Heinlein, was:[NCLUG] Sigs, was:Re: NCLUG LinkedIn Group

[dlc at frii.com]

> On Fri, Oct 12, 2007 at 01:52:47PM -0600, Brian Wood wrote:
>> Chad Perrin wrote:
>>
>> > A close runner-up is:
>> >
>> >   An armed society is a polite society.

  This goes along well with a rather older aphorism:
"Good fences make for good neighbors"

>> > Sadly, that last one is very commonly misunderstood as evoking a sort
>> of
>> > population of Dirty Harry types you're afraid to offend, when the
>> obvious
>> > meaning of it to one who takes the time to consider the matter is more
>> > related to the personal responsibility and discipline that comes from
>> > taking on the burden of self defense as a matter of maturity.  In
>> other
>> > words, it was more a comment on the infantilizing power of the State
>> than
>> > a humorous reference to the danger of calling an armed man a murderer
>> for
>> > carrying a firearm.

  I'm not so sure that he didn't mean it both ways as the "clever" twist
usually associated with a good aphorism (NPR recently had a spot on
famous aphorisms. :)  Your meaning would work quite well in the same
society that had expurgated greed and sloth.  Sadly - humanity has not
yet reached that level of maturity.  He certainly put his finger on one
trend though, the loss of public civility, spot lighted of course by our
politicians who have long since lost the ability to be civil and work
together.

>> > Of course, there's always the humor of the irony in that.  If he
>> really
>> > *was* a murderer at heart, he'd have the means to prove it -- and if
>> you
>> > call him such when he's armed, you obviously don't actually believe
>> that
>> > of him, unless you have a death wish.
>> >
>>
>> I believe Owen Wister put that quite succinctly:
>>
>> "When you call me that, smile"
>>
>> And one of my favorites (from Prof's mouth of course):
>>
>> "But if you *really* believe that your neighbors must have laws for
>> their own good, why shouldn't *you* pay for it?"
>>
>> and
>>
>> "There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does
>> not want merely because *you* think it would be good for him".

or, "The road to hell is paved with Good Intentions."

> Those are most excellent, as quotes go.  I admit part of the reason the
> three I cited as my favorites made that list is that I remember them,
> word for word, whereas others like these I do not.

  There are so many pithy utterings in the world, why is it that I can
never come up with one when I really need to...?

DLC


> --
> CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
> Brian K. Reid: "In computer science, we stand on each other's feet."
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