"An armed society is a polite society"

[Prometheus]

You've heard that one before, right?

It's a semi-humorous aphorism but at it's core is little more than the threat of violence: be nice to me or I'll kill you.

For the "law & order" crowd, this is probably seen as the same as complying with a police officer's requests/orders. After all, if you don't comply, you might get shot or beaten or choked out. Do we really want to live in a society where "politeness" is forced on us by the barrel of a gun? Wouldn't that strip away all of our other rights?

Do you have free speech if you fear that someone might get offended and kill you on the spot?

Do you have the right to peaceably assemble if anyone who might be late for work can just mow you down?

Etc.

Would the police or even military be a deterrent? After all, their very existence might be offensive to some. BANG!

I have no problem with law-abiding citizens owning guns but I'll be damned if I'm going to let someone push in front of me in a line just because their openly-carried weapon is bigger than mine. I just might have to shoot that motherfucker. Some would say that no one would push in front of me for just that reason.

Yup. But it's still being driven by fear, which means that a fearful society is a polite society. Is that what we want? Do we want to live in fear just so that we can avoid being killed?

How about we try this idea:

A polite society is a polite society

Politeness is what seems to be lacking in our society these days. Sure, there are always going to be differences of opinion and they might even get heated or violent, but shouldn't they be the exception rather than the norm?

Also, I don't think we should mistake apathy for politeness either. "Not giving a fuck" isn't polite. In fact, it seems a hair-breadth away from devolving into violence. It also seems miles away from ever engendering understanding.

Of course, at this point, I'm not sure that we could even find a way back to politeness. Minds are set. Lines are being drawn at every turn.

We may be doomed.

[abbey1227]

Jun 11, 2022 3:42:53 GMT Prometheus said:

Yup. But it's still being driven by fear, which means that a fearful society is a polite society. Is that what we want? Do we want to live in fear just so that we can avoid being killed?

Fear is the tool of those in power.

And it works very well on the domesticated masses these days.

I'll stick with my apathy