Angry's rant + homework

[KimTjik]

I've traveled to Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Turkey, Hungary and Mexico and there isn't a single place I've visited that compelled me to wish I was a citizen of anywhere other than the United States. Canada was the closest, but that was only because every sentence there ended with an "eh"

Not to criticize you in any sense, but many people feel the same about their home country. Some reasons for this: we're used to it, everything is familiar and make sense to us even the country specific problems or we might belong to a ethnic or social group which isn't affected by possible governmental or other maltreatment. In reality it has very little to do with greatness or the lack of it.

 

Some years ago we were planning to visit some friends in the US; personally I haven't been in more than 12 states, so I can't say I have a complete picture of the US. At the time my wife didn't have a Swedish citizenship and hence was in need of a US visa. She was denied and when asking the embassy for a reason they plainly told me: "we think it's possible that she'll abandon you and stay as an illegal immigrant in the US"! Wow, besides being one of the less polite answers I ever received, it definitely also tells the story about how blind someone can be by a self proclaimed greatness.

 

I don't hold this againts the US as country, now when years have passed it's more of a funny story... and yes my wife has never abandoned me, we're still happily married!

 

No names, but a Cuban writer who has been living many years here in Sweden did tell a funny story. His mother living in Cuba came to visit him, or more precise he payed her ticked. Relatives in the US (the US doesn't play any role in this story, it's just a coincidence) very anti-Castro tried for a long time before hand convince her that she should stay in Sweden and search asylum. The mother came to Sweden stayed for a longer time, but then told them she didn't like it, because nothing was like home we're people had time for each other. It's interesting how people see things differently. Some loves and others hate it. Cuba is of course a special case, since the liberation of the mafia ruler-ship lead to soft communist dictatorship, too close to the US boarder, and hence in addition to other things been suffering from one of the most ridiculous trade embargoes in history. Anyway Sweden got a thumb down in comparison with Cuba in this case.

 

I know that about myself as well: we're all living in our bubbles and presume to much about the world outside of it. Maybe because I've lived a third of my life abroad, but I can't stand the selfrighteous and pompous discussion I hear on media here in Sweden; it's like they figured out everything and know everything!

 

...

 

Excuse me for such an ignorant question referring the A_G's rant: is Fox News really popular in the US? I saw it a longer period for some years ago out of interest, but it all appeared to be the Muppet Show dressed up as humans, with less humor, or bad jokes, so I decided such a poor news program can never survive. But it has, hasn't it?

[red930]

Excuse me for such an ignorant question referring the A_G's rant: is Fox News really popular in the US? I saw it a longer period for some years ago out of interest, but it all appeared to be the Muppet Show dressed up as humans, with less humor, or bad jokes, so I decided such a poor news program can never survive. But it has, hasn't it?

 

Some people slam Fox News for being a pretty heavily conservative news program in a land of mostly liberal news programs. They (like every other news program EVER) sometimes don't cover issues they don't like as well as they should, or they might ignore something, or blur the facts completely.

 

Quite frankly I'm tired of people making fun of it. I mean, don't you get tired of it A_G? CNN, MSNBC, etc, etc....they're ALL WORTHLESS. There's no reason to pick one out just because of a few incidents you happened to hear of.

 

I'm sure if Travis read this he'll be happy to link to the occasions of misinformation. I'll bet there's even a website devoted to it. I don't care. I don't watch any of them regularly because they all suck. Every one of them covered Paris Hilton going to and coming back from jail. Every one of them covered Britney Spears going to the hospital.

 

This isn't news. This is .. You're trying to compete with xxxxing E!, VH1, and MTV now. And you're doing a crappy job of it because you don't have the flashy graphics that keeps me mesmerized.

 

In short, I hate Fox News. Exactly as much as I hate CNN, MSNBC, and whatever other news channels there are. They all cover worthless topics, they all have their own agenda, and they certainly cover a helluva lot of worthless bull crap for way, way too xxxxing long.

 

But I hate it when people won't shut up about it even more.

