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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
It still wouldn't be the most depressing Kickstarter out there.
Honestly that would surprise me, not because things aren't that bad but a bullet proof backpack would probably be rather heavy and expensive.
It's an idea that neatly represents the lunacy of the American firearms status-quo but isn't practical enough to actually happen.
I know what you mean, though for me it's less hatred and more soul deadened weariness.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Aug 18th 2018 at 9:31:11 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
There's no doubt about it at this point. I also feel like gun violence is becoming the new big threat, the way nuclear war was in the Cold War and terrorism was in the late nineties and post 9/11. I've even mulled over creating a comic book character with a mass shooting in her backstory like how Magneto was a victim of the Holocaust.
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Honestly it's not. At all.
Nuclear warfare was a clear and existential threat to civilization.
Terrorism is more comparable but it's still worse in that terrorism can cause very real damage directly through the obvious means and indirectly through causing ill-advised and hysterical societal decisions.
Gun deaths are a very real issue with a large human cost but it's not really comparable to the others.
Oh... ok.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Aug 18th 2018 at 9:52:29 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangJust had an interesting conversation with one of my more conservative customers (elderly, 70s or 80s for reference) - they've become completely disillusioned with Trump because of his various antics. As to whether that translates into voting for a non-Republican I have no idea, but hopefully he's not alone.
Eh, yes and no - as I quoted from the article, the constant shootings are inflicting psychological harm, possibly worse than actual terrorism does to the US, due to terroristic events being comparatively few and far between.
Edited by ironballs16 on Aug 18th 2018 at 6:59:02 AM
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"They might stay home, and Trump's voting base being in the elderly means a good portion of them will simply die before they have a chance to vote for him.
Voting for a Democrat is probably outside the realm of possibility.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."I suppose that's a fair point, it can be compared to terrorism.
But I hold to my position that comparing it to nuclear warfare is a bridge too far, the threats are completely different in scale and should not be compared for rationalism's sake.
In electoral democracy one will never get significant numbers of the opposition’s loyalists to vote for oneself, rather the goal should be driving down their turnout and getting them to stay home. Every Trump voter that stays home is a victory for us.
Your sig is universally relevant
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Aug 18th 2018 at 10:25:54 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangHonestly I don't see the value anymore in trying to actually change peoples minds. Every face to face political discussion I've ever been a part of felt like one side saying "OTHER SIDE BAD!!!!!" that I just don't have it in me to even try.
Think what you will of me for it, but I recently turned down a call from the local Democrat parties to do door-knocking and so on. I sincerely was not prepared to entertain the idea.
I'm not saying it's the same as nuclear warfare, just that it elicits a more raw fear than terrorism among Generation Z because it's an immediate, tangible threat the way Nuclear war was in the cold war. Many of said generation (including myself) were toddlers during most of The War On Terror so terrorism's more of a distant threat.
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What people are you talking about?
Republicans? Independents? Democrats?
Obviously the partisan cannot be convinced but that just goes to my earlier point that the goal should be to depress their turnout not get them to vote for us.
Not to mention that it's not even universally true. For example to quote the vox article
about worker codetermination that I posted fairly recently 35% of Republicans support it, 39% oppose, and 26% aren't sure.
So clearly with that issue the Republicans are not necessarily opposed to it, thus if beneficial it can be used to reduce their votes by depressing turnout or attracting them with support of it.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Aug 18th 2018 at 10:27:05 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangRandom thought, re: Terrorism vs Gun Violence/School Shooting: Is one of the reasons terrorism incidents were few and far between because we actually did something about them and took the threat seriously? Something we have decidedly not been doing for gun violence?
Republicans? Independents? Democrats?
More seriously, it's mostly been conservatives I've had conversations with, as I've either lived in a conservative home or a red state (currently in Idaho). It's left me nothing but weary and it's one reason I personally have little patience for politics as a whole and try to avoid falling into the same mindset, even though I concede that risks a bit of Golden Mean Fallacy on my part.
Edited by sgamer82 on Aug 18th 2018 at 8:32:22 AM
The thing is, we were already doing stuff about terrorist attacks before 9-11. A big part of why it happened in the first place was because the administration at the time didn't follow up on some of the warning signs that the people monitoring terrorist activity reported.
The stuff after 9-11 that happened, the whole "War on Terror" — a lot of that was glorified and expensive security theater on a massive scale. We can't really say we are any safer because of it. If anything changed, maybe it's how seriously the government actually takes the warnings of its field agents.
Disgusted, but not surprised![]()
We did things...such as profiling every Muslim constantly, invading a country, destroying people's privacy, and violating human rights. Many of those measures worked, but not nearly as efficiently as actually listening to intelligence we already had. The sad thing is your point still absolutely stands.
Edit: damn ninjas.
Edited by fruitpork on Aug 18th 2018 at 10:33:20 AM
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Also terrorism is just pretty rare to begin with. There are way more guns than terrorists in the US.
The thing about guns is that the more they’re around the more likely it is something bad will happen. A common saying is that there’s two types of gun owners, ones who’ve had an accident and ones who are going to have an accident. With the sheer number of guns out there the rate of accidental and intentional shootings has skyrocketed.
Edited by archonspeaks on Aug 18th 2018 at 7:35:03 AM
They should have sent a poet.I mean, from a certain standpoint, gun violence is terrorism. It's just perpetuated by a Vocal Minority who hoard tons of guns like barbie dolls.
This.
The "profit for the military industrial complex" is like the "it's for oil" theory in that it's a fundamentally reductionist attempt to give a the War on Terror a simple cause that's tied to an ideological enemy (i.e predatory capitalism).
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Aug 18th 2018 at 10:41:33 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangThat there is a possible profit motive probably isn't helping things. You've got ignorance, jingoism, racism, and greed in the mix. While I do doubt the War on Terror was some Evil Plan by the MIC, I do think it's valid to think that the money is part of why there's little political will to call the thing off.
Edited by M84 on Aug 18th 2018 at 10:45:11 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised

America the Beautiful
oh just go to the last page if you want context
Edited by PhysicalStamina on Aug 18th 2018 at 9:25:23 AM
i'm tired, my friend