Social Consensus Quotes
See Walter Reynolds {32317} for a later English version. Also, Alcuin of York {593018} and William Tecumseh Sherman for an opposite view using a similar phrase. Hesiod's seems to be the earliest version of this idea that is with us today.
See Otis Singletary for a similar modern view
He was commenting on a proposal many in public health were making of using modern technology, genetic and chemical, to wipe out the mosquito population and thereby eliminate Zika and Malaria, along with other mosquito carried diseases which do terrible damage to humans worldwide. There are some who regard the extinction of a species as a major moral and ethical conundrum. Others worry about the effect on other species if there were no mosquitos. There are many other species, including some birds and fish, that feed on mosquitos and their larvae. The in turn might become endangered or also extinct.
Bradlaugh was an atheist and refused to take his oath on a Bible or swear to God. He offered to make an affirmation. The issue was debated for 6 years and finally resolved in Bradlaugh’s favor. The right to affirm instead of take a religious oath is now settled American and English law.
See Walter Reynolds for a much earlier expression.
An excellent example of this occurred in the first decades of the 21st century. At the beginning if the century, the majority of Americans were clearly opposed to the idea of same-sex / gay marriage. By 2008, the population was evenly split, for and against. By 2014 the majority of Americans were clearly in favor of same-sex marriage and it had been legalized in more than a dozen states.
