Today we take it for granted that war happens in smaller, poorer and more backward countries.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the common perception that wars occur predominantly in less developed nations.
Steven Pinker highlights a critical observation about modern perceptions of warfare, suggesting that many people believe conflicts are confined to smaller, economically struggling nations. This mindset may overlook the complexities of global dynamics and the historical factors that contribute to war, as well as the responsibility of more developed nations in these conflicts.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about international relations to highlight misconceptions about global conflicts.
The foundation of individual rights is the assumption that people have wants and needs and are authorities on what those wants and needs are. If people's stated desires were just some kind of erasable inscription or reprogrammable brainwashing, any atrocity could be justified.
The linguistic clumsiness of tourists and students might be the price we pay for the linguistic genius we displayed as babies, just as the decrepitude of age in the price we pay for the vigor of youth.
If we are not to abandon values such as peace and equality, or our commitments to science and truth, then we must pry these values away from claims about our psychological makeup that are vulnerable to being proven false.
We adults protect ourselves with laws, police, workplace regulations and social norms and there is no conceivable reason why children should be left more vulnerable, other that laziness or callousness in considering what life is like from their point of view.
The idea that children are passive repositories to be shaped by their parents has been massively overstated. A child's peer group is a far greater determinant of its development and achievements than parental aspiration.
Reason is non-negotiable. Try to argue against it, or to exclude it from some realm of knowledge, and you've already lost the argument, because you're using reason to make your case. ... We don't "believe" in reason.
Of the tyrant, spies and informers are the principal instruments. War is his favorite occupation, for the sake of engrossing the attention of the people, and making himself necessary to them as their leader.
Every man is a missionary, now and forever, for good or for evil, whether he intends or designs it or not. He may be a blot radiating his dark influence outward to the very circumference of society, or he may be a blessing spreading benediction over the length and breadth of the world. But a blank he cannot be: there are no moral blanks; there are no neutral characters.
Human nature is so constituted, that all see and judge better in the affairs of other men than in their own.
Remember, purpose is about giving...All you can do with your life is to give it away in the service of others.
We dedicated ourselves to a powerful idea - organic law rather than naked power. There seems to be universal acceptance of that idea in the nation.
To will is human, to will the bad is of fallen nature, but to will the good is of Grace.
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