between my sovereignty and my dependency, A Human Strategy, Matt Berry, aphorism 258

258
I must dust off this line between my sovereignty and my dependency every day.  And I will not let others tell me to “be reasonable” with an encroachment, for it is always their encroachment that demands “reasonable behavior,” while my every move toward independence serves as an excuse for their “retribution”: conquest and the expulsion of my right to myself.  “Be reasonable?”  Let us recall the history of our borders.  I met their external force with my force.  They pressed all points of my sphere inward.  I ceded much, but what I lost in size, I gained in force — until our opposing forces equalized.  This point, where we both stopped, became our border.  But “Be reasonable?”  I have won what little force I have by ceding much too much already.  I won this ground and not by the laws of debate.  I do not claim it by the laws of their institutions, but have it by the laws of nature.  But “Be reasonable?”  What?  Without first examining the behavior of reasoning? I will not surrender an ounce of pressure by opening my mouth in further talk.  This pressure is our agreement.  



A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism



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