Introduction to Henry Kuttner’s story Don’t Look Now in Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Fifth Series (1983) (in the 1985 hardcover reprint), pp. 367-368

It is a rather sad commentary on humanity that it is always so attractive to think that some small group “controls the Earth”—the Jews, the international bankers, the Communists, the Masons, the Trilateral Commission. Those who believe such things are so sincere, so harried, so paranoid and, if the times are bad enough, and if the hunger for a scapegoat is great enough—so convincing. The Nazis are the most dreadful example in recent history of how far madmen can go when riding the skeletal horse of paranoia, but their example has by no means cured the world.

— Isaac Asimov

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "It is a rather sad commentary on humanity that it is always so attractive to think that some small group “controls the Earth”—the Jews, the international bankers, the Communists, the Masons, the Trilateral Commission. Those who believe such things are so sincere, so harried, so paranoid and, if the times are bad enough, and if the hunger for a scapegoat is great enough—so convincing. The Nazis are the most dreadful example in recent history of how far madmen can go when riding the skeletal horse of paranoia, but their example has by no means cured the world." in the context of "Introduction to Henry Kuttner’s story Don’t Look Now in Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Fifth Series (1983) (in the 1985 hardcover reprint), pp. 367-368" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Isaac Asimov" (Quotes, General sources, 1981–1992) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Isaac Asimov

About Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov (c. 2 January 1920 – 6 April 1992) was a Russian-born American biochemist who was a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction, his works include the Foundation series and I, Robot.