AnklePocket
April 13, 2003, 06:41 PM
My aunt and uncle from Brooklyn had their 40th Anniversary party today in North Jersey at my cousin's house. Many of their friends were there who mostly represented the liberal Manhattan contingent. I was sitting with a group of about 5 older men (50 to 75 years old - I'm 39) and, of course, the war and terrorism came up.
Their comments and my comebacks:
1. "We're helpless. There's not a thing that we can do if someone wants to terrorize the city again."
Me: "With that attitude you are helpless and you're doing nothing more than enabling terrorism by making it easier for them. Start by arming all law-abiding citizens who wish to take personal responsibility for their own safety. Nothing is the perfect answer, but it at least gives us a fighting chance."
2. "The solution would be to rid the world of all weapons."
Me: "That in no way addresses behavior. Bad behavior will still exist and manifest itself in horrific ways that you can't even imagine especially in the safety of your head in the sand."
3. "Police are the only ones who should be armed."
Me: "I'm not sure why you're more afraid of a law-abiding armed citizen than you are of rapists and murderers. Law-abiding citizens don't suddenly start commiting crimes with the introduction of a firearm and criminals don't follow laws thereby rendering gun control laws irrelevant and ineffective."
OK, my head's spinning again. To the war:
1. "Attacking Iraq was totally wrong. We aren't finding weapons of mass destruction. Bin Laden's the problem and we couldn't even find him."
Me: "Thank God Bush is our President. If he wasn't we'd probably already have been nuked. I'm going to trust the intelligence of our leaders over yours, but that's just me. We got a lot done in Afghanistan and absolutely are getting it done beyond my wildest expectations in Iraq. Personally, I could care less about the Iraqi people (or oil) as they obviously don't have the intestinal fortitude of our own ancestors to seek out their own freedom, but I'd bet my life that the United States will be a safer place once this job is completed, although the war on terror will probably last forever."
There was a lot more, but I forget what it was. The point of me bringing it up to you hard-chargers is that most of them are still whining spinless losers, but they definitely thought about the issues in a way that they never did before. They definitely saw at least a little bit of light. So if these dumb***es (at least one doctor and at least one lawyer) can be brought around then maybe there's a glimmer of hope. Maybe not, though, too. And there's always that chance that I could care less what they think.
Their comments and my comebacks:
1. "We're helpless. There's not a thing that we can do if someone wants to terrorize the city again."
Me: "With that attitude you are helpless and you're doing nothing more than enabling terrorism by making it easier for them. Start by arming all law-abiding citizens who wish to take personal responsibility for their own safety. Nothing is the perfect answer, but it at least gives us a fighting chance."
2. "The solution would be to rid the world of all weapons."
Me: "That in no way addresses behavior. Bad behavior will still exist and manifest itself in horrific ways that you can't even imagine especially in the safety of your head in the sand."
3. "Police are the only ones who should be armed."
Me: "I'm not sure why you're more afraid of a law-abiding armed citizen than you are of rapists and murderers. Law-abiding citizens don't suddenly start commiting crimes with the introduction of a firearm and criminals don't follow laws thereby rendering gun control laws irrelevant and ineffective."
OK, my head's spinning again. To the war:
1. "Attacking Iraq was totally wrong. We aren't finding weapons of mass destruction. Bin Laden's the problem and we couldn't even find him."
Me: "Thank God Bush is our President. If he wasn't we'd probably already have been nuked. I'm going to trust the intelligence of our leaders over yours, but that's just me. We got a lot done in Afghanistan and absolutely are getting it done beyond my wildest expectations in Iraq. Personally, I could care less about the Iraqi people (or oil) as they obviously don't have the intestinal fortitude of our own ancestors to seek out their own freedom, but I'd bet my life that the United States will be a safer place once this job is completed, although the war on terror will probably last forever."
There was a lot more, but I forget what it was. The point of me bringing it up to you hard-chargers is that most of them are still whining spinless losers, but they definitely thought about the issues in a way that they never did before. They definitely saw at least a little bit of light. So if these dumb***es (at least one doctor and at least one lawyer) can be brought around then maybe there's a glimmer of hope. Maybe not, though, too. And there's always that chance that I could care less what they think.