Simi Valley Sophist

The Simi Valley Sophist ruminates on all manner of topics from the micro to the macro. SVS travels whatever path strikes his fancy. Encyclopedia Britannica: Sophist "Any of certain Greek lecturers, writers, and teachers in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, most of whom travelled about the Greek-speaking world giving instruction in a wide range of subjects in return ..."

About Me

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Location: California, United States

Retired: 30years law enforcement-last 20 years Criminal Intelligence Detective.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Degraded State of Patriotic Feeling

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much more. The person who has nothing he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

It is not hard to find better men. The question is, why are there so many lesser men? Now that so many people go to college, could it partially be because the majority of the professors of liberal arts and humanities are "miserable creatures" themsleves?

posted by Paul Coambs | 6:45 AM