““I’m afraid not. According to the law, you must leave here at once.”
“But they’ll kill me!”
“That’s very true,” Frendlyer said. “Unfortunately, it can’t be helped. A victim, by definition, is one who is to be killed.”
“I thought this was a protective organization.”
“It is. But we protect rights, not victims. Your rights are not being violated.“”

—  Robert Sheckley, book The Status Civilization

Source: The Status Civilization (1960), Chapter 3 (p. 19)

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Robert Sheckley114
American writer 1928–2005

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