Willkillforfood said:
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
I knew that quote was going to be brought into this.
I suppose you could argue on the grounds of the word "temporary" or even "essential," but the spirit of the quote is still relevant I believe. I'm growing weary from the trend that people have been following as far as giving up rights for marginally less chance of dying.
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Of all the founding fathers of America, I respect Benjamin Franklin the most. That said, their words should not be our dogma. They may have been brilliant. They may have been right about many things. Their words may have a poetic draw that I can not hope to match. But if what they said
endangers human life, if what they said is discordant with modern life, if what they said is discordant with modern evidence, fuck 'em.
That said, I agree with that quote to a large extent. I wouldn't say that they don't
deserve liberty, and in my opinion
everyone, regardless of how heinous, deserves life, but I agree with the spirit of that quote. But if we're arguing based on that quote, diction is important. Whether or not a liberty is essential is important. If we're fighting to keep unessential liberties and sacrificing life for these unessential liberties, we should quickly come to the realization that we have not made it out of the dark ages quite yet.
I find it so strange that people cry when a close relative dies, but they are quick to dismiss 10,000 deaths per year basically as a small margin of chance. Are we so used to violence that we are that immune to death? If that's the case, God help us.