"The parable of the great banquet, in which the diners’ arms are splinted and fitted with forks four feet long so that they cannot reach the food up to their mouths, leads to the obvious solution of the diners feeding each other and then hunting down and punishing whoever set up this diabolical torture so that it cannot happen to others. After all, they’re armed. But though we all think it, I have never seen the ‘punishment’ phase of the operation suggested in print. Our manners make for tragedy. The same dulling of character that ensures people turn upon each other instead of an oppressor also ensures their subsequent explanation doesn’t have much reach."

http://unbound.co.uk/books/heart-of-the-original/