The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

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Flea
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Flea »

beantownbubba wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 5:47 pm
Cole Younger wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 12:26 pm
Almost every time it comes up the same buzz words and catch phrases are offered up like “assault weapons” or questions about magazines. For some reason the AR 15 terrifies people and I personally think that is mostly based on the way it looks. The majority of shootings are done with hand guns but hand guns don’t seem to be anywhere near the forefront of the debate. Also, because the people who want gun control don’t know what they are talking about in most instances they don’t even know what guns are capable of what and aren’t even aware of certain calibres that are capable of the exact same thing as an AR 15. I can kill a deer at a hundred yards with a .22 magnum and can get mags that hold a lot of ammo for it but most proponents of gun control don’t even know what a .22 magnum is. It can do the exact same thing as an AR 15.
What I like about the Kristof piece is that it sounds almost as if he's responding to you personally*about these exact points. He seems to know what he's talking about equipment-wise, he distinguishes between handguns, AR-15's, etc in what seem to me to be the right ways and distinguishes between the kinds of problems that might and might not be addressable, based in part on those distinctions. As just one example I think both his data and commentary about the relationship between handguns and suicide are very, please excuse the expression, targeted and perceptive.

*To be extra cautious and clear I understand that he's not in any way responding directly to CY's comments/POV.
Any way to access that article without forking out $ to get behind the paywall?
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by beantownbubba »

Flea wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 6:57 pm
Any way to access that article without forking out $ to get behind the paywall?
Let me see what I can do ya cheap bastid ya.
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dime in the gutter
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by dime in the gutter »

what do we call this? and what is it made for? what's it's purpose?

Image

Cole Younger
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Cole Younger »

dime in the gutter wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 8:16 pm
what do we call this? and what is it made for? what's it's purpose?

Image
Shooting. And yes, killing. Same as any gun. “You don’t need that!” is not a criteria a free people should have entering the discussion. And before anyone starts, remember, it might be something you care about next time and it might be somebody you hate like you hated Orange Man deciding what you do and don’t need.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Zip City »

Cole Younger wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 2:50 pm
Zip City wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 12:48 pm
Question (and I honestly don't know the answer): are these shooters choosing guns like the AR 15 because of the damage they can do, or are they choosing them because of the look (re: fantasy)? An AR 15 LOOKS cooler/tougher/more like an action movie/video game than a hand gun or shotgun.

Or are they easier to aim/control than a hand gun?
Well hand guns are used in most killings. I think the AR gets focused upon because of the way it looks. You often hear “military style weapon” which is just click bait and done to freak people out and the people that use words like that know what they’re doing when they use them. Chicago is a good example of how effective gun control is.

Edit because I realized that I didn’t answer part of your question. No, an AR isn’t easier to aim or control than a hand gun and in a situation where it’s close range which most shootings are it is an even worse option than a hand gun.
Still didn’t answer why mass shooting killers choose the AR 15 when it’s not the best weapon for the job
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Iowan »

I've shot an AR-15. It's a convenient way to unload a bunch of ammo real fucking fast.

This discussion would be a lot easier if folks on the right could acknowledge that it's first and foremost an efficient killing machine, and as Cole pointed out, there are better hunting options.

Most people on the left, when talking about gun control, are NOT talking about "assault weapon bans". They're talking about things like registration, insurance, and increased background checks. More accountability for gun owners and manufacturers. Not taking your stuff.

As much as many people on the left don't know shit about guns and throw buzz words around, people on the right act as if any measure is akin to a full scale gun roundup. It's intellectually dishonest, and a big part of why we can't do shit about gun violence in this country.

And, finally, I'll toss this out there: Cole, do you believe that private citizens should be allowed to nuclear weapons? Don't treat this as a taunting hypothetical, because it's not. If you think private citizens should be allowed to own nuclear weapons, than you definitely believe in the truest sense that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed. If you agree that private citizens shouldn't be allowed to own nuclear weapons, than you agree that this right has limits. If you agree that this right has limits, than we have some common ground to start a discussion about where the line is drawn. It's easy for everyone to agree that the 2nd Amendment doesn't allow you to own a nuke. But it's the process of drawing that line that gets so difficult.

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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Cole Younger »

Iowan wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 8:35 am
I've shot an AR-15. It's a convenient way to unload a bunch of ammo real fucking fast.

