[luvbach1]

...start mouthing off against what the majority of people believe in at these events, you should expect a crack in the mouth.

Agree with that. Question remains whether any violence against the "mouthing offer" is justified, other than that of police or others appointed to keep order by removing disrupters. Don't think that included big Al.

[RunningJoke]

I think it is. I personally can't stand Al Franken. But, I would let him walk, hell I'll even buy him a drink.

"Almost without exception, social scientists are telling us that Americans are more violent than in the past. They cite statistics. Yet anyone who observe the goings on in the cities with his own eyes knows that it is not so. The American man in the street is now infinitely less pugnacious, less ready to take offense and hit back, than in the past. We used to fight in the streets, in saloons and on the job. You had to watch what you said lest you have your teeth knocked in. But just now the majority of Americans are afraid to open their mouths. They will not get into a fight no matter what you call them or do to them. They are afraid to get angry.

I maintain that it is this unprecedented meekness of the majority that is responsible for the phenomenal increase of violence. Social order is the by-product of an equilibrium between a vigorous majority and violent minorities. There is no reason to believe that the nature of the violent minorities is now greatly different from what it was in the past. What has changed is the will and the ability of the majority to react. I do not think it possible to reform the violent minorities by passing more laws, hiring more policeman or reforming the courts. We can make headway only by activating the majority."