...we all make them. Sometimes decisions are good, sometimes bad. Often we have to live with the consequences of our choices. Too often we opt for one outcome over another based on insufficient information - occasionally, a willful disregard for information. Rumors, including tiny bits of data from the Aether, become a substitute for Thought and Analysis. Those who seek our approval know this, and tailor the message to take advantage of willful ignorance.
Pandarus, a character in Mr. Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, has lent his name to represent a person who arranges sexual liaisons. More generally, a panderer is "a person who serves or caters to the vulgar passions or plans of others (especially in order to make money)," as one definition has it. I would add "in order to achieve power" to that definition. Such is the sorry state of affairs in which we often find ourselves: forced to choose in a world in which the power-hungry pander to the willfully ignorant.
I despair, and retire to my chambers for a restorative brandy.
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