This discussion would be a lot easier if folks on the right could acknowledge that it's first and foremost an efficient killing machine, and as Cole pointed out, there are better hunting options.

Most people on the left, when talking about gun control, are NOT talking about "assault weapon bans". They're talking about things like registration, insurance, and increased background checks. More accountability for gun owners and manufacturers. Not taking your stuff.

As much as many people on the left don't know shit about guns and throw buzz words around, people on the right act as if any measure is akin to a full scale gun roundup. It's intellectually dishonest, and a big part of why we can't do shit about gun violence in this country.

And, finally, I'll toss this out there: Cole, do you believe that private citizens should be allowed to nuclear weapons? Don't treat this as a taunting hypothetical, because it's not. If you think private citizens should be allowed to own nuclear weapons, than you definitely believe in the truest sense that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed. If you agree that private citizens shouldn't be allowed to own nuclear weapons, than you agree that this right has limits. If you agree that this right has limits, than we have some common ground to start a discussion about where the line is drawn. It's easy for everyone to agree that the 2nd Amendment doesn't allow you to own a nuke. But it's the process of drawing that line that gets so difficult.
Lol, no I don’t believe private citizens should own nukes. For the record I don’t think anyone SHOULD own them but that hourse is out of the barn and ain’t coming back. The thing is, where the line is is tricky. And I’ll be honest, as a gun owner and as someone who has just about become a one issue voter, if I decide to vote again, I just do not trust the government to act in my best interest. I believe that you don’t want people’s guns to be grabbed (that’s never going to happen as their are just far too
many) I believe a lot of our ruling class gets a hard on at the idea. And Stairmastet Joe didn’t do anyone any favors with his dumb statement that he was sending Robby O’Rourke after the guns.

@Zip, most guns used in shootings are hand guns. I don’t know why people fixate on AR 15s but I suspect it is born out of a fear of who think mostly has those types of guns.
Last edited by Cole Younger on Thu Mar 25, 2021 11:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Iowan »

Cole Younger wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:45 am
Iowan wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 8:35 am
I've shot an AR-15. It's a convenient way to unload a bunch of ammo real fucking fast.

This discussion would be a lot easier if folks on the right could acknowledge that it's first and foremost an efficient killing machine, and as Cole pointed out, there are better hunting options.

Most people on the left, when talking about gun control, are NOT talking about "assault weapon bans". They're talking about things like registration, insurance, and increased background checks. More accountability for gun owners and manufacturers. Not taking your stuff.

As much as many people on the left don't know shit about guns and throw buzz words around, people on the right act as if any measure is akin to a full scale gun roundup. It's intellectually dishonest, and a big part of why we can't do shit about gun violence in this country.

And, finally, I'll toss this out there: Cole, do you believe that private citizens should be allowed to nuclear weapons? Don't treat this as a taunting hypothetical, because it's not. If you think private citizens should be allowed to own nuclear weapons, than you definitely believe in the truest sense that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed. If you agree that private citizens shouldn't be allowed to own nuclear weapons, than you agree that this right has limits. If you agree that this right has limits, than we have some common ground to start a discussion about where the line is drawn. It's easy for everyone to agree that the 2nd Amendment doesn't allow you to own a nuke. But it's the process of drawing that line that gets so difficult.
Lol, no I don’t believe private citizens should own nukes. For the record I don’t think anyone SHOULD own them but that bourse is out of the barn and ain’t coming back. The thing is, where the line is is tricky. And I’ll be honest, as a gun owner and as someone who has just about become a one issue voter, if I decide to vote again, I just do not trust the government to act in my best interest. I believe that you don’t want people’s guns to be grabbed (that’s never going to happen as their are just far too
many) I believe a lot of our ruling class gets a hard on at the idea. And Stairmastet Joe didn’t do anyone any favors with his dumb statement that he was sending Robby O’Rourke after the guns.

@Zip, most guns used in shootings are hand guns. I don’t know why people fixate on AR 15s but I suspect it is born out of a fear of who think mostly has those types of guns.
I think the sentiment against ARs is because of their efficiency and capacity, and it has become the weapon of choice for these mass casualty events.

Yeah, most shootings are done with handguns. But most shootings are single victim events.

