"The society of the late 20th century America is perhaps the first in human
history where most grown men do not routinely bear arms on their persons, and
boys are not regularly raised from childhood to learn skill in the use of some
kind of weapon, either for community or personal defense. Ours also happens to
be one of the rudest and crudest societies in history, having jubilantly swept
most of the etiquette of speech, table, dress, hospitality, regard for fairness,
deference to authority, and the relations of male and female and child and elder
under the fraying and filthy carpet of politically convenient illusions. With
little fear of physical reprisal, Americans can be as loud, gross,
disrespectful, pushy, and negligent as they please. If more people carried
rapiers at their belts or revolvers on their hips it is a fair bet that you
would be able to go to a movie and enjoy the dialogue from the screen without
having to endure the small talk, family gossip, and assorted bodily noises that
many theater audiences these days regularly emit."
Samuel Francis, in
"Chronicles"
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