From The Book “
Vimes appeared in front of them like a whirlwind of wrath.
You scum, you rat-sucking little worm eaters! You headsdown little scurriers in the dark! What did you bring to my city? What were you thinking? Did you want the deep-downers here? Did you dare deplore what Hamcrusher said, all that bile and ancient lies? Or did you say ‘Well, I don’t agree with him, of course, but he’s got a point’? Did you say, ‘Oh he goes too far but it’s about time somebody said it’? And now, have you come in here to wring your hands and say how dreadful, it was nothing to do with you? Who were the dwarfs in the mobs, then? Aren’t you community leaders? Were you leading them? And why are you here now, you ugly snivelling grubbers? Is it possible, is it possible, that now, after that bastard’s bodyguards tried to kill my family, you’re here to complain? Have I broken some code, trodden on some ancient toe? To hell with it. To hell with you.
…
‘They killed my son,’ said Ironcrust.
A knife dropped into Vimes’s head. It slipped down his windpipe, sliced his heart, cut through his stomach and disappeared.
Where the rage had been, there was chill.”
Bought this last night, as I of course buy all his books immediately upon sighting (since about 1985, eeek! tempus fugiting all over the place…), nearly finished now. As far as I can recall it is actually the first of his books to mention me (page 301), which is nice 🙂
There’s a quote, can’t remeber who from:
“When you declare war, remember that the people you fight against and kill, are your enemy’s victims.”
Perhaps this is why it is so essential to dehumanise and demonise them beforehand.