Dave Land wrote: > On Nov 30, 2005, at 1:58 PM, Robert J. Chassell wrote: > > > "An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one > > may have to back up his acts with his life." > > -- Robert A. Heinlein, _Beyond the Horizon_, 1942 > > I am not much of a sci-fi fan, and I suspect that there may > be one or > two in this group, so let me ask: Is it Gospel because it is > Heinlein, or can one safely read this and say "what a crock of shit"?
You don't have to be fan of SF to appreciate what he was trying to say. According to my observations, the more lethal the members of a society are, the more emphasis the social norms lay on politeness. As John explained to me in Korea, when a stare is taken as an invitation for verbal abuse, and the wrong tone of voice or wrong body language can spark of fight with black-belts, people learn to be scrupulously polite. Ritu _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