 

/gone from this thread forever (for real this time....maybe)

 

Edit:

 

As for being popular, who knows. There aren't that many 24/7 "news" networks. It's still around so I assume they get enough people watching it to stay alive.

[wevsspot]

Yep Fox News has survived believe it or not. Their coverage is very slanted towards a conservative right wing audience, and sometimes you have to question the validity of their reporting. I for one visit several different news sites when I have time to read. I've been known to stop by USA Today, Fox News, CNN, BBC, Jerusalem Post and my favorite.....

 

ESPN

 

One reason I love being a part of DIY-Street is the wonderful mix of nationalities, personalities and ethnic groups we get around these parts. Always neat to make new acquaintances with people from all over the world.

 

I'm definitely not a "one world order person" and frankly think that will be signaling of the end (according to my core and religious believes), and I think everyone and every country should have the right for self determination, self government, peace and prosperity. The only people I actually hate are any that have extremist views, whether that be religious, political or racist.

 

I've never been to Sweden, but I'd love to check it out sometime.

[red930]

Isn't ESPN owned by ABC? Do they even have another 24 hours news network? :angel:

[KimTjik]

Sorry technodanvan I didn't in my ignorance know that the Fox News has been such a pain. But over here Fox News never made an impression, and you rarely see it among what companies provide. Personally it's as I wrote: I did watch it some years ago, but that's all.

[Guest SuppA-SnipA]

wevsspot - how did u like Hungary? learn any Hungarian? lol

[wevsspot]

I was in Tatabanya, Hungary. Very interesting place. In fact we had razor-wire, double fences and armed guards around the factory.

 

It was very strange working there. The people were nice though. We stayed at small bed and breakfast type place and they did a good job making us breakfasts and dinners that suited our taste buds. I was surprised by the amount of pollution in the general area where our plant was though.

[Guest SuppA-SnipA]

know any hungarian? lol

[MACarter02]

Isn't ESPN owned by ABC? Do they even have another 24 hours news network?

 

Yes. ESPN has ESPNEWS network. 24 hour sports.

[Angry_Games]

Quite frankly I'm tired of people making fun of it. I mean, don't you get tired of it A_G? CNN, MSNBC, etc, etc....they're ALL WORTHLESS. There's no reason to pick one out just because of a few incidents you happened to hear of.

 

read my original post. I slam all of them. I watch all of them, and I find all of them to be self-serving, full of misinformation, etc. I choose to pick on Fox News the most because of . like this:

 

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3165591

Brown goes on to identify specific untrue statements made by Fox News, including:

 

That the game portrays full-frontal nudity:

 

"Fact: Mass Effect does not include explicit or frontal nudity. Love scenes in non-interactive sequences include side and profile shots - a vantage frequently used in many prime-time television shows. It's also worth noting that the game requires players to develop complex relationships before characters can become intimate and players can chose to avoid the love scenes altogether."

 

That it portrays graphic .:

 

"Fact: . scenes in Mass Effect are not graphic. These scenes are very similar to . sequences frequently seen on network television in prime time."

 

And that the game is marketed to children:

 

"Fact: That is flat out false. Mass Effect and all related marketing has been reviewed by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and rated Mature - appropriate for players 17-years and older. ESRB routinely counsels retailers on requesting proof of age in selling M-rated titles and the system has been lauded by members of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission."

 

here's my rub, and it's the SAME RUB WE HAVE AROUND HERE:

 

people say some dumbass . and others hear/read it and think it's true, then go around repeating it like stupid sheep, which in turn causes others to hear it and think it's true.

 

what do we do here at this forum when some jackass comes rolling in acting like he knows all kinds of . and starts spouting nonsense that we all know is nothing but bull crap?

 

answer: Praz and I and the rest of you jump right on that motherxxxxer quick as lightning and read him the riot act, slam facts in his face, and send him running for the hills with his butthole trailing smoke from a nuclear-powered boot.

 

Let me ask you this...do ANY of you expect any less of us? Would ANY of you respect this forum and those of us who live here if we allowed this kind of . to go on? How many of you have jumped into a thread where you KNOW FOR A FACT that someone is lying, telling lies, saying some . to pump himself up and look important/smart/etc? Would you rather we did nothing and just let it go on?

