Somebody can't wait to make you a slave.

I'm no scholar. I pretend, but I really don't know much about "the classics." I always find it interesting when someone uses them to base an arguement. When they do, they often expose me to new ideas. And other times they reaquaint me with ideas I have long believed, but had not been able to study.

Lee Harris's (Bio Columns) column about disorder in New Orleans does just that. He makes a good case to say that those who lose battles are likely to end up slaves. Aristotle said it first and he just agreed, but it is illustrates an important point that I have agreed with for a long time. The "big kid" wants to take your "candy" and if there is nothing to stop him, you're screwed; sometimes literally. And that this is a "natural" thing. Though to dispute. Take a look at his offering.

"Contrary to Aristotle's claim, people were not enslaved because they scored low on IQ tests, or because they exhibited a high degree of co-dependency on standardized psychological profiles. They were made slaves because they could be made slaves; they were made slaves because they were too weak and too helpless to defend themselves against the ruthless and heartless warrior elite that happened to come across them."