[lit-ideas] Re: Didn't I tell you so?

Losing an illusion is painful.  A question is how the fantasy of arrogant gun 
toting cowboy may have served you and what the loss of that illusion means.  
Rhetorical questions only.  
   
  Regarding society being based on people taking the law into their own hands, 
that's what they do in Brazil and in our inner cities.  Civilization isn't 
based on economics; it's based on safety that come from law and order.  If we 
can't count on our laws, as they can't in Brazil, there is no society.  Blowing 
people away because you think you're justified is an illusion that quickly 
becomes anarchy.  It's too bad you don't believe that.
   
  

Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
  Andy: I'm guessing that your Brazilian friends are 
disappointed that in the U.S. everyone doesn't really swing 
from building to building.

No I was disappointed and chastened that others view us not 
as arrogant cowboys, but as timid and docile bureaucratic 
types.

That "American gun-toting cowboy" label is tough to live 
with, and even tougher to live without. I felt as though I 
had lost something when I realized we weren't thought to be 
arrogant gun-toting cowboys. All this time I thought we were 
the gun-toting cowboys. I missed being thought of as a 
gun-toting cowboy, especially when the other option was the 
docile bureaucrat obsessed with permission and consensus.


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