Wednesday, January 15, 2014

More on that idiotic quote from Robert Heinlein.

"An armed society is a polite society", which comes from Robert Heinlein’s "Beyond This Horizon" where duels may easily occur when someone feels that they have been wronged or insulted is attributed as a custom that keeps order and politeness. One difference, Heinlein's world had a code where someone who didn't want to duel could wear a yellow ribbon.

That doesn't seem to be the case in the US.

8 comments:

  1. So I'm assuming you didn't like the book?

    "A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.
    Duels in this form were chiefly practiced in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period (19th to early 20th centuries) especially among military officers."
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel

    Another practice that seems to have originated in the more civilized Europe. And interestingly, Heinlein seems to have been what these days would be called a progressive,

    "Heinlein was active in Upton Sinclair's socialist End Poverty in California movement in the early 1930s. When Sinclair gained the Democratic nomination for Governor of California in 1934, Heinlein worked actively in the campaign. Heinlein himself ran for the California State Assembly in 1938, but he was unsuccessful."
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein

    He also had to deal with other peoples' perceptions of sex that seem to be visited upon gun owners.

    "However, he was skeptical about Freudianism, especially after a struggle with an editor who insisted on reading Freudian sexual symbolism into his juvenile novels."

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  2. Look at it this way: The Internet is an unarmed society. Would you refer to it as polite?

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    Replies
    1. Hmmmm, let me think, (drum roll preceding Anon's always enthusiastic entrance.....

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    2. Not when ass holes like you insult female strangers like Sally. Then you wonder why others have no respect for you, what a shit head. Ever heard of giving respect to get respect? NO.

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    3. This from the coward soldier who admits to making shit up, lying.

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    4. Yep, only stating the truth. You admitted you made shit up, lied. Thanks for that. The first honest reply you have made on this site.

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    5. Thanks for proving that you think insulting strangers is being polite. Proving again what asshole lying criminal cowards you are. Love it when you prove me correct. Thanks.

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