They are already shooting us with words written on little green pieces of paper.

The pen is only mightier than the sword when it is backed up by swords. In real life, salesmen, priests and bullies take lives already. They have no compunctions against what they do with money, manipulation and torture (have you been to a car dealer lately? it's waterboarding by any other name). Philosophers and other intellectuals have been trying to avoid response abilities because they tell each other that their words are their swords. No. Swords are swords, and in a society based on competition, words lose every time. Words can be effective, but when those with the money have instituted laws that favor bullies and extraction systems that are killing children with poverty and poisons, do you really think words alone are going to change the system?

Barbarism rises because civilians forget the barbarism that it takes to build and maintain civilizations (extracting resources, domesticating the poor, conquering other civilizations, protecting the empire's wealthy, etc).

History is written by people who believe in the Loser Production System that made them comfortable enough to write history books.

Reality is illiterate.