The Tyranny of the Few

"Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest." -- Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi [An Autobiography, pg 446]

The events last week in Newtown Connecticut, and the resulting discussions about gun control, reminds me of how a minuscule number of people have impacted our lives so much. Consider how ...

• one man has caused so much fear for American school children;
• terrorists changed the way that normal people travel on airplanes;
• crazy people with guns are causing grief for sane people who own guns;
• a person tampering with drugs made it hard for people to open medicine bottles;
• malicious hackers make everyone with a computer buy antivirus software;
• weirdo thieves cause people like me to buy identity theft insurance.

Last weekend I drove, instead of walked, to get takeout at the Chinese restaurant down the street simply because it was dark.
Fear impacts us in the most subtle and profound ways. The tyranny of the few cause many of us to do strange things.

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