Responding to Cynical's latest post:
The first fact is of incomplete. The full truth is that in the US context, people are currently having a right by law to keep firearms, with very few restrictions. It is of course not to be expected that Claus can change these laws into laws that has far more useful restrictions in it. But he can be one of many voices rasing important questions, such as whether the right to bear arms is one that should be allowed in today's society.
In that regard, I have two questions on my own:
1) How does restricting my rights to bear arms, especially handguns, actually infringe on my freedom?
The reason I'm pointing out handguns should be pretty clear: They are made for the purpouse of harming other human beings. A rifle or shotgun can be used for hunting, thus giving it another purpouse. But a handgun is only meant to be used against other humans. (I admit that some people will use handguns for using, but such people are, to put it mildly, unprofessional about it). I live in Norway, I'm not allowed to own a handgun until I'm 21 and have been a member of an approved target practice club. I can of course start a membership in the target practice club before that, I just can't own my own handgun. And I have no problems with this. Because this will help ensure that I have fully learned how to maintain a handgun, how to handle it, and not the least how to properly store it so that it can't easily be used, not to mention abused.
2) Will owning a gun actually make you safer?
Back to the US context, lots of people claim that they buy a gun for personal protection, usually keeping it near their own bed. But is this feeling of safety real, or just imagined?
Well, in most of the cases where such guns are used at all, the majority of uses will be either
a) An accidental misfiring. At best, this will lead to material damage, at worst, someone will get killed.
b) The gun is, along with other stuff, stolen during a burglary. Because most burglaries happen during daytime and without people being home. And as it is, it can even be used against the lawful owner of the gun during the burglary, which of course isn't the best thing to do.
And after this, in mere 2% of the cases where a gun bought for personal safety is used, it is used in accordance with the original intention: Stopping a burglar.
And if you want to prove me wrong, telling me that guns make people safer, then answer me this: What will make the insurance companies give you a discount for a house and inventory insurance? A burglary alarm, or a gun?
As for the second fact: You seemingly support to allow people taking advantage of other people by the means of lying, cheating, threatening, and generally being dishonest. Well, lying will of course always remain in the world. So will diseases. And so will death itself. Since death is inevitable, why are you even bothering to live, Cynical? Why not just look at that fact about death, accept it, and then just end it right away, since obviously nothing that you do ever matter, eh?
Well, here's the thing. I don't think you're as cynical as you claim to be. You're more of a pessimist, actually, though clearly not so extreme to commit suicide. That's right, a person can be a cynical optimist. Returning to the fact of the death, here's the difference between a cynical optimist and a cynical pessimist:
CO: Death is inevitable and there's no way of knowing what happens thereafter (although one can of course have one's own beliefs). But as long as we're here, we should do the best out of it, and then we'll die when we die.
CP: Death is inevitable, so why bother doing any good. Why bother trying to change anything? It all sucks anyway.
Of course, in the CO camp, one can of course have different ideas on how to make the best out of it. Some people will take advantage of the gullibility for their own gain (tobacco companies), while others will strive for a more altruistic approach. In the latter class, I think that Nelson Mandela is a fine example of a man that sure as hell was aware of the fact that apartheid was how things were in South Africa. But he strived to change that. And succeeded. And CF is the kind that knows pretty damn well that there are liars out there. He knows he can't possibly stop all of them. In fact, he probably can't stop them from lying as per se. But by revealing to the public that they are frauds will, even if CF's personal efforts are on a small scale, help other people see though the lies. And while people like him won't make a perfect world, they will make a better world. Which is obviously more than one can say about you, Cynical.
