/lit/ - Literature

Hm, a majority of them, because they all have to have liberal education if they are getting into politics.

Now ask me how many revisit them, ask me how many understand them. You see, this is the problem, not that they don't read them.

Not only that, I think many economists would be pleased to see anyone in their office reading some degree of scientific economics, because there are clearly some problems that need to be solved in that sphere that neither side really tackles.

Pedo Joe quoted Kierkegaard in one of his speeches last year

I’m going to say of the people pictured, Mommy Merkel is the only one with a really thorough classical education. I hate her politics but she’s probably the most remarkably intellectual female to ever live

>>18353317
The majority of British politicians have a PPE degree from Oxford which deals with early modern philosophy.
Here's a reading list of the course:
https://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/philosophy-politics-and-economics-reading-list

I don't really know about politicians from other countries though.

Most probably haven't. If they are western and studied politics or PPE they would have. The majority of western politicians come from a legal background.
Also, let's be honest, if they did study them it was at undergraduate level. Yoy can't pretend that that's a high level of study or that it had any influence on them.

I studied politics and international relations at a Russell group institution. In second year we studied a course in which, for 1 week, we looked at Hobbes. Required reading was a 35 page snippet from leviathan and 2 academic journal articles. We had 1 fifty minute lecture.
You get some students that are enthusiastic, diligent, intelligent etc. But I think people who've never been to a university can be naive about the level at which students study

>>18353340
Lol no, Boris Johnson seems to be a dumbfuck but he graduated from Oxford with Classics degree and knows how to recite the Illiad in ancient Greek. He even btfo'd Mary Legbeard in a debate about Romans vs Greeks.
That commie can't possibly compare, she probably just read socialist and communist trash.

>>18353317
Notice how they rarely quote fiction.

Nonfiction is a better entertainment medium

>>18353403
>Merkel
>communist
this is your brain on /pol/

>>18353317
Soulless husks couldn't benefit in the slightest.

>>18353317
Macron, remember, is a Machiavellian-Hegelian-Ricœurian

Macron did his undergrad thesis on Machiavelli

>>18353317
Something like 75-80%. I'm certain there are rulers of tiny shitholes who did not receive a high-class western education, but even NK sent their doughboy to be educated in Switzerland.

>>18353421
exactly. every politician and judge with any power in america went to yale or harvard and if you've looked at the syllabi for those schools they most definitely read all that crap and a lot more

>>18353317
putin and xi are probably the only ones in that image

>>18353317
I assume most of the European leaders even if it was mostly an educational formality (with exceptions, judging by Johnson's publicity stunt quoting Ancient Greek). Xi likes his books too:

>>18353407
I don't go on /pol/. She grew up in East Germany and joined the Communist Youth. She got brainwashed hard. This is a common fact.

>>18353407
meh you could argue she's a cultural marxist, she has been said to have been a secretary of propaganda of some sorts in a communist student group (not the communist youth thing which she had to do to get into Uni).

She's literally carrying out the Von Coudenhove-Kalergi plan to Europe.

>>18353448
and then later on in life she joined a christian conservative party and supported free trade, NATO, etc

>>18353452
>cultural marxist
Shit bait

>>18353454
And forced every EU country to take in rapegees. Very nice.

>>18353403
Its a lounge act he learned from his dad that allowed him to grift through the upper echelons of the ruling classes. When his dad went on celebrity mastermind with the ancient Greeks as his specialist subject he tanked. Boris would do the same. He's a professional bullshit artist and you're gullible for getting taken in by it.
In not even left wing btw.

>>18353467
the refugees came from countries that the US and EU invaded for profit reasons. and corporations like refugees and immigrants because they can pay them lower wages. what does any of that have to do with communism, you politically illiterate retard?

>>18353474
Nothing I just hate refugees and commie is a shitty insult I can think of

>>18353446
the philosopher king...

>>18353317
xi probably has the highest level of formal education (even if you don't like his choices) among these (i would put merkel as a close second). he has 2 doctorates in two completely different areas and growing in the chinese party is insanely competitive, specially for someone that wasn't born millionaire and from the countryside

i would argue that among the ones in the pic, xi, putin, macron and merkel have the highest level of wide formal education.

(i'm not defending them or their politics, just being fair)

>>18353403
He got into oxfird, which was a given since he went to eton. He got a second class degree in history, not classics, and he was lucky to get that. In Oxford he learned that to "get to the top" it was more important to network/socialize than do any work. Ever here what his dissertation was written about? Me neither. He most likely got off without having to write one.