Regarding Biden and guns, I've been hearing my entire life that Democrats are coming for your guns. I'm 35, and there's been a Democrat president for 16 of those years, and by the time I'm 40 it will be at least 20 of them. I don't know a single person that has ever had a gun confiscated outside of those who committed felonies.

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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Cole Younger »

I know it. Gun confiscation is just not going to happen. Who’s going to volunteer for that job? And there are millions of guns in circulation and lots of ammo for them. I personally own enough guns to make some people here develop a twitch. That’s another reason gun control is so pointless. It’s a way of saying “See? We did something. Feel good and keep voting for us, suckers.”

I really think with ARs it’s a matter of them looking scary to people who don’t know anything about guns and a matter of those same people thinking every conservative white guy is in a militia and is going to get them with an AR.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Zip City »

So here's a question: If AR's are not the best choice for hunting, why are they on the market? Are they super great for, say, target shooting? The opinions in this thread lead me to believe that they aren't the first choice for anything, so why are people buying them?
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Cole Younger »

Zip City wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 12:40 pm
So here's a question: If AR's are not the best choice for hunting, why are they on the market? Are they super great for, say, target shooting? The opinions in this thread lead me to believe that they aren't the first choice for anything, so why are people buying them?
Pretty good long range target shooting gun. They can be used for hunting but don’t have near the punch of a real hunting rifle. And most people don’t want to use their hunting rifles to target shoot. People who like guns buy guns. They don’t buy one or two and stop for the most part. Lots of reasons people would buy them. That’s really the best I can do.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by LBRod »

Because they can. No other reason needed.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by tinnitus photography »

LBRod wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 8:17 pm
Because they can. No other reason needed.
Hey Iowan, we found Rod's line.

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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Iowan »

Cole Younger wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 11:46 am
I know it. Gun confiscation is just not going to happen. Who’s going to volunteer for that job? And there are millions of guns in circulation and lots of ammo for them. I personally own enough guns to make some people here develop a twitch. That’s another reason gun control is so pointless. It’s a way of saying “See? We did something. Feel good and keep voting for us, suckers.”

I really think with ARs it’s a matter of them looking scary to people who don’t know anything about guns and a matter of those same people thinking every conservative white guy is in a militia and is going to get them with an AR.
I think people are far more concerned about mass shootings than militia uprisings.

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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Iowan »

I know of two legitimate uses for AR-15s.

Coyote and wild hog hunting. With coyotes, they make sense because they have solid range and they empty quick. It's rare to get that close to a coyote here, as there's lots of open space and those fuckers are wily (in all seriousness).

With wild hog hunting, you're basically simulating a mass shooting. The reason an AR-15 is the most efficient way to murder your entire school is the reason it's a good gun for taking out feral pigs.

Depending on your livelihood, there can be very good reasons to want to slaughter as many hogs and 'yotes as possible.

I have two friends who own AR 15s. Both are very reasonable guys, and they would both admit if pressed that their AR15 is basically a toy. A very potentially dangerous toy. They own it because it's fun to shoot and because they can legally do it. That's really it. Neither one of them is keeping the AR next to their bed in the (extremely) unlikely even of a home invasion in northeast Iowa.

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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by beantownbubba »

Iowan wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 7:52 am
those fuckers are wily
:D
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by beantownbubba »

It is now a crime in Georgia to give water to a person waiting on line to vote.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by beantownbubba »

What do you get when you take a SPAC (special purpose acquisition corp) and add WeWorks? I'm guessing disaster, on a grand scale, most likely including fraud on an even grander scale. It will be interesting to see.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Cole Younger »

Iowan wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 7:48 am
Cole Younger wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 11:46 am
I know it. Gun confiscation is just not going to happen. Who’s going to volunteer for that job? And there are millions of guns in circulation and lots of ammo for them. I personally own enough guns to make some people here develop a twitch. That’s another reason gun control is so pointless. It’s a way of saying “See? We did something. Feel good and keep voting for us, suckers.”

I really think with ARs it’s a matter of them looking scary to people who don’t know anything about guns and a matter of those same people thinking every conservative white guy is in a militia and is going to get them with an AR.
I think people are far more concerned about mass shootings than militia uprisings.
And I think a lot of people who talk a big game about how much they care about mass shootings really don’t. I’m not talking about you.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Cole Younger »

Iowan wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 7:52 am
I know of two legitimate uses for AR-15s.

