Many years ago, in my footloose and fancy-free youth, I travelled to a land at war. One day, as I was walking about the city, I spied upon the presidential (or royal, or some such) palace. Struck by the absurdity of such splendour in the middle of a city ravaged by the poverty of war, I pulled out my camera to take one of the 4 photos I have ever taken.
As I raised my camera, my eye was drawn a gentleman who had begun to cross the street toward me. A gentleman in combat fatigues, a stern look, and a fully automatic weapon, and a very efficient manner in removing the safety from his weapon.
To this day, I do not know exactly what he said, but his intent was clear: "you need to move along, and not take that photo".
He was absolutely correct: he had the firepower to backup his statement, and I would have been stupid to have challenged him.
Over the years, this rule has served me well, and I have often been surprised at how often the threat of violence appears in normal discourse: business, employment, registering my car, crossing international borders, returning books to the library.... each of those represents an instance where I had to remind that no matter how stupid what they were saying was,
They had the backing of superior force, and therefore were correct
As I raised my camera, my eye was drawn a gentleman who had begun to cross the street toward me. A gentleman in combat fatigues, a stern look, and a fully automatic weapon, and a very efficient manner in removing the safety from his weapon.
To this day, I do not know exactly what he said, but his intent was clear: "you need to move along, and not take that photo".
He was absolutely correct: he had the firepower to backup his statement, and I would have been stupid to have challenged him.
Over the years, this rule has served me well, and I have often been surprised at how often the threat of violence appears in normal discourse: business, employment, registering my car, crossing international borders, returning books to the library.... each of those represents an instance where I had to remind that no matter how stupid what they were saying was,
They had the backing of superior force, and therefore were correct