To kill one man is to be guilty of a capital crime, to kill ten men is to increase the guilt tenfold, to kill a hundred men is to increase it a hundredfold. This the rulers of the earth all recognize, and yet when it comes to the greatest crime — waging war on another state — they praise it!… If a man on seeing a little black were to say it is black, but on seeing a lot of black were to say it is white, it would be clear that such a man could not distinguish black and white… So those who recognize a small crime as such, but do not recognize the wickedness of the greatest crime of all… cannot distinguish right and wrong.
– Mozi (470–391 B.C.), Condemnation of Offensive War I, Book V
The Slobbering Beast of Power
Beneath the uniforms, costumes of power or the suits of fashionable exuberance lurks naked flesh. Often flabby and unimpressive. The victims of such know the putrid stench on their breath, the sickly odour of sweat, the repulsive effluent of discharge as it penetrates...