On the record
The persecuting tendency of all savages, and, indeed, of all ignorant people, is even more striking than their imitative tendency.
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Walter Bagehot
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gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “The persecuting tendency of all savages, and, indeed, of all ignorant people, is even more striking than their imitative…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot highlights the aggressive tendencies of savages and ignorant people, suggesting a correlation with their imitative behavior.
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More from Walter Bagehot
Subject to this saving remark, however, I not only admit, but maintain, that our Constitution is full of curious oddities, which are impeding and mischievous, and ought to be struck out.
These anomalies, in a hundred instances, mark the old boundaries of a constitutional struggle.
The casual line was traced according to the strength of deceased combatants; succeeding generations fought elsewhere; and the hesitating line of a half-drawn battle was left to stand for a perpetual limit.
The lessons are good where its primitive assumptions hold, but may be false where those assumptions fail.
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