the Taliban say. There obviously are good people in the world still, there are definitely still good people in Afghanistan that stand up against, you know, the powers that be. So doing evil in order to do good. What else should the world right now be doing to go up against what ought to be done? That's a question I want to leave out there. Another quote that I wanted to talk about. It's under section titled Of Cruelty and Clemency and Whether It Is Better to Be Loved or Feared. And he Machiavelli is quite famous for this little section right here. You know, is it better to be feared or loved? He talks about it's, you know, it's good to be both, but it's definitely better to be feared to maintain your own power, to maintain um you know, your government's power. He says, I conclude therefore, with regard to being feared and loved, that men love at their own free will, but fear at the will of the prince, and that a wise prince must rely on what is in his power and not on what is in the power of others, and he must only contrive to avoid incurring hatred, as has been as has been explained. So Machiavelli does state that it is better to be feared than to be loved. So he explains a lot of tactics throughout this little excerpt of how to maintain that fear, of how to be a bold leader, how to maintain your power. And, you know, there was another quote that talked about, you know, some people secure their power even though they have vices, and some people it having good virtues, it leads to their ruin. Um so he kind of talks about like being overly good and brings you know the downfall of a leader, and sometimes those who are greatly feared are powerful and maintain their power. And we see a lot of that with the rulers in North Korea. I mean, a lot of people have known that that's not really a country that you fuck with. That's not really a country that you go to vacation in. That's not a country that is uh out and open saying like they have they have like um friendships with other countries or what would be the correct word? Um, not friendships, but like alliances. They're a strong military power. They have a lot of they're very nuclear power hungry as well. Um is good at putting fear into his people's hearts in order to maintain this power. These people are also brutal when it comes to the way that they they run their country. Um quick, sharp, very gray. Like a loss of color, a loss of life, a loss of happiness that you see a lot in their country. You know, a lot of people risk their lives going over there to try and see, you know, what goes on in North Korea. Um but I mean obviously there are other countries as well that use these same tactics of maintaining that air of fear so that they can keep their power. Um and most world leaders, or most country leaders being being men, I think they do a lot better of controlling other men in their country. It's like men need something to follow. And so young men can't really do anything except just go with the rest of the group. In a way, militaries are so good at keeping men in this group think, um, not able to break out and actually use empathy and creativity to create a better world, but rather, you know, they they maintain this mindset of power is good. Um and they continue to try to push that on others, that that agenda. The third quote I wanted to talk about. Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so, but you must have the mind so disposed that when it is needful to be otherwise, you may be able to change to the opposite qualities. So Machiavelli, he knows what is good, he knows what is considered bad, uh, what's a vice and what is a virtue. And he lists all of those in the prince. Um, maybe not all of them, but all the ones that he can think of. Um, and he obviously talks about how a prince should have a little bit of both, or can have a little bit of both, and obviously it's better to be good at the core, but that it doesn't really get you anywhere in maintaining power. And we see a lot of the world using these tactics of maintaining fear, like I said, to keep their power. I think, um, or I guess we all saw how in Trump's campaigns he talked a lot about his religion. And uh on June 26, 2026, um uh PBS News released an article, and it was Trump speaking at Faith and Freedom Coalition. It was like a like a policy conference, and uh he quoted or he said, religion is back in our country bigger and stronger than it has been in many, many years. He's talked a lot about like religion and like how it's you know how what it's like to be a good Christian and whatnot. This man has literally been accused of rape, sexual assault, like a lot of bad things being in the Epstein files. I don't even want to get into that because obviously that has been leaked, and there are pages and pages and pages to go along with the list of names of celebrities and politicians who have all done horrible things. Um people with a lot of money obviously maintain their power, they're able to bypass the laws that we the common folk have to abide by. But there are so many more of us. So what is it that Trump does that you know that kind of helps him maintain this large following group? It's that he uses religion. I think religion being a big part of his campaign is what s persuades a large number of conservative Americans, mostly conservative white Americans. Um and it works for him, I guess. But a lot of people that don't really like swing so much on the conservative religious side, which is a lot of the people in my generation, we're learning a lot more about spirituality and what it is to be um kind of not really in a religion, more of just like a free-flowing philosophy of one's own mind, one's own life. You see past the bullshit of oh, like, you know, that Trump is being a good