Our Modern Barbarism and Its Preconceptions

As long as there exists a widespread presumption of honesty and goodwill on the part of politicians, bureaucrats and the military - i.e., non-productive, monopolistic wielders of coercion - and a widespread presumption of deceit and inconsiderate selfishness on the part of businessmen and entrepreneurs - i.e., non-coercive producers and suppliers of all the goods humankind needs for its survival and development - it cannot be said that we, as a species, have successfully shed our primeval heritage of tribal barbarism. For the time being, the widespread belief that it is the duty of those belonging to the former category to control those belonging to the latter by means of coercive violence and threats thereof is a sobering testimony to the amount of distance that we still need to traverse to get beyond the savage stage.