Coyote and wild hog hunting. With coyotes, they make sense because they have solid range and they empty quick. It's rare to get that close to a coyote here, as there's lots of open space and those fuckers are wily (in all seriousness).

With wild hog hunting, you're basically simulating a mass shooting. The reason an AR-15 is the most efficient way to murder your entire school is the reason it's a good gun for taking out feral pigs.

Depending on your livelihood, there can be very good reasons to want to slaughter as many hogs and 'yotes as possible.

I have two friends who own AR 15s. Both are very reasonable guys, and they would both admit if pressed that their AR15 is basically a toy. A very potentially dangerous toy. They own it because it's fun to shoot and because they can legally do it. That's really it. Neither one of them is keeping the AR next to their bed in the (extremely) unlikely even of a home invasion in northeast Iowa.
With coyotes we set up on a field at night, make a call like a rabbit in distress, and wait. Hit a spot light and there they are. Never used an AR for this. Always a 30-06. An AR is a good option though. With hogs, you’ll never get all of them trying to shoot them. They’re too smart. The only way to rid a place of hogs is to go in with dogs and catch them. Y’all may know more than I do about some things but when it comes to stuff like this, if I tell you there’s cheese on the moon you can go get yourself some crackers.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Cole Younger »

beantownbubba wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 8:28 am
It is now a crime in Georgia to give water to a person waiting on line to vote.
My state is getting more jacked up with each passing day. I know y’all were pleased as punch with the developments here during the election but the ruling class in this state has their fist on the fool button and will not let go. Thank God, outside of Atlanta things are still good here as far as day to day life.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Iowan »

Cole Younger wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 8:40 am
Iowan wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 7:52 am
I know of two legitimate uses for AR-15s.

Coyote and wild hog hunting. With coyotes, they make sense because they have solid range and they empty quick. It's rare to get that close to a coyote here, as there's lots of open space and those fuckers are wily (in all seriousness).

With wild hog hunting, you're basically simulating a mass shooting. The reason an AR-15 is the most efficient way to murder your entire school is the reason it's a good gun for taking out feral pigs.

Depending on your livelihood, there can be very good reasons to want to slaughter as many hogs and 'yotes as possible.

I have two friends who own AR 15s. Both are very reasonable guys, and they would both admit if pressed that their AR15 is basically a toy. A very potentially dangerous toy. They own it because it's fun to shoot and because they can legally do it. That's really it. Neither one of them is keeping the AR next to their bed in the (extremely) unlikely even of a home invasion in northeast Iowa.
With coyotes we set up on a field at night, make a call like a rabbit in distress, and wait. Hit a spot light and there they are. Never used an AR for this. Always a 30-06. An AR is a good option though. With hogs, you’ll never get all of them trying to shoot them. They’re too smart. The only way to rid a place of hogs is to go in with dogs and catch them. Y’all may know more than I do about some things but when it comes to stuff like this, if I tell you there’s cheese on the moon you can go get yourself some crackers.
You really do have the best god damn euphemisms on this site.

Yeah, we don't have wild hogs here (yet - they're in southern Iowa now) and may never due to the open plains terrain and lack of forest, but my one buddy who has an AR did some hog hunting in east Texas recently on a friend's property (my buddy lived in Shreveport for awhile when his wife was in the Air Force) and it sounds like they would basically set up a feeder and once the pigs came into eat, they would lay waste.

And to anyone who thinks this sounds unusually cruel, wild pigs are an invasive species in the US. They absolutely wreak havoc on the environment and they really do need to be eradicated.

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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Cole Younger »

Lol. I appreciate it.

Yeah it absolutely works in the short term. That’s what I mean about them being too smart. Let wild hogs see a bunch of their buddies get mowed down like that and they will stop coming out of cover during daylight. If you the thermal scope/NVG route they will get wise to that too. We have trapped them in pen style traps with a door that slams shut once they enter. Again, this works in the short term but once they have seen this happen to other hogs they will avoid these traps no matter what you bait them with. The only legal way to do it is with dogs. It’s pretty exciting and very dangerous. A wild hog ticked off at a pack of dogs is worse than my wife when I leave the commode seat up.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Iowan »

Cole Younger wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 8:36 am
Iowan wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 7:48 am
Cole Younger wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 11:46 am
I know it. Gun confiscation is just not going to happen. Who’s going to volunteer for that job? And there are millions of guns in circulation and lots of ammo for them. I personally own enough guns to make some people here develop a twitch. That’s another reason gun control is so pointless. It’s a way of saying “See? We did something. Feel good and keep voting for us, suckers.”

