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Reply | Another US school shooting
at 07:40 28 May 2022
I agree that it is not politically feasible to ban all guns in America. The revocation of the 2nd amendment and the prohibition of all firearms is complete fantasy at present. It is off the table after the Uvalde tragedy and will be off the table following the next inevitable tragedy, sadly.
I disagree with you however when you suggest that even if a total gun ban was possible it wouldn't be effective. To my mind the main positive outcome of making all guns illegal in the U.S would be that it would make guns less prominent and less visible, this in turn would alter the toxic gun culture in America.
The 2nd amendment was primarily conceived because the founding fathers thought that an armed citizenry was the best bulwark against a tyrannical government. If we look at gun enthusiasts today however that is not what we see, we do not see responsible adults quietly going about their lives with firearms locked safely away in their homes just in case one fateful day they have to defend their nation against an enemy foreign or domestic.
What we see is an endless stream of vulgar and frankly juvenile displays of gun toting exhibitionism. Political ads with candidates firing rifles, protesters at rallies armed to the teeth, politicians sending Christmas cards depicting their entire family holding assault weapons, celebrities posing with guns on their social media platforms and right-wing grifters like Stephen Crowder who does his entire Youtube show with a pistol holstered under his arm.
These people are not carrying guns because they think a dictatorship is imminent. They're doing it because in the American psyche guns have become ideological signifiers, associated with ideas of masculinity, freedom, the frontier spirit, defending the American way of life and patriotism. Chris Hedges says that the most damaging thing for a society is when it loses touch with reality, on the gun issue America has done just that. Too many Americans have delusional hero fantasies where they act like action heroes and save the day with their guns, where as in reality they'd be just like the cops in Texas and freeze when confronted with an active shooter.
Until regular Americans stop fetishizing the idea of being a "good guy with a gun" we can't hope for sick Americans to stop fetishizing the idea of being a "bad guy with a gun". |
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Reply | Cummings
at 20:42 25 May 2020
Even if his explanation is true I don't understand why he and his wife both had to make the journey. If he was concerned that he and his wife would both become too ill to care for their child and the only way he believed he could have childcare is to drive to Durham that still doesn't explain why his wife made the journey too. She could have self isolated whilst he took his son to Durham. I don't get why anyone believes a word of this. |
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Reply | Your scientist nomination for new £50 note...?
at 23:36 2 Nov 2018
Fred Sanger. Only British scientist to win two Nobel prizes, did very important work in protein sequencing and DNA sequencing which was integral to the molecular biology revolution. He turned down a knighthood so this would be a nice way to honour him and his contribution to science. |
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Reply | The Queen & Prince Philip
at 17:29 22 Dec 2016
The late Tony Benn said that when confronted with people in power we should ask them five questions, they are as follows:
WHAT POWER HAVE YOU GOT?
WHERE DID YOU GET IT FROM?
IN WHOSE INTERESTS DO YOU EXERCISE IT?
TO WHOM ARE YOU ACCOUNTABLE?
HOW CAN WE GET RID OF YOU?
It is the fifth question which means that a President Blair would be preferable to any monarch. Republicans contest the monarchy on the basis that it is undemocratic and as such an appeal to personalities is a refutation of nothing. Thomas Paine outlined this some time ago in his "Rights of Man" where he wrote of the French Revolution "The Monarch and the Monarchy were distinct and separate things; and it was against the established despotism of the latter, and not against the person or principles of the former, that the revolt commenced, and the Revolution has been carried." As such venerating individual monarchs is not a defense of monarchy and maligning the character of democratically elected leaders is not an argument against republicanism. [Post edited 22 Dec 2016 17:33]
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Reply | Greatest War Movies
at 14:49 5 May 2016
All Quiet On The Western Front. It's a great book too. |
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Reply | lets talk shite thread
at 22:41 10 Jun 2015
Alan Titchmarsh has been offered the head groundsman job but says he'll only accept if the club approve controversial plans to place a water feature in the centre circle. |
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Reply | Mirror publish story that "Monk wins permanent appointment"
at 23:42 25 Apr 2014
Di Matteo had experience at MK Dons and WBA so he wasn't really "promoted from within."
I agree with Chief that there aren't many success stories of people being promoted to manager from player from within a club. That's not to say Monk wouldn't do a good job though. |
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Reply | Probert
at 11:53 26 Mar 2014
I was just reading a blog from a Palace fan who was saying that Probert cost them a point against Newcastle on Saturday by playing over the injury time allotted:
http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/22/how-the-referee-lee-probert-helped-newcastle-unite
Two contentious decisions regarding injury time in two games cannot reflect well on Probert even though we feel robbed because he played too little injury time and Palace feel robbed because he played too much. Palace and Swansea fans may feel rightfully indignant but there will be no uproar because the victims of the incompetence of the referee were Palace and Swansea. |
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