That's a process that seems to be continuing, but if it outstrips behavior by the standards of the day, things always look more barbaric than they would have been by historic standards. So today, we get exercised -- and rightly so -- if a handful of murderers get executed by lethal injection in Texas after a 15-year appeal process. We don't consider that a couple of hundred years ago, they may have been burned at the stake for criticizing the king after a trial that lasted 10 minutes, and indeed, that that would have been repeated over and over again. Today, we look at capital punishment as evidence of how low our behavior can sink, rather than how high our standards have risen.
Taj se proces, izgleda, nastavlja, ali ako pretiće ponašanje u odnosu na suvremene standarde, stvari uvijek izgledaju barbarskije nego što bi bile po povijesnim mjerilima. Stoga se danas uznemirujemo - i to s pravom - ako se nekoliko ubojica pogubi smrtonosnom injekcijom u Teksasu nakon 15-ogodišnjeg žalbenog postupka. Ne uzimamo u obzir činjenicu da bi prije nekoliko stoljeća možda bili spaljeni na lomači zbog kritiziranja kralja nakon suđenja koje bi trajalo 10 minuta - i da bi se to uvijek iznova ponavljalo. Danas smrtnu kaznu smatramo dokazom niske razine na koju se naše ponašanje može spustiti, umjesto dokaza kako su se naši standardi povisili.