 

Now this bit above, sure it's about some stupid video game (and I'll be honest, a game I am currently playing and love VERY MUCH, so I can concur that it's a bull crap news story). That really isn't the point. The point is that Fox News, along with all the other MASS MEDIA outlets, this is how they manipulate Americans.

 

Manipulate how, Angry?

 

Good question. How many of you watch The Daily Show with John Stewart?

 

Me, I try to as much as possible. I love humor. I also love more than anything how the show does exactly what I just did...points out the fallacies and downright LIES that mass media news outlets produce for you to eat like a $1 McDonald's burger.

 

CNN, Fox, MSNBC, all of them, they put news out there and rarely check to see if it's actually true anymore. The problem I have is that Fox is the ABSOLUTE WORST, and the major rub about that is how xxxxing popular it is...it's like hanging out with the guy you KNOW is a blow-hard liar and yet all your friends and relatives just eat his . up like he's the next greatest thing since Jesus and they get really pissed at you and call you jealous when you point out each and every lie.

 

Does this mean CNN doesn't do it? Watch some CNN sometime. You'll see the same thing, except theirs isn't slanted to Neo-Conservative religious views like Fox is (that I can tell anyway). You all know how I feel about ORGANIZED religion that spouts nonsense from a book written by men to control a population.

 

That's an argument for another day, because I'll tell you right now everyone has a right to believe what they want. I just don't want it slammed down my throat, and I damn sure don't want YOUR religion making laws for me to live by. Pray to your god, I'm down with that. Everyone believes in something and that's great. But don't push it down my throat, and for DAMN SURE don't use the xxxxing news channels to push it down my throat with "facts" that are nothing but lies.

 

Technodan and probably others get tired of the bashing, but that's pure apathy. Yawn stop talking about it already it's a dead horse. But then what happens? Some dumbasses hear it on Fox or CNN or ABC or read it in some mass-media newspaper that has an ugly political/religious slant and they in turn do exactly what shitbags around here do...start bleating like stupid sheep how this or that is a fact and then other idiot sheep read/hear it and start repeating it then by god soon enough it's a xxxxing fact that those of us who KNOW THE FACTS can't get anyone to listen to us as to why what you heard is a bunch of xxxxing nonsense.

 

Is this the country we want to live in? Guys like technodan just accepting whatever is put on their plates? This isn't to say dan is stupid. By no means. He's one of the smartest guys I know. Does he listen to this nonsense and accept it as truth? No, I don't believe that either. The problem I have is that he thinks "it's bull crap lies" and figures everyone else realizes it the same as he.

 

That's the problem. There aren't a lot of technodans in this country anymore. Or maybe there are, and THAT is the problem. You hear some bull crap lie and you figure everyone else knows it's nothing but bull crap and so you just get angry when someone like me keeps stating that it's bull crap...because you think "HEY DUMBASS EVERYONE KNOWS IT ALREADY".

 

Until you run into people like Carly's grandmother and probably 100 others that I know personally who forward this xxxxing email that claims Obama is a Muslim and he's going to kill our Constitution and make us all live under Sharia (muslim) law. Or any number of other bull crap scenarios because of Hannity & Colmbs (spelling?), Limbaugh, O'Reilly, etc. Ann Coulter keeps calling Obama "Saddam Hussein Obama" and keeps talking about how he's a muslim.

 

Remember the big fiasco about the ONE AND ONLY muslim member of Congress (the guy from Minnesota)?

 

Does anyone else remember what I remember when he wanted to swear on the Koran instead of the Christian bible and OMFG MUSLIMS ARE GOING TO TAKE OVER OUR COUNTRY!!!

 

And how jackasses like Glenn Beck (a mormon...in case anyone didn't realize it and wondered why he had his nose so far up Mitt Romney's butt) SCREAMED bloody murder about how this country was a Christian country and it would be the end of America if we let some terrorist swear on HIS OWN RELIGIOUS TEXT instead of the CHRISTIAN BIBLE? (another case of dummies slamming their religion down everyone else's throat).

