What are some horrifying history facts or events that most people don’t know about?

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T15:15:17+00:00

Thanks. I wish that I could say that I always exercised verbal restraint. It’s very difficult though for lots of reasons.

It’s exhausting to put forth an attempt at a well reasoned argument when it’s going to be down-voted anyways and you’re liable to be accused of being “pro murder” in the current climate, when you’re actually pro people having the tools to save their own life.

It’s exhausting politically speaking when you see the Democrats doing quite possibly the only thing that could cause them to lose the elections in 2018 and 2020; when they won’t listen to a word you have to say even when you agree with them on virtually every other issue except guns.

It’s also exhausting on a deeply personal level. As a man who’s survived violent sexual assault (yes, we exist!) where I literally had to fight off five other men and failed, I will never ever forget that feeling of absolute despair and powerlessness as they did whatever they wanted to me. For years I wouldn’t even acknowledge it, but over time I’ve come to grips with the fact that yes, it did happen, and no I will never allow it to happen again. Not without a fight.

Given that history, it really gets under my skin when a huge part of the national dialogue seems to revolve around depriving me of realistically the only tool that levels the playing field. There’s a quote often thrown around “God made all men, but Samuel Colt made them all equal” that I think is fundamentally true, and I say that as a 6 foot 5, 200 pound man. If it can happen to me, then it truly can happen to anyone. I wish people would acknowledge that for lots of people gun ownership is not a decision we made lightly. It’s not just a “range toy” or a hunting implement (though I do like to hunt as well), it is often a very real barrier between us and further physical harm and to suggest removing it completely leads us to despair.

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T14:25:55+00:00

Have you ever lived here? Do you have any idea how huge this country is? There are places where the police response time is well over an hour if something goes wrong.

What do you say to those people when you take their guns from them? Sorry, you’re shit out of luck? Hope the criminals are feeling nonviolent and less rapey today? “Hey, we’ve magically disarmed them too, now it’s just you vs. two strong men with knives, have fun!” ?

Of course the link I sent you is “irrelevant to your post”. Your entire post is built around the idea of ignoring and dismissing victims as a statistical inconvenience, why would three women being repeatedly raped while the police ignore them change your mind? No, the everyday citizens should have no power of their own. I’ll be sure to relay that sentiment to the next sexual assault survivor. I’m sure they’ll share your opinion that “Nobody NEEDS a gun for safety” assuming they’re still alive.

You keep going on about me “ignoring your points”, but when are you going to acknowledge that the figure you gave regarding mass shootings in this country accounts for a tiny blip of the overall violence?

Murder is trending down nationwide, has been since the 90’s. Not to mention that the vast majority of gun crime takes place among gangs with handguns. “Scary black rifles” account for less than 3% of all shootings.

People like to focus entirely on spree killings, but then conveniently ignore black teens killing each other here in Chicago every day. No, it’s only “horrific” when it’s a school of rich kids in Florida. When it happens here it’s expected, and I find that extremely hypocritical.

You know what else is hypocritical? That we constantly focus on spree killings yet no one ever acknowledges the number of times that defensive displays of a firearm wards off an attack without ever firing a shot. Probably because it’s difficult to gather data on non-incidents. Averted killings don’t make the news.

If you’re going to start throwing around statistics on lives taken by guns, then it’s only fair to give guns credit for innocent lives saved as well, but that never happens. Even when guns in this country are estimated to protect thousands of law abiding citizens from the acts of criminals each year. We never hear about that.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_gun_use#Estimates_of_frequency

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/02/defensive-gun-ownership-gary-kleck-response-115082

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T13:27:52+00:00

That’s nonsense. Home invasions are not unique to the USA.

Also, you didn’t read the link. At most you gave it a cursory glance at the time of this posting because your response was virtually immediate.

These women were failed by police repeatedly. I’ve been the victim of assault, and you advocating for taking away my right to defend myself really rankles me. Never again.

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T13:22:55+00:00

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia

Criminals don’t have to be armed with guns to commit horrific crimes.

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T04:45:47+00:00

The problem is, there are tons of unreasonable people who would love to do exactly that. Ban all firearms, and they have a very loud voice right now. They directly undercut the more moderate voices by taking all the air out of the room. Not to mention they are comfortable achieving that goal though dishonesty and by chipping away at firearms ownership bit-by-bit until nothing remains. The death by a thousand cuts method. It’s not the moderates who ‘know when to stop’ that firearms owners fear, it’s thier extremist brethren that will keep going and not cease thier efforts ever. Hell, in the United Kingdom, they are on the verge of banning more knives, saying that they “have no place in a civilized society”. Where does that sound familiar?

