FastSaying

My politics were pretty anarchistic until 1969 when the Montreal police went on strike. Within hours, mayhem and rioting broke out and the Mounties had to be called in to restore order. It instilled in me that one's convictions can be subjected to empirical test.

Steven Pinker

Related Quotes

As many political writers have pointed out, commitment to political equality is not an empirical claim that people are clones.
— Steven Pinker
clonesempiricalequality
Why are empirical questions about how the mind works so weighted down with political and moral and emotional baggage?
— Steven Pinker
AboutBaggageDown
Violent movements attract thugs and firebrands who enjoy the mayhem. Violent tactics provide a pretext for retaliation by the enemy and alienate third parties who might otherwise support the movement.
— Steven Pinker
AlienateAttractEnemy
One of the melancholy facts of political life is that your convictions tend to align with your paycheck.
— Barton Swaim
convictionspolitics
America had, for one thing, lived in anarchy for - until much more recently than Europe. We had the Wild West, where the cliche of the cowboy movies was the nearest sheriff is 90 miles away, and so you had to pack a gun and defend yourself.
— Steven Pinker
AmericaAnarchyAway