Pragmatic Villainy: Difference between revisions
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*** This is a specific example of what political scientists call "stationary banditry". It recurs time and again and cynics say it is the origin of government (indeed it is almost certainly one of them) as we know it. A plunderer will realize that it is more profitable to park himself on a rich territory and take protection fees than to go raiding. The disadvantage of having to prove oneself in warfare is made up for by the regular income and dispensing with the inconveniences of nomadic life. After a generation or two the stationary bandit will often partially [[Going Native|go native]] and simply be an [[Blue Blood|aristocrat]] assuming success. Stationary bandits come from a variety of sources. The more "popular" (if that is the word) warlords of the Chinese Civil War would qualify, as would the House of Sforza which were once [[Private Military Contractors|Condottieri]] that arranged a coup in an Italian city-state. |
*** This is a specific example of what political scientists call "stationary banditry". It recurs time and again and cynics say it is the origin of government (indeed it is almost certainly one of them) as we know it. A plunderer will realize that it is more profitable to park himself on a rich territory and take protection fees than to go raiding. The disadvantage of having to prove oneself in warfare is made up for by the regular income and dispensing with the inconveniences of nomadic life. After a generation or two the stationary bandit will often partially [[Going Native|go native]] and simply be an [[Blue Blood|aristocrat]] assuming success. Stationary bandits come from a variety of sources. The more "popular" (if that is the word) warlords of the Chinese Civil War would qualify, as would the House of Sforza which were once [[Private Military Contractors|Condottieri]] that arranged a coup in an Italian city-state. |
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* Religious freedom (as opposed to governmental indifference) did not at first begin as a high-minded belief in the dignity of man or his right to make his own mistakes or whatever. It began when the rulers of Europe realized that while having theological debates in a Seminary was fun for those with a bent that way, doing it with musket balls was getting nowhere. And that everyone wanted to get on with important things like making money and amassing power. While it is true there were Philosophers who thought force was the wrong way to go about convincing people those were comparatively rare for a long time. It was only after force was found useless that it became a popular ideal. |
* Religious freedom (as opposed to governmental indifference) did not at first begin as a high-minded belief in the dignity of man or his right to make his own mistakes or whatever. It began when the rulers of Europe realized that while having theological debates in a Seminary was fun for those with a bent that way, doing it with musket balls was getting nowhere. And that everyone wanted to get on with important things like making money and amassing power. While it is true there were Philosophers who thought force was the wrong way to go about convincing people those were comparatively rare for a long time. It was only after force was found useless that it became a popular ideal. |
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**Similarly limited government and rule of law among English-speaking peoples is a result of the fact that the crown, the nobles, the clergy, the rich merchants, and the "middling sort" came to a rough stalemate in the Eighteenth century after a history marked by bloody civil wars. |
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* Abolitionism was a zig-zag. It was popular as early as the eighteenth century, and traces of it are found in the Christian Middle Ages: some [[Your Mileage May Vary|might argue]] that there were hints of it even before. But it did not come to fruition until the Commercial and Industrial revolutions made voluntary labor more profitable anyway. On the other hand a lot of abolitionists had no gain and considerable sacrifice for it. And of course slavery is not really going away so long as someone is tempted to get free labor and strong enough to carry out his desire. It has been pushed out of respectable society into being the mark of criminality or barbarism at least. But it has to be admitted that a large part of the reason is that it is less practical economically. |
* Abolitionism was a zig-zag. It was popular as early as the eighteenth century, and traces of it are found in the Christian Middle Ages: some [[Your Mileage May Vary|might argue]] that there were hints of it even before. But it did not come to fruition until the Commercial and Industrial revolutions made voluntary labor more profitable anyway. On the other hand a lot of abolitionists had no gain and considerable sacrifice for it. And of course slavery is not really going away so long as someone is tempted to get free labor and strong enough to carry out his desire. It has been pushed out of respectable society into being the mark of criminality or barbarism at least. But it has to be admitted that a large part of the reason is that it is less practical economically. |
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