Do people who are afraid of a few people with guns while in restaurants have the same level of fear of the cooks with dozens of knives in the kitchen?
The View From North Central Idaho
Ramblings on explosives, guns, politics, and sex by a redneck Idaho farm boy who became a software engineer living near Seattle.
Among those that think about it, sadly, the answer is “yes.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7508404.stm
This article is a little dated, but it’s the first one that popped up in the search – more proposals have been shuffling through parliament since then.
But not just cooks, but the average person at home as well.
Often they don’t think about it though, they’re hiding in a cloak of impenetrable emotion where they have completely walled of this issue in their life. I know people who (have known me since birth, who I otherwise respect) & are actually quite brilliant. One has a masters with honors in ancient language from the university at Thesoloniki, where they pretty much invented ancient language. Another is a PHD biologist of some renown for research in free radicals and a popular professor at their well known school. Both actually believe that if concealed carry is liberalized on campus the biologist will be in immediate and pronounced danger during lecture. Not for any reason they stated, just because they feel that way.
I didn’t ask for a reason, or “why”. Because as much as I like these people my time is better spent on this issue getting signatures on (Washington) I-591 or teaching a basic pistol class or… pretty much anything other then discussing the “feelings” of someone who does scientific method for a living.
I seldom confront others face to face on this issue either. I only do this if they bring it up and then I try to do it in the least confrontational way I can.
I agree that people, probably including myself, have walled off areas/issues where they are inconsistent. It probably serves some psychological needs.
Dunno. But since they just changed the law here in NC to allow CC in those areas, I expect to see a lot more freaking out by the usual suspects over the next few months.
Haven’t you heard?
The “purpose” of the object is more important than the “intent” of the person wielding it.
So a kitchen knife could NEVER be used as a weapon…except when it is.
And a gun will ALWAYS be used to kill innocent people…even when it isn’t.
Respectfully, that’s a faulty analogy. I’m not afraid of pots of boiling water, but I respect the lobster’s fear of pots of boiling water. I’m not afraid of armed criminals in Chicago, but I respect the fear of people who live near Chicago.
A guy planning to murder everyone in the restaurant with his own gun has a fear of armed people that the murderer-by-planted-bomb doesn’t have.
Lobsters have no concept of boiling water.
You will understand that which is puzzling you, and PERFECTLY, if you watch this video. You can start at 09:00 if you want to get straight to it;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqB2UX_f0K4
Watch until the guy explains why he put his shoes on backwards, and why other people are too stubborn to try the same or to understand why wearing your shoes pointing outward is better.
Masters goes on to explain the same phenomenon with regard to culture and politics, and Bingo– There’s your answer. People are afraid of gun owners in restaurants because they’re suggestible and have been conditioned to believe it. There’s nothing more to say about it.
Notice how the old man (Masters) seeks and finds the most suggestible through a quick experiment, and then he knows where to concentrate his efforts. Same thing in politics. Same thing in Social Engineering, and in cult formation, or advertizing, or gang recruiting, but I repeat myself.
Watch the whole thing if you don’t mind the religious language and context. In it he explains why some people are so amazingly suggestible even when you tell then in advance, and during and afterward, exactly what you were doing to them, and he offers some possible solutions. I think that the athesit can probably parlay this into his own terms quite readily.
That made me very uncomfortable.
The implications are frightening and extremely depressing.
Exactly so– the implications are profound, but don’t be depressed or afraid. Understanding a problem is the first step in curing it. What you saw in the video is a demonstration of a how a “politician”, a “journalist”, “educator”, race hustler or would-be gang leader, et al, selects from among the masses for adherents, finds some of the more suggestible, and converts them utterly over to his service in an instant. And THAT’S just the tip of an iceberg.