Arrogant men of today's world
"Consider the man on horseback, and I have
been a man on horseback for most of my life.
Well, mostly he is a good man, but there is a
change in him as soon as he mounts. Every
man on horseback is an arrogant man, however
gentle he may be on foot. The man in the
automobile is one thousand times as dangerous.
I tell you, it will engender absolute selfishness
in mankind if the driving of automobiles
becomes common. It will breed violence on a
scale never seen before. It will mark the end of
the family as we know it, the three or four
generations living happily in one home. It will
destroy the sense of neighborhood and the true
sense of Nation. It will create giantized cankers
of cities, false opulence of the suburbs, ruinized
countryside, and unhealthy conglomerations of
specialized farming and manufacturing. It will
make every man a tyrant."
--R.A. Lafferty
Mr. Lafferty's testimonial was written in the late
nineteenth century. His views were considered
alarmist and foolish in his day.
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