 

Ok...it's this kind of . that drives me insane. People like technodan expect the rest of us to realize it's all bull crap and so he gets mad at people like me who he thinks should have better things to do.

 

What technodan doesn't realize is that in countless times before in history, this is how very bad things start. Why do you think in the old times you weren't allowed to read/write unless you were of the ruling class or upper class?

 

Because informed and intelligent citizens refuse to be handed bull crap, and they revolt and overthrow those who feed them bull crap.

 

Propaganda isn't new. It wasn't invented by Nazi Germany. Hitler damn sure perfected it probably better than anyone...until recently. But it has been around for thousands of years. Ask any Jew about how old propaganda is. Somewhere along his family line someone in his family was put to death because some xxxxing butthole Christian or Muslim pointed at him and said "dirty jew!!! he to me!!!!" and blammo, to the death that dirty jew went.

 

Recently, propaganda has been shaped and perfected to a fine art. I don't even need to tell you all the ways because you watch tv, and you see it every day. You read "blogs" on the internet and take it as truth. You watch American mass media news and take it as truth. You read newspapers owned by American mass media and you take it as truth.

 

 

 

 

Here's some new homework for you:

 

 

Watch CNN. The American version.

 

Now, turn the channel to CNN International.

 

whoa....see the difference? I'm not even going to point out the difference. I'll let you come back and tell me exactly how different it is.

 

News shouldn't be used to get higher ratings. INFOTAINMENT is a sin if there ever was one. People listen to it and instantly lose IQ points as far as I'm concerned, and worse, it desensitizes you to lies and half-truths to the point you don't have a clue what is true and what isn't anymore.

 

 

 

 

Now, let's move on to Founding Fathers. And the sometimes hatred of them by us 'modern' people who say things like technodan did like "they weren't perfect" etc etc.

 

No one claims they were perfect. ANYONE, and I mean ANYONE who has actually studied history knows that all of them had lots of faults. Jefferson hated slavery yet kept slaves his whole life, even had a child with one (or more?). Franklin was a womanizer who was completely estranged from his son. I could go on and on and on about all of our leaders from the beginning of this country to the present. NO HUMAN IS PERFECT.

 

However, the reason we keep looking back to these men is that they had a vision. They escaped from the oppression of the monarchy of England by telling England to go xxxx itself with a big, splintery object. They then decided that they had a chance to put together a form of government that the world had really never seen before (not even the ancient Greeks who died for their democracy, even though ours is based heavily on theirs as well as the Roman republics, not the Ceasars). 200+ years later, we are still here, we are still going strong, but the cracks are starting to show.

 

Like a dam/dike, the cracks are only the beginning. At some point, chunks of the dam will burst off and then the flood will begin. If all we have in this country are people who accept anything the IDIOT BOX (television) tells them, and people like technodanvan who refuse to get involved because he thinks we should all be smart enough to know the truth, what do you think the end result is?

 

 

 

 

Now, let's talk a little about guns and the 2nd Amendment.

 

Guns...well you know the saying. Guns don't kill people, PEOPLE kill people. Remember before guns? Well, not literally, because guns have been around hundreds of years. But remember reading history about the times before guns?

 

People murdered each other just about the same numbers as today. They just did it with knives, rocks, swords, poisons, etc. Guns are not the issue. People who make guns the issue...no offense, but it just isn't the issue.

 

I have a gun. Many of us posting in this thread have a gun. Do we kill people? No. We are responsible gun owners who are AFRAID of our guns...that amounts to a healthy respect for an object that can kill without much effort. If you don't respect your weapons, you are a fool. But that is even getting off the path.

 

Guns don't kill people. PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE. Why do we have to place the blame with guns? Imagine if you will what would happen if we took EVERY SINGLE GUN ON THE PLANET and destroyed it, and erased from minds of everyone what a gun was and how to make one. What do you think would happen?

 

Would we live in a perfect society with harmony and love?