I really think with ARs it’s a matter of them looking scary to people who don’t know anything about guns and a matter of those same people thinking every conservative white guy is in a militia and is going to get them with an AR.
I think people are far more concerned about mass shootings than militia uprisings.
And I think a lot of people who talk a big game about how much they care about mass shootings really don’t. I’m not talking about you.
I think they do, but not in the way you're thinking.

I think people's outrage about mass shootings is a very basic "I'm afraid of this happening to me and mine" scenario as opposed to some moral high horse. I think there's a very real belief among a lot of people that they are personally vulnerable to this kind of event.

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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Cole Younger »

You very well may be right. Even though statistically they are far more likely to die in a car crash or of something related to obesity. But cars and fat assing food aren’t going anywhere. I know that isn’t an exact apples to apples comparison. But I think this sort of thing is kin to the fear people have of Covid. Yes you can catch it and die. Regretfully people have. And it’s sad. But you also have a better than 99% chance of survival if you even catch it. Who wouldn’t take those odds? But we have radically altered the way we live because of it still and some folks are perfectly ok with that. Why? Because just like with guns, when you hear all day everyday that something is going to get you...to me it’s the same phenomenon Cooley addresses in the song English Oceans. It seems totally lost him and others that that paradigm isn’t contained in a particular subset of the population.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Iowan »

Cole Younger wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 9:31 am
You very well may be right. Even though statistically they are far more likely to die in a car crash or of something related to obesity. But cars and fat assing food aren’t going anywhere. I know that isn’t an exact apples to apples comparison. But I think this sort of thing is kin to the fear people have of Covid. Yes you can catch it and die. Regretfully people have. And it’s sad. But you also have a better than 99% chance of survival if you even catch it. Who wouldn’t take those odds? But we have radically altered the way we live because of it still and some folks are perfectly ok with that. Why? Because just like with guns, when you hear all day everyday that something is going to get you...to me it’s the same phenomenon Cooley addresses in the song English Oceans. It seems totally lost him and others that that paradigm isn’t contained in a particular subset of the population.
I think this revolves around the crux of the liberal vs conservative orientation. I think most people realize how statistically unlikely it is that they will be affected by it.

The thing is, many of us believe that some minor regulations could drastically reduce this problem. We believe it's fixable, and that the fix can come without stripping others of their rights. Other people believe that it's either not fixable, or not significant enough to worry about fixing and they're unwilling to surrender anything towards those ends.

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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by 305 Engine »

Cole Younger wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 9:31 am
You very well may be right. Even though statistically they are far more likely to die in a car crash or of something related to obesity. But cars and fat assing food aren’t going anywhere. I know that isn’t an exact apples to apples comparison. But I think this sort of thing is kin to the fear people have of Covid. Yes you can catch it and die. Regretfully people have. And it’s sad. But you also have a better than 99% chance of survival if you even catch it. Who wouldn’t take those odds? But we have radically altered the way we live because of it still and some folks are perfectly ok with that. [ Why? Because just like with guns, when you hear all day everyday that something is going to get you...to me it’s the same phenomenon Cooley addresses in the song English Oceans. It seems totally lost him and others that that paradigm isn’t contained in a particular subset of the population.
Because fear isn't always a selfish emotion. Personally am happy to take my chances against covid. I'm more concerned about spreading it to people who are more vulnerable, and putting additional pressure on local health systems. I'd imagine many people make the same equation.

