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‘An Armed Society is a Polite Society’ is a phrase I first encountered in the 1948 Science-Fiction novel Beyond This Horizon by Robert A. Heinlein. In the novel a futuristic society populated by eugenically bred and genetically manipulated humans one aspect is that people routinely go about armed and that dueling is not only socially acceptable for socially valued. This society is portrayed as prosperous, civil, and peaceful.

Today American society, while heavily armed, is far from polite. Armed people often brandish and use their firearms for minor altercations and annoyances, to say nothing of the epidemic of mass murder that shows no sign of abating.

 Why is that? Why doesn’t the knowledge that others around you may be very likely carrying lethal firearms promote more caution and deference in our society.

Heinlein himself provides what I believe is the reason that his ‘armed’ society is not a polite and civil one with the quote ‘Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal.’ (Tunnel in the Sky 1955)

I do not know if Heinlein ever reconciled these contradictory sentiments.

The armed society is only polite if it is rational. If the people can calmly, dispassionately recognize that in any incident of violence they are the potential losers. Perhaps only super humans, bred for exceptional intelligence and mental stability, can achieve this armed yet peaceful society.

People are rationalizing. It is rational to wear seatbelts every time to ride on a motor vehicle, but many do not because they have rationalized that they are excellent drivers and will not cause a crash. Vaccines have plenty of evidence for the effectiveness and safety, but people rationalize not getting vaccinated because they will not get sick. It won’t happen to them.

Firearms are subject to the same faulty rationalizations. The viewpoint is not that ‘they’ might use their weapons on me, but I will be safe because I will use my weapons on them. The gun makes me the dominate in the power struggle, it makes me the victor, imposing my will on the dangerous and unpredictable world.

At our hearts humans remain tribal, hierarchal, social creatures for whom social standing is a powerful motivator and the alure of firearms to ‘elevate’ one’s status to a dominate position eradicates most ability to be truly rational.

Of course the irony is that if were coolly rational not only would we not need to be armed to be polite we would no longer even be human.