Friday, August 13, 2010

Stealing Expertise

I love the scene in the movie Schindler's List where the Nazis are herding some Jews somewhere as other Nazis work on a structure, a bridge or something. The military oafs are doing things in their militarily oafish way, the blind scurrying to follow the blind, betting your life as well as their own that testosterone can substitute for intelligence without penalty. A woman among the Jews tells them they're doing it wrong and corrects them. The Nazi in charge has her shot.

I just looked the movie up at IMdb.com hoping the dialogue would be quoted. I find what must be the scene:Reiter: I'm a graduate of Civil Engineering from the University of Milan.
Amon Goeth: Ah, an educated Jew... like Karl Marx himself. Unterscharfuehrer!
Hujar: Jawohl?
Amon Goeth: Shoot her.
Reiter: Herr Kommandant! I'm only trying to do my job!
Amon Goeth: Ja, I'm doing mine.
But this "quote" leaves out my favorite part! The woman is shot. Some other flunky says to the Nazi who gave the order to shoot her, But what should we do about the bridge? And the leader, this Goeth I presume, says, Do exactly as she suggested!

Ah, kleptocracy. As though it's OK to crucify Jesus so long as after we've done so Caesar Augustus tells us to do what Jesus said.

Wrong. We're still damned. Because though we steal what the dead Jesus said at thirty-three, we don't get to hear what the living Jesus might have said at thirty-four! or forty-four, or eighty-four ... But we'll always kill the golden goose, believing we've now maximized our profit.

I'm glad I've always been interrupted before anyone understood a word I was trying to say: otherwise I might have succeeded in saving you! You not knowing what I offered is my revenge!

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