 

No, we'd use or invent something else to kill with. Hey, let's use a microwave transmitter to fry some poor shitbag's brain into warm jelly. Let's put poisons or radiation into the water supply or food supply. Let's crash fuel-laden vehicles into a shopping mall. Let's make home-made explosives and kill MORE people at once than one jackass with a gun could.

 

 

So why do we think that somehow if we eliminated guns that we would live in this perfect society that wouldn't have any violent crime? Do the majority of rapists use guns to terrify their victims and force . upon them? No, last stat I checked, knives and rope was the big seller on rapist-tools.com (heh, fictional site, don't go checking for it). What about the mothers who decide to kill their children...drowning, suffocating, poison, etc are the choices for them, not guns.

 

 

And let's also talk from the other side, because that's the point I'm trying to make. I have a gun. What if someone broke into my house? Sure I'd point it at them and give them a choice: live or die butthole.

 

But what if I'm at the bank and some loser rushes in either alone or with his pals and robs it with pistols and/or sawed-off shotguns? Am I gonna be the hero and start blazing away?

 

xxxx NO I'M NOT. I'm not a hero. I'm also smarter than anyone who thinks it's a good idea to have a xxxxing gun battle in a crowded place with people who are already desperate enough to use guns to rob someone else. I'm a pretty good shot with a pistol, but in a situation like that, that I AM NOT TRAINED FOR (because I am not police, I am not SWAT, I am not SEAL, I am not SPECIAL FORCES), I am not about to gamble with the lives of my fellow humans who are innocent and only in that xxxxing bank to cash their check to get on to the titty-bar or the loan lady who has 3 children at home to take care of, etc.

 

Anyone who wants to be the hero...is an idiot. Sure the lady in the church killed a mofo who wanted to kill others. That's a decision that has to be made in an instant, but most of the time the truth is, it's not the right decision. IF it's a desperation move, then hell yes. If ANYONE had a gun at Virginia Tech, it would have been foolish to not take that idiot out even if you accidentally killed a couple of innocent students (considering the death toll was so high).

 

But again, are you a trained cop? SWAT guy? Do you train daily/weekly to deal with bad, desperate men who show up with illegal guns and want to steal from you (whether it is your goods or your life)?

 

No. You are not. To think you know what you would do and do it all like you see on tv/movies is foolish foolish foolish. Most of the time jackass robbers and druggies, they don't want to kill you. They just want your money, or your Xbox, or your car, etc. If this weren't true, the murder rate would be so xxxxing outrageous that we would ALL, BY LAW, be REQUIRED to carry firearms.

 

Thankfully this isn't the case.

 

But are guns a deterrent? Ask people in Texas. I can't speak for them, but my brother can as he lived there for years. I can speak mostly for Florida after living there for 12 years.

 

My brother and I agree...guns are rarely a real deterrent.

 

But why is this? Because, as I just said, the men and women who want to harm you or rob you, they are DESPERATE. They aren't thinking with a clear head. A clear-thinking individual, yeah, that dude is deterred by guns.

 

Like me for example. I don't go around xxxxing with anyone. How do I know that YOU aren't say ex-Special Forces who knows black-belt jujistu + kung-fu? How do I know you aren't packing your own .45 in a concealed holster?

 

Answer: I don't, but I'm wise enough to know that you MIGHT be. ANYONE might be. Do I really want to find out? No, it isn't worth dying for, or ending up on a life-support machine for the rest of my miserable life over.

 

But people who wish to do you harm, they aren't clear-headed individuals who have stopped to think about things the way I have. They honestly DON'T CARE that you might be packing heat whether it is a 9mm or a fist that can kill with one well-placed punch. I DO care. But again, I'm not desperate for cash to go buy dope or whatever reason people do such things.

 

I can tell you that anyone that tries to break into my house has a 50-50 chance of being ventilated with all 9 rounds out of my pistol. This isn't a deterrent though. This is just a final reality for anyone foolish enough to try. However, if you break into my neighbor's house, you won't face that same life-death 50-50 chance, as he has no guns. You'll get your xxxxing leg ripped off by a very angry and very large dog, and probably get your head bashed in with an aluminum softball bat while said dog is ripping said leg(s) to shreds, but no, no guns.

