8 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Zelman and Stevens

  1. Armed minority groups die for the same reason. The arms have nothing to do with it.

  2. @ubu52: Per your logic I guess no one should try armed resistance because it is not always successful. Bullshit.

    As usual, your over simplification and lack of knowledge betrays you.

    Try studying the Battle of Thermapholye, the Alamo, Bastogne, the Warsaw Ghetto, USSR versus Taliban, American Revolutionary War, Soviet and Free French Partisans, the Iraqi Kurds, and countless others. The lessons learned are numerically inferior, under armed groups can and do defeat their enemies or provide boosts in morale, or delay the enemy until reinforcements arrive, or allow the escape of many innocents from the combat zone. Being armed provides many viable options. Evasion is not always possible.

    A good article I read looked at the survival rates of soldiers from several wars who fought on versus those that surrendered quickly. It was enlightening. Look at the soldiers who fought on versus the Bataan Death March or the Soviets who were captured versus joining the partisans, and so on.

    Specifically regarding targeted minorities…unarmed equals probable death versus resistance with at least the chance to survive. The eternal question is whether Hitler could have arisen if the Jews were armed and willing to fight at the outset. The examples of history say yes, they could have prevailed in the early years, if they were armed.

    Your advice is to just give up and await certain death from a hateful enemy. That’s your choice to be a sheep ready for slaughter. Stop trying to make it my only option by acting in favor of citizen disarmament. Arms do matter and do make a difference as history teaches us.

  3. Braden, Did I give advice? I missed that part. I merely made a statement that armed minorities can die too — if the armed majority wants them dead. For examples, look at Waco, the Chinese massacre of 1871 (http://www.laweekly.com/2011-03-10/news/how-los-angeles-covered-up-the-massacre-of-18-chinese/), and Hiroshima.

    Is it easier to kill an unarmed minority? I’m sure it is, but arms aren’t some sort of magical thing that protect you no matter what.

    • Sorry ubu52, but you stated that arms have nothing to do with the extermination of minorities when a majority wishes them dead in contrast to the quote. You stated that it happens whether or not the condition of being unarmed was fulfilled. That incorrect statement required a strong response.

      Your assertion is clearly disproved by the historical examples. There are times when armed minorities prevail. I listed a few. You listed a few where they were slaughtered. I listed a few like that also (like the Alamo). We agree that arms are not some magical talisman, but not having them is a recipe for disaster against any evil majority.

      Your flat dismissal (your second sentence) of their utility is what is so irksome. What I see in your statement is the not so subtle belief that arms and violent resistance are to ever be the answer.

      In truth, they are sometimes the only moral response. Remember the American Revolution, destruction of Nazi Germany and imperial Japan, and so on? Force of arms and resistance against evil, but formidable enemies, are what civilization often requires. Defense against genocide, requires them doubly so.

  4. Being armed is no guarantee of safety, true. being defenseless has made no one safe, ever in history. Better to be armed and have some chance than no chance at all.

  5. A fire extinguisher is not a magical thing to prevent your house from burning down, nor is a seatbelt or an air bag a magical thing that will save your life no matter what. So therefore we shouldn’t have them?

    This is too easy. So, you have a fire extinguisher, eh? Why? Is it because you are expecting a fire? So you’re paranoid then. Or is it that you WISH there were a fire so you could prove what a hero you are for putting it out? Hmm? It must be one or the other. Fess up now. What’s this unholy fascination you have with fire? Maybe we should be protected from you. We need a law.

    You lock your doors? Why? Are you expecting a rapist this very night? A robber? Or do you just like the feeling of power that comes from being able to keep other people out of your house? Surely you must be crazy. I bet you finger that house key with an evil grin, thinking to yourself, “Tee hee hee…I am the sole keeper of the key and NO ONE ELSE can get into my house!” What a sick, sadistic person you are. You suck. There should be a law…

    I bet you fasten your seatbelt just hoping to find a reason to run into another vehicle. The fact that you have a seatbelt only proves you have a sick fascination with car crashes. I think we should be protected from people like you….

    • Oh and; the fact that we have cops is not a magical thing that will keep the bad people away. By that reasoning then, we should get rid of the very idea of a police force. Anyone who wants cops in society must be a sick bastard who WANTS crime, or just loves the feeling of power that comes from having them around.

  6. Ubu:

    Given a choice between “Armed resistance doesn’t ALWAYS work,” and “Unarmed resistance has ZERo chance of success against violent aggressors.” I’ll take the side that leaves me AN option that has a historically established reasonable chance of survivial.

Comments are closed.