[lit-ideas] Re: Didn't I tell you so?
- From: Andy <min.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 10:01:32 -0700 (PDT)
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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