Men show at least as much zeal in mischief as in well doing, in folly as in wisdom. The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people that they will have a chance of maltreating someone. Men must be bribed to build up and do good by the offer of an opportunity to hurt and pull down. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior ‘righteous indignation’ — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.
Aldous Huxley
“We’re human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands, but we can stop it! We can admit that we’re killers, but we’re not going to kill…today. That’s all it takes… knowing that we’re not going to kill, today.” – “A Taste of Armageddon”
Aldous Huxley died three years before the dawn of the Star Trek era. What would the author of Brave New World have thought of James Tiberius Kirk? I wonder.