 

So I ask you, where is the deterrent? It doesn't exist except for those of us who DO live within the law, who DO think clearly and coherently. But those of us who do, we don't need guns then, right? Do we think we should use a gun to settle an argument?

 

xxxx NO. I settle arguments with words/facts, my fists (heh, no, not since jr high school but you know), the police, the law, etc.

 

So if that cancels out the deterrent thing, then why do we need guns?

 

Techondanvan IS extremely smart, and said it best: in the off chance we need to overthrow the government.

 

THIS, as I said the first time, is the entire reason the 2nd Amendment was put into the Constitution. Because our Founding Fathers were EXTREMELY WISE. They KNEW, based on their own experiences with their own revolution as well as the revolutions of the rest of the world at that time, that governments were the biggest threat to humans. Again, Thomas Jefferson once stated that we needed to have a revolution just about once every 50 years to keep everyone honest.

 

Let's forget the fact that Russia, at the height of the Cold War would have never bothered to invade the USA, a la Red Dawn. They know as well as everyone else, that it would be the most foolish thing possible to even attempt. Everyone knows Americans own and love their guns, just about as much as they do their cars. This is why governments spend money on things like TANKS and BOMBERS and NUCLEAR (nuke-yuh-ler) WEAPONS.

 

An army of rednecks with shotguns and .30/.30 rifles wouldn't stand a chance against a satellite-guided bomb with 2000 pounds of high-explosives. Nor against even a lightly armored BMP, let alone a T-72 tank with 4" of armor plating.

 

So it isn't really about OTHER countries.

 

 

It's about our OWN country. So, you say, our own country has tanks, bombs, nukes. Yep. They do. They also have fully automatic assault rifles and machine guns and body armor and grenades, etc.

 

But here's what I see that some of you might not: If the . really really really went down, how many of our own citizens who ARE military, nat'l guard, police, etc, would turn those weapons upon our own citizens? I'll go out on a limb and say I would guarantee that there would be some that would resist, knowing it was wrong.

 

Sure it depends on the situation, but let's say all this conspiracy junk is true, and the government ordered troops to start rounding up all convicted felons as well as using the gun registration lists to go house to house and remove guns and/or arrest citizens. How many do you think then would start to question such a move, especially since all the troops are humans and would have to possibly arrest dad, uncle, good friends, etc?

 

So even in that scenario, let us say that most would just blindly obey. What do you think would happen if the news came on and said "turn in all of your guns or face arrest" and we knew these troops were moving house to house enforcing this law? I can say that in my experience here in just Idaho, that it would go over like a moldy lead turd. There would be gun battles from eastern Idaho to northern Idaho to every single xxxxing part of Idaho. They would have to call in the National Guard and more, and even then, it would be ugly, and it would be brutal. Our gun owning citizens, they wouldn't really want to fight trained and armed troops, so we'd take the easy way out, and go find these jackasses in charge who are ordering this nonsense and kill them.

 

If you chop the head of your government off, then no one can give ridiculous orders to the troops.

 

Consider that we have a couple million armed forces and national guardsmen. On top of that we have a couple million police officers.

 

Now, compare that to 300,000,000 million citizens. Citizens don't need firearms to have a revolution. If 20 armed troops are guarding the county courthouse with tanks, bombs, machine guns, do you think they could stop 10,0000 angry citizens? No. They can't.

 

Do you think a battalion of troops could keep 250,000 citizens in a medium-sized city from overwhelming them? No, they cannot.

 

Especially considering a lot of citizens are ex-military, ex-police, etc. Do the math. You can cow a certain number of people but you can't cow an entire country of citizens who are armed and realize that the 2nd Amendment is there to protect us AGAINST the government (not against crackheads as some of you think).

