In an on-line discussion I was participating in, one
of the commenters stated categorically that an Armed Society was a Polite
Society. And this person was dead
earnest about their belief. That has
stuck with me as emblematic of the insanity of the current gun control
debate. Turns out, not surprisingly,
that it was a quote from my favorite Author, Robert A. Heinlein. I learned a lot of my libertarian leaning
from Heinlein and his books. There are
actually a couple of face book groups with that quote in their group name.
The whole quote is
kind of illustrative:
“An armed society is a polite
society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.”
There is a certain logic in
this. If you insult someone and do not
apologize to their satisfaction, you could end up dead. I guess that the fearful politeness that this
engenders will make for a largely polite society. Except of course, for those who wear body
armor or are expert enough to win their duels.
If you are confident that you can best anyone you insult in the
resulting duel, where is your motivation for mannerly behavior? If you invent a newer, better, more lethal
weapon, your need to be polite in society by this very definition goes
down. So someone who is disabled and not
capable of that sort of personal combat, ends up being the one anyone and
everyone can insult without fear of consequences.
To me, the inevitable result of
that philosophy is a society of tiers where those who are physically capable,
and who can afford the best equipment and the best training, will have no
motivation to be polite, or at least will only need to be polite to those that
might give them a close to equal contest.
You end up with a society of well armed and physically capable bullies
preying on the rest of society
Not my idea of utopia. Or even a polite society