Xi not only read Marx but he also has the brain to know that Marx was correct. Only based man in that pic.
Don't even (you) me stupid burger faggots I don't care about what your favorite news network told you about communism

>>18353474
>the refugees came from countries that the US and EU invaded for profit reasons
Security reasons. We are the world police and perform our duty to ensure shiskins don't kill themselves.
>and corporations like refugees and immigrants because they can pay them lower wages.
Corporations outsource most of the work to third world shitholes, no need to rely on immigrants coming to their own countries.
>what does any of that have to do with communism, you politically illiterate retard?
Communism and socialism care about the losers and weak. Ofc a commie wants to force us to take care of a bunch of weak losers.

>>18353484
Not even me. Probably some redditor newfag thinking it's fun to pretend to be others lol

>>18353515
>first time usa won
>all due to asian-americans
lmao, that's a gold worth pic

>>18353317
none because politicians are hacks

>>18353474
You mean the countries that are only in such a sorry state because the Anglos and Frogs drew boxes on the most culturally, religiously, and racially diverse place on Earth in the way most convenient to themselves personally 100 years ago? And then abandoned to petty tyrants who used their power to oppress anyone not a part of their cultural, religious or racial identity for 100 years?

The middle east wouldn't be nearly as shitty as it currently is if it was allowed to form natural borders between countries, but alas, Anglos and Frogs had to get that money.

>>18353329
>Not only that, I think many economists would be pleased to see anyone in their office reading some degree of scientific economics, because there are clearly some problems that need to be solved in that sphere that neither side really tackles.
people in office are literally public figures in our day and age.

>>18353317
>>18353329
>how many understand them
>plato, aristotle
less than 10%
>machiavelli
100% of them
>Hobbes and Locke
at least a good chunk of American and British politicians

>>18353515

>>18354161
I don't think I ever said anything regarding that. You're introducing a rather obvious point, if I am to be frank.
>>18354184
Machiavelli is not simple, The Prince is a technical, albeit sardonic, text. I think there might be some who understand how The Prince operates as a reading, but I'll guarantee not 100%.

I agree with Plato and Aristotle. Hobbes is easy enough, so I'll agree there too.

>>18353329
>Hm, a majority of them, because they all have to have liberal education if they are getting into politics.

Most courses in undergraduate don't require reading more than excerpts unless the book is short.

I'm sure at least 40% are conscious of the classics enough to have some decent books in their collection. Probably 18-20% actually read them.

Plato and Machiavelli are probably the most read.

What do Plato or Aristotle have to do with governing a modern country?

They lived in a time when iron was considered high tech. They didn't know shit about MAD, automation or the internet.

>>18354212
>Plato and Machiavelli are probably the most read.
That I would agree with, but I think you're misguided if you don't think that all of the public figures you're seeing haven't read all of the abovementioned authors.

Now maybe if they referenced Rousseau, Burke, Madison, Bentham, or some other authors I would be obliged to agree, because I don't think they spend their time reading these sorts of books. However, what is mentioned in the OP is very basic.

Merkel said once that she really like to read the Russians. War and Peace is her favorite. Other than that her book taste is fairly standard. Mostly simple German classics.

>>18353340
She has a STEM education though. In my experience those people do not tend to be well read. Fachidioten halt.

>>18353446
Everything about Xi is fake and carefully curated.

Putin has a good list:
http://favobooks.com/politicians/86-vladimir-putin-reads.html

>The Wine of Wisdom: The Life, Poetry and Philosophy of Omar Khayyam
>The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
>The Brothers Karamasov by Dostoevsky
>Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
>Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
>The Singing Heart: A Book of Quiet Reflections by Ivan Ilyin
>The Destiny of Man by Nicolai Berdyaev
>For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
>Sketches from a Hunter's Album by Ivan Turgenev

>>18353509
Xi is from a party dynasty you stooge, he was sent to the country side under Mao, he wasn't from there. All the charts people post are from speeches written for him. Stop buying into the myth that he is some enlightened leader and not just a highly accomplished bureaucrat.

>>18353524
When it works, the melting pot is our superpower

>>18354431
Good goy

>>18353317
Every world leader on the planet, including the king of eswatini, except for the presidents of the usa

>>18353448
Almost all Eastern and many Central European politicans was been in the communist parties, many polish, ukranian, baltic today's politicans was in the communist parties/organisations etc you will be surprised and all of them was born and live under communist regime
They are all communists too?

>>18353448
Americans shouldn't be allowed to express opinions

>>18353448
>She grew up in East Germany and joined the Communist Youth.
What's common fact among the burger crowd isn't factual in reality. The FDJ wasn't mandatory in itself but you had to endure a lot of disadvantages under the GDR if you didn't join. Many people joined for that reason even though they weren't communists. At some point over 80% of youngsters in East Germany were part of the FDJ.
>She got brainwashed hard. This is a common fact.
fucking lol.