Cesare Beccaria wrote “An Essay on Crimes and Punishments” in 1764. Before John Lott statistically showed it, Beccaria wrote how it is that restrictive gun laws have the opposite effect as intended: they actually increase murder rates. Because some of the things he wrote made others mad, Beccaria had to be willing to endure their contempt.
In a paragraph (bottom one below) that is one of the more beautiful paragraphs ever written by humankind, Beccaria says this:
In order to accept The Beccaria Challenge, you can recite this out loud:
I, [state your name], do hereby and solemnly swear to be willing to accept the possibility of earning the contempt of my fellow human beings if, upon doing so, I will be able to spare at least one person from the agonies of death due to either tyranny or dangerous ignorance.
While writing this, I just said the words out loud — i.e., I just took The Beccaria Challenge (on Tuesday, 27 Feb 2024).
If someone you know happens to be thinking about giving up on the fight for the good of humanity, because things look so dire, then gently invite them to take The Beccaria Challenge.
Reference
[full text of An Essay on Crimes and Punishments] — Online Library of Liberty. https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/voltaire-an-essay-on-crimes-and-punishments
Great post. Thank you.