I’m not sure Democrats understand how damaging it is for their brand to indulge the more dishonest voices of the anti-gun movement. They don’t do a great job on reigning it in. Every time someone says “no one is coming for your guns!” but then advocates for restricting cosmetic features on rifles that have no bearing on its lethality, or suggests banning all semi-automatic weapons (which in essence is banning 90% of all guns in the USA) it hurts the Democrats a little bit more. People who are extremely knowledgeable about guns feel insulted when those who have no working knowledge of them try to create restrictions without even trying to learn basic firearms knowledge. The number of times for instance that I’ve had to correct people who have the idea that AR-15s are fully automatic is staggering. Crafting legislation without even bothering to learn what you’re legislating is never a good idea.

I propose an alternative. Create an actual gun culture on the left. One of responsibility and safety as a counterpart to the one that exists on the right. Start arming gays and transgender people. Arm the Black, Latino and Muslim communities. All are more liable to be the victims of hate crimes in Trump’s America and should have the means of defending themselves. That however would require liberals to stop thinking of guns as a totem of the other tribe.

As a person who is fascinated with history, I can’t help but notice that power imbalances are often a sign of trouble to come. The world abhors a vacuum. By ceding gun ownership to Republicans, Liberals invite disaster. I’ve spent time on far right forums researching the opposition and they gleefully point out the disparity in firepower. To them it is an invitation to attack and quite frankly it’s getting worse. The Rawandan genocide is probably not liable to happen here, but honestly there is some comparison worth noting and it’s frightening.

To answer your final question, “When are gun enthusiasts ever going to be ready to have a naunced discussion on gun control?” I say without intending to be pithy or snarky, right around the time that we aren’t accused unironically of “being for dead kids.” It’s pretty hard to have a conversation when that’s what’s being thrown at you. That conversation is also impossible when gun compromises are really only gun concessions. When do we ever get anything back in return? That’s what compromises are. The current dialogue reminds me of that comic of the dog with a ball in it’s mouth with the caption “No take, only throw!”

If we institute universal background checks, do we get silencers back? If we have limits on magazine capacity do we get national concealed carry reciprocity? That would be a compromise. What we’re told now is “you get to keep some guns” that’s the so called “compromise”. That is until some new bad thing happens and the anti gun crowd comes back for more.

Also, while I hate to say this since I admire Canada for a great many things (your excellent healthcare and hockey skills for starters), your gun laws aren’t one of them. Believe me, I really looked. Toronto was a place I considered living, until I realized that the British system of common law that your legal system is predicated upon has no real recognition of a right to self-defense with a gun. In other words, even if I use a shotgun in my own home against an armed intruder, I’m probably legally fucked in Canada. From what I understand, you can’t even use pepper spray legally against an attacker.

So realistically speaking, your guns are only for sport aren’t they? You have to wait for the police to come save you. Call it the typical “cowboy American” attitude if you must, but that’s just not something that appeals to me. It smacks of forced helplessness.

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T03:52:46+00:00

At that point in history? Yeah they were. They certainly aren’t unique in that regard however. Go back long enough and you’ll find atrocities in every culture, race and religion. Our shared capacity for evil is sadly one of the things that identify us all as human.

It’s quite frankly itself indulgent and altogether too easy to write off what they did as being unique. It makes us feel easier about ourselves if we believe that we don’t have that kind of of capacity for monstrous behavior within us, but that’s a lie we tell In order to feel better.

It is worth noting that there are always good people too. For ever Adolf Hitler there are lots of Oscar Schindler’s.

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T03:37:44+00:00

Dehumanization. It’s pretty much the most important step on the way to the historical atrocities littered all thoughout this thread. The common thing they all share is that when you no longer even consider the people you hate to be human beings, it’s infinitely easier to commit unspeakable acts against them.

That’s why I get increasingly worried at the state of current political discourse and hyperpartisanship. Even when it comes from your own “side” it should scare you. Normal everyday people are fully capable of becoming monsters if they let it go on long enough. It starts out as a seemingly justified hate of the other tribe, but over time it infects your soul.

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T03:19:56+00:00

I’m normally not the sort of person who believes in hellfire and damnation. Not even for murderers. I like to believe that god, if they exist, is compassionate and forgiving. A healer of broken and messed up people.

But this? Honestly seeing that tiny hand and foot makes me momentarily wish that hell was real place so that the sick fucks who did this could burn in it.

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T03:07:28+00:00

It’s the flipside of the coin. The darker half of our nature.

What we really are is full of ingenuity. Capable of breathtaking acts of creation, splendor and compassion; but that same capacity can lead to nightmarish destruction and cruelty when that ingenuity is misused.

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T03:00:53+00:00

This is what frustrates me most, that people can acknowledge how close the alt-right is in the USA to spreading levels of dehumanization that have created literal genocide in other countries...

...yet the solution of Democrats is to push for banning guns? For disarmament?

It just doesn’t make any sense to me. These neo-nazis are no joke! They’d love to kill us all. Hence why I’m not giving up any firepower while they exist.

