An Important Question/Topic...

Every time there is a mass shooting, whether it be at a school, movie theatre, mall, ect, certain things always come up.. Banning guns, banning violent movies, banning violent music and video games, ect. Are these the questions/answers that we should be looking for, or should we be looking for something else?

Say they do ban guns, burn them and melt them down. They also ban violent movies, books, music, games, ect. Lets take it a step further, lets ban "violent" speech. What do we have then? We have people who are.. Deaf, dumb, blind, and mute to their surroundings. When the "wolves" come knocking on the door, how are they to protect themselves? They don't know anything about violence, because its been erased out of their society. It's like a flock of sheep, penned up, with no eyes, ears, nose, or anything to tell them about their surroundings.. It would honestly be setting up people for failure.

The world is a violent place. We can't change that. So, what do we do? We do things that a lot of people on ATS are good at doing. We prepare, we keep vigilant. It's only when you let your guard down, that it is the best time for the enemy to attack.

Acta Non Verba,
-A/A

P.S.
Moderators.. This is probably in the wrong section (it honestly started out as a rant..) please move this as you see fit.

-A/A

reply to post by Angelsoftheapocalypse


The world is only a violent place because we are afraid. Fear breeds violence. So here is an important question of my own, in response to yours: We are nearly masters of technology using metal and electricity to control life and death, earth and sky, and even the flow of knowledge. If the ancient Egyptians, Aztecs, Mayans, or Huns were to gaze upon us, they would believe us to be gods or beings of supernatural power, and they would worship us. We would be their rulers, and they would not ask questions. This is not a statement of pride, but of capability. We, as a species, are no longer children. We are finally coming of age, and it will bring many changes for us. At this point in time, however, we rule this earth. Homo Sapiens stands as the dominant species of the planet.

So what do we have to be afraid of? What threatens us? Why do we need to defend ourselves at all? For being the master species of this planet, we are awfully fearful. Why is that?

Reminds me of Demolition Man ( the movie). A peaceful society and when the bad dudes come, the best the police of the day have is " stop or else" before their head is beaten in.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


The short answer is because evil still lurks within the heart of man.

The long answer is that our instinctual *survival of the fittest* is what got us
where we are today at the top of the food chain.

We are currently transitioning from a species which operates on instinct to a species
which operates on intellect alone...think Captain Kirk and Dr. Spock.

We still have a long way to go....so I'll continue to rely on my instinct of self-preservation
and keep my weapon.

When the instinctual urges of greed and dominance have been purged from this species
once and for all, then I will give up my gun...maybe donate it to a museum.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


We fear what humanity has always feared.... the unknown. A good example is when you said that the ancient mayans, egyptians, ect would worship us out of capability, and not fear. They would only worship us because our technologies and capabilities are unknown to them. It's the same with banning things after violence. We want to prepare against what we truly do not understand.. the "unknown". I just think that banning things because they "influence bad actions" is entirely the wrong way to go.. and forgive me for the cheesy quote, but it stands true.. Alfred Pennyworth in "The Dark Knight" says it right when he states "Some men just want to see the world burn". So banning things because they "influence bad actions" just seems to be the worst thing we could do right now.

reply to post by rival

The short answer is because evil still lurks within the heart of man.

I very respectfully refuse to accept that answer. 'Evil', as a word, is used more to describe how we feel about the nature of something, than the actual nature of the 'something' concerned.

"I feel this is evil" is a more accurate statement than "this is evil," because the label is applied from a subjective viewpoint for subjective reasons. As such, a subjective label should not be used as an absolute because it is not the nature being described, but the impression given as a result of the observer's personality and experiences.

I await a more...objective answer.

reply to post by AfterInfinity

So what do we have to be afraid of? What threatens us? Why do we need to defend ourselves at all? For being the master species of this planet, we are awfully fearful. Why is that?

Because we still exhibit the instinctual urge to dominate and conquer each other.

It's in our games; football, chess, checkers. It's inherent in the selective breeding
we each engage in. We're territorial. We still love a good fight, a good pro-counter debate.
We still like to win.

It's that urge that drives what each society considers evil. The definition of evil changes
with a society's morals...for the sake of brevity *evil* worked (i hoped) to make my point.

We are instinctual and intellectual (empathetic, compassionate, logical etc.),
but we each exhibit differing degrees of each.

Point is, to rid yourself of your ability to defend yourself while we, as a species, still mostly
operate out of instinct, is folly.

It is still a dog eat dog world as they say. we have some evolving to do before we reach
Utopia. We should aspire to live in a Utopian society, but to think we could attain it in our
lifetime is naive....

As the OP stated, most people on this board live in a bubble of comfort and cannot empathize
with the POV of someone whose government is tyrannical. They simply cannot fathom how
that could happen where they live---too many good people to overcome, too many good-nature'd
souls who would passively resist. Those folks are deluded IMO...I'm a witness to history

reply to post by rival


So our fear comes from the knowledge that man is inherently unwilling to be equal? Even if you disagree, I'd like to offer a further train of thought along that line. Let's assume, for the sake of exploration, that our fear DOES come from such a knowledge - from knowing that humans are inherently unwilling to be equal. Where would that come from? Why would we want to be unequal?

Because, perhaps, some feel they are more worthy. They feel they deserve more. They feel, for whatever reason, that they should have more of everything, and then they fall into the cycle of taking more than they give. And after a while of assuring themselves that this is reasonable, they take more and more. And others are left with less and less. Understandably, the lower echelons are forced to fight amongst each other for the scraps while those who were more fortunate laugh at such misery and dine on their roast pig served on golden platters, because they have fought and killed for their thrones.

And it becomes a way of life. Kill or be killed. The ticket to a better life is to take before someone else does, because that someone else feels they deserve more. And no matter how high up you are, there is always someone else willing to take from you because that perch up there looks pretty good and they want to see how the view is. We are all engrossed in a game of Stepping Stools, and the people up high put on a game for every generation.

Because some people believe they deserve more, and are willing to do whatever it takes to have it. But let's make the game more interesting: introduce a "god mode" into the game. A system that grants complete immunity to the dog-eat-dog nature of the world. And so, while some fight tooth and nail, others look within for a guiding hand. But because the generations have fought for so long, they have forgotten how to do this. The threads linked in my signature explain that idea, if you care to have a look.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


I read the OP in your signature and we think alot alike. Have a look at this thread of mine to
see what I mean www.abovetopsecret.com...

edit to add...I made you a friend to see what else you have to offer. This doesn't bode well
for you because my friend list is short and many of them have been banned

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
reply to post by Angelsoftheapocalypse

 

The world is only a violent place because we are afraid. Fear breeds violence.

Not to be pedantic, but precision is helpful when we've come to a place of confusion. I believe it's more accurate to say that Fear manifests its own fulfillment. Since violence is perhaps the biggest part of what many people are afraid of, we have a lot of it.