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Major Pet-Peeve: 'Machiavelli' is Not a Synonym for Evil


Isn't it annoying that in our cultural imagination, Niccolo Machiavelli is the devil? Well, it is to me. As countless authors have pointed out, the actual Machiavelli was not any worse morally than anyone else in his day. Besides, the adjective 'Machiavellian' ought to be a compliment! Having read The Prince, I can tell you that he was, at the very least, not a naive moron in foreign affairs. We could use a few more like him. And consider the context: Machiavelli was an out-of-work starving diplomat looking to also help his native Florence. The best avenue at that moment was the authoritarian Lorenzo d' Medici, if memory serves; it was dedicated to him. Other works (from Wikipedia entry) would strongly indicate a preference for some form of democracy (republicanism) besides. I hate how we call people and things we hate politically Machiavellian. He doesn't deserve that. Consider this example: "Suppose someone picked you up, carried you into a voting booth and forced your hand to push a button indicating a vote for the notorious politician Mack E. Velley." (Walls and Dongell, Why I Am Not A Calvinist, p.108) C'mon, Jerry! Give the man some love! (Side note: If you want to convince Jason Kettinger to abandon Calvinism, don't be sloppy with an important historical figure, using him as a punching bag and synonym for evil. With what else are you being sloppy? Hmmmm...) I just had to get that off my chest.

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