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“In great empires the people who live in the capital, and in the provinces remote from the scene of action, feel, many of them, scarce any inconveniency from th
by mercy_dude 5y ago
“In great empires the people who live in the capital, and in the provinces remote from the scene of action, feel, many of them, scarce any inconveniency from the war; but enjoy, at their ease, the amusement of reading in the newspapers the exploits of their own fleets and armies. To them this amusement compensates the small difference between the taxes which they pay on account of the war, and those which they had been accustomed to pay in time of peace. They are commonly dissatisfied with the return of peace, which puts an end to their amusement, and to a thousand visionary hopes of conquest and national glory from a longer continuance of the war.”
- Adam Smith (The Wealth of Nation)
- Hokusai 5y agoIn 2022, to find entertainment is extremely easy. The challenge is to be able to get bored. I can imagine that being different in the past.
- 0xmarcin 5y agoThere is a huge difference between say a movie, a game and a real conflict. I usually only read books but for the last few months I was almost compulsively following news about what happens in Belarus and Ukraine (I am Pole BTW, my countryman don't like Russia very much). I can say, taking as an example the Polish-Belarusian border "conflict", that it makes a real difference if something happens near your country and when, in the worst case, you may even be involved... But you may be right for US folks. They can watch the "show" from the safe distance, and it will probably (even in case of war) be a news for a 3 or 4 weeks just as it was with pull out from Afghanistan.
- koheripbal 5y agoThe prospect of nuclear war changes this entirely. I am not entertained by the prospect of dealing with radioactive fallout and starvation.