Policemen are seldom tried for their crimes, or indeed, held responsible for what they do, which disturbs the peace and causes distress among the orderly.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the lack of accountability for law enforcement actions, highlighting a societal issue.
Gore Vidal's quote reflects on the troubling reality that police officers often escape scrutiny for their actions, even when those actions disrupt societal harmony and cause suffering. It raises important questions about justice, accountability, and the social contract, suggesting a disconnect between law enforcement and the principles they are meant to uphold.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about police reform.
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
for we are inquiring not in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, since otherwise our inquiry would have been of no use
We have a memory cut in pieces. And I write trying to recover our real memory, the memory of humankind, what I call the human rainbow, which is much more colorful and beautiful than the other one, the other rainbow.
It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the Moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.
I believe that we must maintain pride in the knowledge that the actions we take, based on our own decisions and choices as individuals, link directly to the magnificent challenge of transforming human history.
From meetings and partings none can ever escape. Nor from magic.
At times it seems as if arranging to have no commitment of any kind to anyone would be a special freedom. But in fact the whole idea works in reverse. The most deadly commitment of all is to be committed only to one's self. Some come to realize this after they are in the nursing home.
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