Saturday, December 29, 2007

Point-counterpoint across the millenia

Quoted on a pro-gun website:
"Civilized people are taught by logic, barbarians by necessity, communities by tradition; and the lesson is inculcated even in wild beasts by nature itself. They learn that they have to defend their own bodies and persons and lives from violence of any and every kind by all the means within their power." -- Marcus Tullius Cicero
...And, of course, the best of those means within our power is civilized discourse. It's the reason that, unlike barbarians and wild beasts, we aren't obliged to rip each other to shreds whenever we come face to face on the street.

It's also the reason we have streets.

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