In two essays written in the 1940s, George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm, first wrote:
[Kipling] sees clearly that men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilized, are there to guard and feed them.
Three years later he wrote:
Those who ‘abjure’ violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf.
These led columnist Richard Grenier to pen the words that today are attributed to Orwell, and which certainly capture what Orwell believed. Grenier wrote:
As George Orwell pointed out, people sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
Regardless of guilt or innocence, the Chauvin verdict will cause the “rough men” (and women) of American law enforcement to rethink their willingness to “do violence” on our behalf. If your sleep isn’t less peaceful tonight, you misunderstand the negative effect leashing the sheepdogs has on the safety of the flock (i.e., you and me).
