Armed America

[Aliantha]

ditto

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Nice feint. The question was: are you afraid of those things. Are you?

I'm not afraid of things. It's people that worry me. Including people who wish to disarm me, while claiming they are "civilized".

Now I've answered your question, it's your turn.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

ditto

If you're going to agree with or dispute something, you'd probably better quote it. Otherwise we just see these standalone responses whose referents are unclear.

[Aliantha]

I was refering to you Maggie as you well know, unless you really are that obtuse.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

I was refering to you Maggie as you well know, unless you really are that obtuse.

With "ditto"? Which of my postings?

I'm not being obtuse, you're being obscure. When two people are reading and posting at once, the order in which posts appear can be confusing.

[Aliantha]

Don't worry about it Maggie. It's not worth my time bothering with you.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Elspode

. . .I'm pretty damn Liberal compared to Maggie and UG. . . Liberal enough to not want the police and the army to be the only ones in my country who have guns. It strikes me as unfair.

Very well said, Elspode. I wish all those who call themselves liberals had your abundant common sense.

I won't quote xoxoBruce's post, but it's also one that shows why I think he's smart. Kudos is in order.

Remember, everyone (and especially you, Spexx): Spexxvet is not rational on the subject of killing tools. He refuses to learn anything at all on the subject, preferring to stay swaddled in his maladaptive fantasies, never understanding whenever this is possible the evils that are firmly supported by his entire thinking on the matter. Were he ever to understand arms as they should be understood, his entire intellectual ediface on the topic would come crashing about his ears, and he lives in apparent terror of this. It's a great pity, because were his ediface to collapse and reality be allowed to shine its glorious ray in, he'd become a much better citizen of this Republic than he is now, with his pro-crime and pro-genocide views, not consciously known to him but evident in his posts.

I, of course, have neither of these maladaptive views.

This is fortunate, as it keeps me from committing crimes against humanity and being tried and hanged at The Hague. Spexxvet, unfortunately, has no such luck.

The willing eschewal of violence may be quite civilized indeed, but it cannot be relied upon, human free will being what it is. Every generation of man starts from the same baseline, with the very same percentage of those with violent predelictions. Essentially, every generation must undertake to purge the brutes from itself: there are very few assy grandfathers, but more than a few assy twentysomethings, isn't that so? They either convert to something better or they die, inbetween measures like imprisonment going without saying. Again, every generation has those who are not willing to "resolve conflict nonviolently," and there is no prospect of an end to this. The reason being that evolution takes no notice of civilization.

Gun people appreciate civilization more than nongun people -- for they can defend it regardless of the level of violence the uncivilized bring to bear on it. The likes of Spexx run out of effect if the baddies bring anything more frightful or efficient than a thrown rock.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Well, Ali, you just admitted defeat: "it's not worth my time" is left-code for "my idea can't persuade you, for you've got the better one."

And we know this even if you don't or can't. We understand BBS psychology and human shiftiness.

[Ibby]

There's a biiiig difference between "my idea can't persuade you, for you've got the better one." and "my idea can't persuade you, for you've convinced yourself far past rational arguments can"...

[Ibby]

Guns don't scare me. People who are obsessed with them do, the same way that corpses dont scare me but people who fuck them do. Anyone who is that downright religious about their guns just puts me on edge, makes me wary, the same way someone who raises pit bulls or carries chainsaws does. They may be perfectly sane, but if they turn out not to be, or flip out, or convince themselves that all 'communists' need to die...
Fuck.

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

Well, Ali, you just admitted defeat: "it's not worth my time" is left-code for "my idea can't persuade you, for you've got the better one."

And we know this even if you don't or can't. We understand BBS psychology and human shiftiness.

No, that's not it UG. I'm not responsible for teaching Maggie basic comprehension of text. If she can't understand what's clearly written before her, she'll need to go get herself an education elsewhere.

[Flint]

If she can't understand what's clearly written before her...

You mean this?

ditto

Originally Posted by Aliantha

Anyone who isn't wary around nail guns should probably rethink their position. Those things can be very dangerous...by accident even.

I agree, and that is my point... you don't see people organizing around the idea of "banning" them because they are "dangerous" all on their own. No tool is.

As far as the civilized thing goes, there is not one civilized nation on this planet without gun ownership of some kind.
This Civilized nation was founded on the ideal of individuality, not the socialist cooperative.
For those who are Americans, it is the most Civilized concept.
This is why an individual's right is always more important than the comfort of the masses, all of our Amendments are there to ensure that that ideal is protected in EVERY way.
As I have stated before, it takes a special person to be free... you have to put up with your neighbor's freedom and you may not like what he says and does any more than he may like what you say and do. Freedom means tolerance, if you don't have it, you need to find a place where they don't require it.
This is not a "love it or leave it" statement. I have no issue with change in the law... but basic concepts in what a nation stands-for, no. Particularly, what I think are good, very good, ideas.
Free speech can be pesky too, let's get rid of that also...
If we outlaw guns it will have no effect on criminal gun ownership... it is just feel-good politics to divert attention from real problems that politicians could actually help with, but are unwilling to because of their controversy or cost. Some of you have just bought into it.

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Willingly becoming peaceful IS being civilized. Resolving conflict non-violently IS civilized.

I keep stating this... if you don't like guns, don't buy one. Nothing keeps one from this inaction.
In fact if you don't own a gun, congratulations!!!!

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

Don't worry about it Maggie. It's not worth my time bothering with you.

You posted "And your point is?" and "Ditto." in two consecutive posts. Prior to that were three of my posts replying to three other comments in the thread, each identified with an excerpted quote. Each post had a point you either might have missed ("And your point is?"), or agreed with ("Ditto.").

If you can't be bothered to write clearly, then at least try not to clutter up the thread with unintelligible noise, and then blame the resulting confusion on others.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Of course, were we talking about George Bush, I could scream "He's a liar!" and all the BushBashers would nod sagely. Here my much more limited claim was "Shawnee is spreading misinformation", and your response is "Not really". :-)

Nice segue, oh great and omniscient one.

No agenda there.