cthia wrote:I also wasn't aware that I couldn't post a bit-o-humor. Or is that just not an option for... cthia? Cthia, who has cause to have much joy in his life, and who's not angry at the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees.
I know for a fact that's not true, but carry on.
[/quote]The fact that smr calls for a bit of decorum as well, has nothing to do with me. Both of our efforts have to do with how we were raised, I suspect. Certainly in my case. I don't suppose it frightens him anymore than it does me. It just makes me VERY THANKFUL for my parents. And I'm sure that he knows that posts like this, is not a reflection on us. [/quote]
Personally, I was raised to believe that injustice and inequalities are things to be fought, golden calves meant to be slaughtered and traditions to be questioned. Like, for example, that golden calf that you guys call the second amendment, or the tradition of gun ownership, or the injustices and inequalities that lead you to believe that gun ownership is something precious and necessary.
Civility, like Popper said so elegantly, is reserved for those who would be civil. Not those who, like smr, hide behind civility to mask their ugliness and bigotry.
At any rate, you end up telling me to wait until I'm ready to engage a post. Yet, that's what I thought I was doing. Not that I needed your permission. It's common sense. But thanks for your permission anyways. In case I needed it and wasn't aware of it.
Where I'm coming from, wasting time on a post that is just so much empty waffling and ending it with "I'll respond properly next time" is considered a waste of everyone's time.
But then, I've grown up with the internet whereas you only adopted it.
What sense does it make for gcomeau to get upset because I responded to another poster before responding to him? Then his daddy(?) coming to the rescue and telling me I should wait until I'm ready, literally after explaining to him I didn't because I needed some time, because of prior commitments? What business do yo think it is of yours when I respond to someone else anyway? (Please don't think you can explain that.)
You are acting as if this is a private conversation. It isn't. A private conversation is done over private messages. This is public; if you do not want me to read your posts or have opinions on them, then you need to engage the people you want to engage in private. Not here, in a thread.
And yes, I do think it is highly arrogant to think a non-American can tell an American about gun control and gun ownership in America when you haven't a clue about being American or have lived or grown up in America, along with the many other disconnects a non-American has made about life. In America.
You know, the dominance of american pop culture everywhere in the western world kinda undermines that argument. I'm sure that there are nuances to be missed, but on the face of it, all the traditional arguments for widespread gun ownership and easy access to firearms fall apart very quickly even if we're only considering data from your country. They fall apart even quicker once we get into comparisons with other, similarly developed countries and cultures.
Albeit, it would be much much much much much much worse if I would try to pull off the same thing about a very important political issue in Germany, France or any other foreign country. Why, because cthia knows better. Yet, I would bet on myself, without hesitation, to be the single person on this forum to have traveled and seen as much of other countries and exposed to other cultures. I still wouldn't be that arrogant.
See what I mean? The rest of the world knows a lot about America, because american media and american domestic politics are things the rest of us kinda do need to look at and worry about just to be prepared for the next stupid thing you guys think about doing that might spill over into the rest of the world.
The reverse is not true. Americans, by virtue of being citizens of the currently dominant hegemon of the western world, do not need to care about the rest of the world; Hell, a large part of the american self-image is defined by how much common folk neither need nor want to care about anything beyond your immediate surroundings.
Everyone wasn't raised the same. Sometimes I simply have to consider the source. I'm sure you'll blame me for my posts souring, despite it was instigated by gcomeau. And now by you. Albeit I'm accustomed to it from you and have come to expect no more. I'm sure your response won't surprise me. I'm sure I'll ignore it.
I'm sure you will.
At any rate, I would think that most people would know enough to be thankful to discuss guns in America, with an American, and that they would know to be respectful enough that said American would even want to engage non-Americans in this area, since he has many a dilemma wrestling with the idiots in his own country over it, to have any desire or willingness at all, to repeat and rinse with outsiders.
There's quite a few more americans to talk to about this topic. Most of them I met are rather more level-headed and aware of the realities of gun ownership in the US than you are.
But hey, I'm not infallible either.
Interesting statement.