Christian and that he's bringing Christianity back into America. Where is the separation of church and state? That's my question. Is that Trump needs to remember that there needs to be separation of church and state. A lot of politicians need to remember that there needs to be separation of church and state. And there there has been a lack of that recently. Uh, quite frankly, it's uh also been in a lot of the talks between women's rights, or in women like in the talks for women's rights, is all these Christian values that um persuade, not persuade, but some politicians use in arguments to say, oh, it's wrong to abort because whatever, every life is precious because in the Bible, whatever the fuck. It says that every life is valuable and that we shouldn't do this or that. America has been using religion a lot lately to back up some terrible decisions in Congress, Supreme Court, um, local governments, state governments. I know a lot of like different laws have been going around in different states about abortion itself. Um, but either way, you see that he maintains this front of being like a good Christian man, and that a lot of conservative Christians back him up because he says that he's a Christian and he he says that he wants to bring Christianity and religion back into America. But behind all of that, and a lot of us see past that bullshit, is that he's a horrible man. He is a horrible man, and he tries to hide it with the fact that he's religious. A lot of Christians actually do that, and I can say that because I was once inside the church. I was a Christian at one point, and a lot of them use their Christianity and the fact that God will forgive them as um a way for them to get away with doing horrible things. I don't really care what religion anybody is, I will respect you if you respect everyone, everyone, everyone's beliefs, um, everyone's way of being. Obviously, like if they're doing things not to harm others, but you see people from mostly every religion have some very strong viewpoint and try to push that on others, and you see kind of um the conservative Christians in America right now doing that. Um, you know, with the monks walking for peace across the United States, that happened earlier in the year, like January, December to January around that point. You see a lot of Christian, well, there was like news coverage of like Christians coming out from church and like kind of protesting their walk for peace just because they were a different philosophy, a different way of living, differ different way of being. America is not Christian by any means necessary. It might be like a very strong religion here, but like it's not we don't have like a national religion, that's not what it is. We are a melting pot with a race, religion, beliefs, all that. It's not just one thing here. Um in a way, this is like kind of oppressive. It feels kind of oppressive to women, especially, because like I said, they've been using religion as a way to back up decisions about women's bodies. Um and against people of different backgrounds. And I don't stand for it. I wonder what Nicolo Machiavelli would have to say about the United States right now. Maybe he would say that Trump is using uh good tactics to maintain his power, which you know, he's been in office twice, so and he thinks he's gonna be in office for a third time, but I God, I really hope that the the comedy does not continue. Um but in terms of international relations theory, we see each country relate to each other in different ways, and how the United States is relating with other countries right now is um through this uh superiority complex. Our governments and politicians are are holding their heads up high like they're doing something special. Well, what they're doing is kind of ruining the world. Um, and maybe the world has to go to ruin in order for it to be rebuilt again, and we kind of see a lot of that happening right now. There's a lot of wars going on all over the world, and so many of them are being um kind of shut out of media, and you see so many of the comedic things happening in the United States and how our president, our clown of a president is trying to put on a show for us to be distracted. Um but I hope to share more about what what I believe and what I can connect to writings from philosophers back in the day. Um a lot of what Machiavelli writes about with, you know, men. Um where was it? He says, um, men in general, they are ungrateful, voluble dissemblers, anxious to avoid danger and covetous of gain. As long as you benefit them, they are entirely yours. They offer you their blood, their goods, their life, and their children. As I have said before, when the necessity is remote, but when it approaches, they revolt. A lot of that is still accurate, believe it or not. And like I talked about in the last podcast, a lot of men have gained some consciousness in order to realize what it is to not be such an egoistic man and to use more of their soul, which uh includes a lot more of like acting through love and being empathetic and compassionate and community-oriented. But a lot of these writers are you know bringing up points that are being repeated in history right now. Um and you see more more groups rising up to kind of counteract that, more groups centered around community well-being, gathering to do good for the good of all and harm to none, to preserve nature, to preserve our connection to nature, to preserve creativity, and um not so much this this um construct of a nine to five or the the job that we need to do. We're becoming more of a a world that is in need of freedom. We're we're looking to break out of this little little bubble that we've built. Maybe not us, but rulers before us. But that's all I have for today. Hope you enjoy.