Can there really be a force more powerful than Irish dancing?
by Ken
The pen is mightier than the sword, we've been told, and it's a theory, at least. No doubt there have been time when it has been true. There are fewer claims, you'll note, for the superior might of the sword of such weapons as handguns, automatic rifles, conventional bombs, and thermonuclear devices.
You'd think more attention would have been paid to what we might call the Hierarchy of Forces. So as a weekend thought provocation, I thought I would throw out a couple of choice contributions to the literature I've stumbled across.
First there was yesterday's Dilbert. I think we've all noticed Dilbert's Pointy-Headed Boss growing steadily -- um, what's the clinical term? -- nutsier lately. And encountering, at least in his familiar corporate world, depressingly little pushback. And then came this demonstration of force:
[Click to enlarge.]
BUT A FIST, LIKE ANY OTHER WEAPON, HAS TO BE ACTIVATED
And tonight I happened to be watching a rebroadcast on one of my local public TV stations of a 2004 Midsomer Murders called "The Straw Woman," in which DCI Barnaby is enmeshed in a string of murders in the village of Midsomer Parva involving witchcraft, or so the gullible villagers are being led to believe. Naturally this isn't helpful to the inspector in cracking the case, and we find him venting his frustration at one of those famous Barnaby family dinners. His daughter Cully offers this interesting perspective on the subject of witches:
"Everyone needs to have something they can feel good about hating."
And, we might add, something they can feel good about fearing.
SPEAKING OF THE FIST --
Pow!
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