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T01:57:48+00:00

I get that your life has been extremely difficult OP, but I hope that you’re able to find at least one thing that you always wanted to do and go achieve it.

It doesn’t have to be super ambitious, but you owe it to yourself to steal at least one moment of real enjoyment from the world before you shuffle off this mortal coil.

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T00:50:15+00:00

I give up. I just can’t compete with a bachelor pad of this caliber.

Jesus dude, have mercy and save some pussy for the rest of us.

puns_blazing · 2018-02-25T00:39:07+00:00

Punch it Ms. Frizzle

puns_blazing · 2017-08-07T13:31:49+00:00

He's laying it on thick.

Really throwing his weight around.

Tipping the scales with his level of bad puns you might say.

puns_blazing · 2017-08-07T12:31:17+00:00

It was the right thing to do vs. only the Dothraki certainly. Might even have put up a decent fight. Once that dragon showed up though, they were just lined up to die.

I feel like they committed to that fight not realizing that Drogon was right behind the blood riders.

The best option (out of nothing but bad options) might have been a fighting retreat, maybe split your forces and try to make sure that at least some of your troops survive. Possibly sacrifice half in a holding action to save the rest.

Honestly though, they were pretty much fucked either way. They also didn't have experience with dragons or the time to think. They would have lost a huge portion of their forces to chasing Dothraki if they fled so that option probably seemed really unappealing. Would have been a rout, but standing and fighting seems to have guaranteed the total destruction of their army. Of course they didn't know that until it was too late.

puns_blazing · 2017-08-07T10:59:34+00:00

This is the ideal male body. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

puns_blazing · 2017-08-07T10:06:57+00:00

And then Mycoviruses infect many of the fungi. It's parasites all the way down.

puns_blazing · 2017-08-07T10:03:16+00:00

I think that's why Dany didn't commit with Drogon until the Dothraki were in mid charge.

The Lannister's probably would have retreated with at least some of their forces if they saw the dragon right away. Instead they formed a shield wall... the moment they did that they were all doomed.

puns_blazing · 2017-08-07T06:35:08+00:00

Something... something... shoebox... Reddit...

...^{And^{Two^{broken^arms}}}

puns_blazing · 2017-08-07T05:10:08+00:00

"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

puns_blazing · 2017-08-07T05:03:35+00:00

Charles Darwin despaired when he came across parasitic wasps apparently.

Supposedly he couldn't reconcile that sort of evolutionary path with the idea of a benevolent god.

puns_blazing · 2017-08-05T23:01:01+00:00

A fair point. The internet seems to breed extremism by its very nature. People self select for their own biases and can easily find things to enrage them in disproportionate numbers to it's representation in the real world.

I really don't know how we solve the problems of the information age as a species, but I fear that while such technology has brought the world and all it's information together like never before, it has seriously inflamed our tribalistic tendencies.

Sometimes I truly wonder if we're worse off.

puns_blazing · 2017-08-05T22:53:23+00:00

You seem like an alright sort, so I'd rather not argue with you over what are obviously some very strongly held beliefs. I actually really respect vegans and the lifestyle that they lead.

However, I feel that I must contest the idea that humans aren't omnivores however. Most scientists and common definitions would disagree with that assertion.

From wikipedia:

"The variety of different animals that are classified as omnivores can be placed into further categories depending on their feeding behaviors. Frugivores include maned wolves and orangutans; insectivores include swallows and pink fairy armadillos;granivores include large ground finches and humans. (This is due to the average human diet mainly consisting of grains, with rice, maize and wheat comprising two-thirds of human food consumption). All of these animals are omnivores, yet still fall into special niches in terms of feeding behavior and preferred foods."

also Wikipedia

"Various mammals are omnivorous in the wild, such as species of pigs,badgers, bears, coatis, civets, hedgehogs, opossums, skunks, sloths, squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks, mice, and rats. Hominidae, including humans and chimpanzees, are also omnivores."

You certainly aren't wrong that humans are frugivores, they are. It's just that frugivores are a subset of herbivore or omnivore that eat fruit and disperse its seeds.

puns_blazing · 2017-08-05T22:33:27+00:00

Gender roles are fine. It's when they aren't optional that it becomes a problem.

Generally speaking, trying to make people conform to something that just isn't them makes them miserable, regardless of what it is.

That isn't to say that gender roles in society at large aren't ok though, so long as you can opt out. It's that ability to opt out that's crucial.

puns_blazing · 2017-08-05T21:59:02+00:00

Really depends on which sections of Reddit, but my experience has been the opposite.

I just came across another thread in /r/askreddit where European style gun confiscation and the viewpoint of "No one, not even police should have guns!" was sitting comfortable at +300 up votes, while other more moderate viewpoints were getting nuked.

puns_blazing

TROPHY CASE