Self-restraint in the community

Usually I put quotes in the Daily Writer blog, but the following one seemed particularly relevant here in light of this incident reported in the Otago Daily Times today.

A community identifies itself by an understood mutuality of interests. But it lives and acts by the common virtues of trust, goodwill, forbearance, self-restraint, compassion, and forgiveness. If it hopes to continue long as a community, it will wish to--and will have to--encourage respect for all its members, human and natural. Such a community has the power--not invariably but as a rule--to enforce decency without litigation. It has the power, that is, to influence behavior.

Wendell Berry
Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community