 

This my friends is the sole reason the 2nd Amendment exists. They had crime back in 1776, but it wasn't like what we know crime to be today. Washington and Adams didn't want the 2nd Amendment to kill a wife and her boyfriend when they came home from a long day of work and found them in bed. Hancock and Franklin didn't dream up the 2nd Amendment and approve it because they were afraid of Ye Olde Heroin Dealer crowding out their inner-city streetcorners.

 

They did it because they knew that if it wasn't in place, the government could and eventually would do exactly what all EMPIRES in the past have done...force it's citizens to do whatever the government wanted, whenever it wanted, and there'd be nothing the citizens could do.

 

What would have happened if all those Chinese students in Tianamen Square had been armed with more than banners and schoolbooks and rocks and bottles? What if those students had all had AK-47's and fragmentation grenades?

 

What if the Czech's had all been armed when they revolted in 1968? And I'm not talking about a few of them like history shows, but the entire xxxxing country? You'd have seen something more like Afghanistan.

 

Speaking of, let's take a look at that little shithole on the other side of the planet. A bombed-out, burned-up, broken-down country that is as poor as any other 3rd world country. But they were all armed (thanks to the USA), and they fought off the world's largest army for 9+ years and eventually sent them packing.

 

That my friends, is what is called DETERMINATION. And if our government decided to start rounding up it's own citizens, I'm pretty damn sure the fiery determination of being an American Citizen would make it's way to the front and you'd see....well I don't know what you'd see but it wouldn't be pretty (especially for the government).

 

 

 

Now I'm not in any way shape or form advocating armed revolution, or revolution of any kind. I am simply stating that the 2nd Amendment exists solely for the purpose of throwing the government and it's troops out on their asses should such a time ever arrive.

 

People tend to use the Constitution to hide behind, and all those who claim that the 2nd Amendment is there to keep citizens having guns to waste Bill next door because his dog bit your son or he was banging your wife or he was dealing crack and breaking into your house or so you could stop a bank robber or some insane person who shows up to a university and shoots the place up...that is the same as those who hide behind other amendments and wrap themselves around the Constitution to protect themselves for reasons that weren't wholly intended by the words written in the document.

 

The Constitution however IS very VAGUE. So am I right? Probably not 100% like I like to think I am sometimes. MAYBE Jefferson DID want to have guns so he could kill some jackass who tried to steal his slaves, or maybe just to kill a slave when he/she got out of line or tried to escape. Maybe Washington thought it was a good idea to blast any mofo who stepped foot on his land (and then went out and planted a flintlock pistol on the dude so the cops would believe Washington's life was in danger lol). Maybe. That's the beauty of the Constitution.

 

Founding Fathers...THEY WERE WISE. They WERE pretty xxxxing smart. They weren't perfect. They WERE human. All of us that are human, we all know we ALL have faults, we all have chinks in our armor, we all do . we shouldn't do even when we know we shouldn't be doing it yet do it anyway.

 

These guys though, they WERE wise enough to realize that if this country was going to last longer than a few years or even a few decades, they'd have to make sure that the laws were strict but the ability to interpret them was sorta vague.

 

Freedom of speech is another one that is pretty darn vague. Newspapers and citizens are free to say just about anything they want. Except they can't say . like "FIRE!!!" in a crowded theatre. They can't stand on a street and scream out obscenities and racial slurs to those passing by. They can print that it is ok to have a revolution if need be (like the stuff I'm typing), but they cannot INCITE revolution actively for their own personal purposes.

 

We can choose to be any religion we want, even if it's believing that Xenu the great alien overlord from some distant planet (scientology) is the cause of our...well who the xxxx knows what scientology really is about.

 

I could list hundreds of scenarios where the Constitution guarantees yet also forbids this or that. Our Founding Fathers were naive a bit to think that the citizens of this country would ALWAYS be intelligent and active in how they looked after the government.

 

Jump ahead to the 20th century and you see plenty of apathy by the citizens (I mean, do even 50% of the legal voting population even vote anymore?) and massive corruption in government. Would Washington roll over in his grave if he knew that some xxxxhead in Alaska wanted $100 million to build a xxxxing bridge to an island that housed like 100 people? When we have schools facing money shortages, people without proper healthcare?

