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Feral Quote by Tana French

“In every way there is, murder is chaos. Our job is simple, when you get down to it: we stand against that, for order. I remember this country back when I was growing up. We went to church, we ate family suppers around the table, and it would never even have crossed a kid’s mind to tell an adult to…” quote by Tana French
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““In every way there is, murder is chaos. Our job is simple, when you get down to it: we stand against that, for order. I remember this country back when I was growing up. We went to church, we ate family suppers around the table, and it would never even have crossed a kid’s mind to tell an adult to fuck off. There was plenty of bad there, I don’t forget that, but we all knew exactly where we stood and we didn’t break the rules lightly. If that sounds like small stuff to you, if it sounds boring or old-fashioned or uncool, think about this: people smiled at strangers, people said hello to neighbors, people left their doors unlocked and helped old women with their shopping bags, and the murder rate was scraping zero. Sometime since then, we started turning feral. Wild got into the air like a virus, and it’s spreading. Watch the packs of kids roaming inner-city estates, mindless and brakeless as baboons, looking for something or someone to wreck. Watch the businessmen shoving past pregnant women for a seat on the train, using their 4x4s to force smaller cars out of their way, purple-faced and outraged when the world dares to contradict them. Watch the teenagers throw screaming stamping tantrums when, for once, they can’t have it the second they want it. Everything that stops us being animals is eroding, washing away like sand, going and gone. The final step into feral is murder.””

Tana French

About This Quote

Society once had strong communal norms and low violence, but modern decay of respect and order leads to increasing feral behavior and murder.

In simple terms: Loss of respect leads to chaos and murder.

Key Takeaway

Rebuild community respect and order.

Themes

society order violence

Mood

somber urgent

Type

reflective critical

When to use this quote

  • sociology
  • public policy

Key Concepts

urban decay social cohesion crime trends

Questions to Reflect On

  • What restores community trust?
  • How can we prevent moral erosion?
A Different Perspective

Change is gradual, not sudden.

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