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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by Zip City »

It's not just about life or death. It's also about inconveniencing those around you

Example #1: One kid on my daughter's high school softball team tested positive, and now THE ENTIRE TEAM (19 students and 4 coaches) have to quarantine for 14 days. They miss two weeks of practice and a week's worth of games, because ONE kid tested positive


Example #2: A student worker in our carpentry shop tested positive, and now my shop foreman has to quarantine for 10 days, meaning nothing is being built (and some hard deadlines coming fast). This student's photograph was featured in an article in the local paper about people celebrating St. Patrick's day (unmasked) in local bars.
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Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by beantownbubba »

Cole Younger wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 9:31 am
You very well may be right. Even though statistically they are far more likely to die in a car crash or of something related to obesity. But cars and fat assing food aren’t going anywhere. I know that isn’t an exact apples to apples comparison. But I think this sort of thing is kin to the fear people have of Covid. Yes you can catch it and die. Regretfully people have. And it’s sad. But you also have a better than 99% chance of survival if you even catch it. Who wouldn’t take those odds? But we have radically altered the way we live because of it still and some folks are perfectly ok with that. Why? Because just like with guns, when you hear all day everyday that something is going to get you...to me it’s the same phenomenon Cooley addresses in the song English Oceans. It seems totally lost him and others that that paradigm isn’t contained in a particular subset of the population.
I suggest that if every time you (the general you, all of us) got behind the wheel of your car you stopped to think about just how dependent your immediate future is on the discipline, attention, care, skill and experience of all the other drivers around you, none of us would ever drive again. Or put another way, the existentialists might say that the only way we manage to function at all is to suppress the only thing that matters, which is our certain knowledge that we will die. Or put yet another way, it has been proven over and over again in a variety of versions that if you offer a group of people a great opportunity to succeed wildly (e.g. get rich) with some risk that they might fail spectacularly (e.g. die), if you tell them that they have an 80% chance of succeeding most will rush to sign on. But if you tell them that they have a 20% chance of failing, hardly anyone will choose to participate.

However you want to label or describe these phenomena, they are clearly aspects of human nature. And that's why the former human being known as Ted Cruz is both totally correct and spectacularly wrong when he complains that Democrats turn every mass shooting into "political theater." On the one hand, they do, which is to say, they take advantage of an opportunity to advance their own interests by appealing to people's emotions at an emotionally vulnerable time. OTOH, he is totally wrong. The reason Democrats have the opportunity to advance their interests at those times is because people are legitimately scared out of their fucking minds and are in fact very emotionally vulnerable. This is so for a variety of reasons including Iowan's observations on the theme of "there but for the grace of God go I," the compelling, attention grabbing nature of the unusual event precisely because it is out of the ordinary and in this particular case because it is not at all unreasonable to conclude that these mass shooting events are evidence of something bigger being fundamentally wrong. To dismiss these fears on a statistical basis is to miss the point, and to dismiss attempts to fix the perceived problem because the problem is a statistical anomaly is imho more a matter of convenience than substance.

Forgive me if you've heard my own personal take on these matters before. It is a story I tell often precisely because of the impact it had on me. When my son Bryan was originally diagnosed with cancer, we were told that given the relevant factors including the type of cancer he had, his age, etc, he had a 70% chance of survival (as the cancer community defines survival). We took that as good news, far better than our fears and a solid fact/hope to rely on during dark moments. Then one day I was the only adult sitting in the play room of the Jimmy Fund (the childhood cancer research & treatment center) with exactly 10 kids. I suddenly thought that if all those kids were just like Bryan, 3, that is THREE, of them would be dead in a year. It was a profound, earth shattering, scary as fuck moment that has obviously stuck w/ me for all these years. It had absolutely nothing to do with the math, which I well understood before and after that moment. All I can say is that moment made me face the already well known dangers and my personal fears and uncertainties in a whole new, tangible, profoundly upsetting way that is very much of a piece w/ the 80/20 experiments I refer to above and the well known public reaction to mass shootings.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

beantownbubba
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Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:52 am
Location: Trying to stay focused on the righteous path

Re: The Neverending Thread for Political Shit

Post by beantownbubba »

beantownbubba wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 12:25 pm
... and to dismiss attempts to fix the perceived problem because the problem is a statistical anomaly is imho more a matter of convenience than substance.
On re-reading, I'm concerned that this may sound much more harsh than I intended. I intended to describe that common process that many (most? all?) of us, including me, utilize to try to get a handle on the overload of stimulii regularly assaulting us by looking for reasons to not have to think about yet another controversy. I was just trying to observe that this seemed like someone doing that and not trying to be insulting or to be making or any kind of judgment. Like I say, I do that same thing all the time and am sorry if it sounds either harsh or insulting.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

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