People ain’t that different. Ironically, the great effectiveness of the same racist rhetoric in different cultures proves that.

I’m more surprised that people are surprised by this. Being nobility class is this: you’re free to make whatever rules you want for your subordinates, and you’re free to disregard any of them. You’re not bound by any sense of morality (whatever it might be); that’s for lower men.

What were they expecting? Obviously these people won’t comply with anything that’s imposed on the masses, especially in a society where the norms are so restrictive.

And I further suspect that the more totalitarian a country is, the more its elite will deliberately choose to go against their own rules, as this is the greatest proof of their powerful social status.

We are embracing authoritarianism everywhere. Democracies are dying.

Politicians are not ignorant of the risks; as the article mentions, they had several advisors, including scientists, who warned of the danger. If our leaders didn’t know it, they wouldn’t exclude themselves from the proposal.