> But nobody thinks it’s possible to lock away every loon
> without also locking away those perceived as merely odd
> or eccentric.
I grew up in a city, attending elementary school in the 1950s. There were plenty of “eccentric” folks in the neighborhood. However, the authorities were able to distinguish the “eccentric” from the “lunatic”. Lunatics were locked away in asylums and sanitariums. Child molesters, kidnappers and murderers were routinely and swiftly executed. In my state, it was the electric chair.
We started every elementary school day with the 23rd Psalm, the Pledge of Allegiance, and a little song, “Good Morning to You”. We had Jews, Catholics and Protestants in the classrooms. Nobody complained.
We played in the playgrounds for hours on end. Went skating on the various swamps and ponds after school. None of us had any way to communicate with our parents while we were outside of the home. If we were invited to eat supper at a friend’s house, we had to go home first and clear it with our parents.
Nobody ever approached us to harm us, except to chase us off where we were trespassing. Our school crossing policeman was armed.
Yeah, we had bullies. We called each other names, often based on ethnicity or religion. We had fist fights after school sometimes. Nobody ever flashed a knife or a gun. Ever. Many of us had guns in the home. Some were prominently displayed on racks in the parlor. In all my youth, I never heard of a burglary in our neighborhood. Never.
What changed?
Well, the war against God changed it all.
If you don’t have an objective, transcendent, external standard, a Truth that is true whether you like it or not, whether you believe it or not, whether you even know it or not, then you have no basis upon which to judge evil and acknowledge good.
At least the officials in charge claimed to be able to tell eccentric from dangerous loon.
God or not (and infinitely better with, but that is beside the immediate point) it is not within the purview of mortals to read all other mortals’ minds. Not every possible dangerous loon went to an asylum (many of which weren’t all that humane for the Godliness that was being trumpeted at the time, which is not to God’s shame but to man’s) and not every possible one can. So back-up procedures are necessary in a sane society.
Same here.
The day we were told we would not be saying prayer in class anymore is a day I well remember. What was wrong if we couldn't say a prayer...and later, the Pledge. Why was it OK one day and not the next?
Some things you still remember that happened a long time ago - like no Prayer or Pledge in class anymore - stick with you all the years later.
Maybe it seemed to me, a little kid, that something was going to go wrong. It felt...wrong.