 

 

 

 

The goal of my thread isn't to force you to take one stance or another. The goal of my thread is to get you off your lazy asses and be actively thinking about the things we are facing as a country. You don't have to become an activist.

 

But you can no longer be a technodanvan and assume that everyone is as smart as you and that everyone can tell bull crap from truth. You can no longer just accept what the television tells you is the truth.

 

And most importantly, you can no longer just sit back and accept that the government is ALWAYS HONEST and everything that comes out of the mouths of our leaders is true.

 

 

As I said in my first post, a real, true, American patriot who loves his country and is a good citizen...it is that kind of American who questions everything his government does and says. It doesn't mean you have to think they are always lying to you. It just means that if you passively accept what someone says to you is true, you become exactly what those in power wish you to become: a sheep who can be led to the slaughter without even having a clue as to where you are being led.

 

 

Imagine if I just kept telling you that Intel Core2 cpu's were crappy and couldn't really perform as well as even a single-core Athlon64, and you just accepted it because after 4 years of coming to this forum, you assume that what I'm saying is the absolute truth.

 

Wouldn't that then lead into you deciding that I was telling the truth if I then told you that OCZ supported the slaughter of women and children in Darfur with the profits they made, that ATI X300's were superior in graphics to an Nvidia 8600GT, and that overclocking 200Mhz actually improved your performance 90% MORE than overclocking 190Mhz?

 

Come on people. It's time to THINK FOR YOURSELVES. Since MASS MEDIA isn't interested in fact-checking, it's up to you to do it for yourselves.

 

We need to stop teaching people to accept what is told to them just because someone said it or wrote it. We need to start teaching people HOW to find out what is true and what is not.

 

If you teach kids to memorize the answers to questions on a test (like they do now with No Child Left Behind), then do you really think that is better than teaching them HOW to learn the answers that might be on a test?

 

God (if you believe in him) gave you a brain, and made you the most intelligent animal on this little planet. Don't insult him or your favorite deity by acting like a lowly sheep.

[dr_bowtie]

people say some dumbass . and others hear/read it and think it's true, then go around repeating it like stupid sheep, which in turn causes others to hear it and think it's true.

 

I have been saying this for years....

 

People who think inside the box, which is 99% of everyone do this...! this is a proven fact....

 

It's for instances like we all believe the color BLUE is the shade it is because we've all been told it is....it's what we've been preached as well as others before us...so we believe it....

 

How do we not really know the color BLUE isnt really spelled RED...? someone could have made a mistake intentional or not....

 

people who think outside the box take everything they hear and contemplate the reality of it and question every bit of it's truth or fallacy and/or questions its ability to be real or even correct....

 

 

People are too damn naive to believe everything they hear is the gospel truth when it could really be a bold faced lie...but since it was spoken it must be true, BS I say....unless I see it with my own eyes I figure it all lies....

[Dougman]

I support our second amendment -the right to keep and bear arms. When I was 16 my father took me to the local gunshop and we both purchased the same shotgun mossberg 500 pump. We hunted together that year and he shot his first buck. It wasnt about shooting an animal it was about spending time with my father. Those where the best years of my life. Our right to bear arms is not only our right but it is our heritage.

 

Did you know since 1960-2006 that murder rates increased as the population increased? There where 9,000 murders in 1960 with a population of 2 million people. 2006 there where 17,000 murders with a population of 3 million. Now im not even counting the amount of illegal aliens that have entered the country in the last 20 years.....

 

The school shootings in the last 10 years where a terrible thing. On the one side you have the victims families and friends wondering why? On the other side you have the assailants family and friends wondering why their child turned out so bad. I can give you a glimpse of why. The kids in the schools know why. Bullies..name calling..spitted on,tripped..the worste degradation a child should go through. So before you say to your child look at that freak or look at that loser loud enough so the kid can hear it just remember that kid might fight back someday. Your fooling yourself if you dont atleast think this part of addition to the subject is true. But dont blame it on the guns as a freaking cop out!