Be wary of anything that seems to suggest that social pathology or social evil must lead, or must even tend to lead, to social collapse. Civilisation can roll f

Be wary of anything that seems to suggest that social pathology or social evil must lead, or must even tend to lead, to social collapse. Civilisation can roll from strength to strength, serene and happy and proud in itself, while (sometimes even because) the marginal, unloved, non-compliant or just unlucky are crushed pitilessly and unceasingly beneath its wheels. In fact that's the normal state of affairs. Providing examples from US history is left as an exercise for the reader: and that's not to suggest that the US is very much, or perhaps even at all, exceptional in its historical level of social brutality.