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OT- Rules of Gunfighting
In article ,
says...
Heinlein was an optimist - even to the point of being irresponsibly
optimistic about human nature, and about the homogeneity of motivations
that drive six billion individual people.
In my view, the more we encourage everybody to be dangerous, the
more total danger there will be. That doesn't mean I'm not concerned
about the dangers that already exist. I just don't think that adding
more fuel to the fire will cause it to burn itself out without also
destroying the whole house. I'm still hoping that parts of the house
might be saved by the skillful use of some water or a fire extinguisher.
KG
If you're going to critique an author you should become more familiar
with the nature as well as the content of his work.
Heinlein was never reluctant to state loudly and often that the primary
reason he wrote was to make money. While an author can, (and most do),
have a personal philosophy to push, those who don't want to get a second
job to put groceries on the table subordinate that urge and write what
the market will buy. Try to get a copy of "Grumbles from the Grave", a
collection of his correspondence published after his death.
His notion that "An armed society is a polite society" dates back to a
time when America was a predominately agrarian society and the practice
of being publicly armed was much more common. Despite all the tales of
the "wild west" the average person was much safer then. If you weren't
in a saloon arguing with some drunk cowpoke over a doxy, your chances of
getting shot were practically nil. A criminal who *survived* three bank
holdups was still the stuff of legends a hundred years later. People for
the most part were honest and non-violent because those around them were
armed and not going to tolerate criminal acts. The fastest, most
ruthless gun slinger, still had to make some concessions in his behavior.
No matter how smugly certain he was in his skills, he had to face the
fact that while he might be able to take *anybody*, not even the fastest
could take *everybody*.
Later,
Joe
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