14Apr/102
4/14/10 Quote
"No one of us is ever safe. There is no security this side of the grave. A shipwreck or a hurricane can put man back to the brink of savagery, both in the means he uses to get his food and the lengths he will go to get it. The more ill-prepared people are to face trouble, the more likely they are to revert to savagery against each other."
-- Novelist Louis L’Amour (1908-1988) from his novel "Bendigo Shafter"
April 14th, 2010 - 16:56
This is brilliant, and very important. We need to get the word out, if for no other reason then for the sake of the next earthquake victims.
April 16th, 2010 - 15:01
Though not entirely without merit, the notion of savagery invoked here warrants some serious undermining. Civilization has only disconnected people from the violence used to get food, not removed it. Both human and nonhuman animals suffer in vast numbers. The civilized person merely employs their economic power to coerce somebody else into doing the dirty work.