Text 31514, 134 rader
Skriven 2009-04-20 10:58:42 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 31492 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
Ärende: Crazies
===============
Roy Witt wrote to Robert Bashe on Sunday April 19 2009 at 20:16:

RB>> Roy, "you" in English is neutral and _can_ mean you as a person OR
RB>> the general public.

RW> Personally, in this medium I tend to stay away from using 'you' in a
RW> context that could mean you personally or you all. As you should know,
RW> when a Texan addresses one person, it's y'all, but to the general
RW> public it's 'all y'all'...

OK, understood with a smile. Still...

RB>> I wasn't writing about you personally here either.

RW> And I answered the question in the 'nuetral' fashion that you see
RW> above. If you can't be more specific, then I suggest that you don't
RW> bother.

And if you have to be so prickly, then don't answer. Not everything is directed
toward you personally.

RB>>>> Roy, you seem like the computer expert who is trying to tell a
RB>>>> modern teenager how to write a batch file. As far as I can see,
RB>>>> you're simply assuming too much.

RW>>> If you could see what you're writing from my point of view, you'd
RW>>> know better. My interest in firearms didn't stop when I attained
RW>>> adulthood.

RB>> Which has what to do with what I wrote above? We're still not talking
RB>> about you personally.

RW> "Roy, you seem like the computer expert" is NOT directed toward me?

You are mixing subjects badly. Firearms are _not_ the same as computers,
regardless of what politicians might assume. Or did you intend to write
"computers" instead of "firearms"? Then we have a classical misunderstanding.

RW> Guns aren't the problem...they don't pull their own triggers or aim
RW> themselves at innocent people. Considering the billions of guns in
RW> private hands in this country, I think the record shows plenty of
RW> restraint by those who have them, but none whatever of those few who
RW> abuse the firearm laws.

On the one hand, I tend to agree. On the other, I think about people like my
sister carrying a loaded gun around. She's neither bloodthirsty nor a felon,
but the thought still scares me. God alone knows what anyone will do in a
stressful situation, and after you've (neutral) pulled the trigger, you (again
neutral) can't put the bullet back in the cartridge.

RW> Issue guns to everyone, make knowing how to handle them and possessing
RW> them mandatory. Armed criminals will think more than twice about their
RW> next victim's chances of survival.

That's the other extreme. All I can say is that I'm no friend of extremes.

RB>> <Sigh> OK, I give up. You _will_ not understand that I'm not talking
RB>> about you and me personally, nor about "licensed" gun owners, but
RB>> about the idiots without a criminal record

RW> This is why I 'will' not understand what you're talking about, because
RW> th probablity of it happening is not the problem.

"It"? Guns sold to crazies with no criminal record? If I understand you
properly, I think you're nuts.

RB>> who go to a gun store, buy a gun and proceed to shoot up the
RB>> neighborhood.

RW> That's the rub...deranged people may not manifest their crazyness for
RW> decades and then crack some time later. Criminals can't go to a gun
RW> store and buy a gun because they'd have to lie about their record on
RW> the federal and state forms that have to be filled out and submitted
RW> to the authorities, no exceptions. That's a felony in itself, meaning
RW> they can go back to prison just by telling a little white lie on those
RW> forms.

And when you're contemplating shooting up the neighborhood, what's a lie on a
form to you? Same in spades for people coming to the States and filling out
these silly immigration forms with questions like "I am coming to the USA to
sell drugs: yes/no". Do the idiots who write those forms have any idea what
real life is?

RW> If that makes them a three-time loser, they go to prison for life.

So what, if you/they are planning to murder someone anyway? Six one way,
half-dozen the other.

RB>>>> My son plans to visit New York this summer (in a group). He's
RB>>>> handicapped (autistic). Should I warn him of anything specific?

RW>>> Stick with the group and he'll be fine as long as they're only out
RW>>> in the daylight.

RB>> That's comforting, a little like the advice people get in wildlife
RB>> parks in Africa where lions roam around unhindered. Hell, this
RB>> depressses me even more than I already was.

RW> Frankly, as an autistic, I wouldn't let him go to New York on his own
RW> without investigating the people in charge of the group. I'd make sure
RW> that he wasn't left to his own devices in walking around.

The group is OK and experienced, but the way you write it sounds like a war's
going on and that obviously worries me.

RW> A lot of Germans get a rude awakening when they come here. Before the
RW> state of Florida passed 'will issue' laws and the people were allowed
RW> to carry firearms, Europeon visitors were robbed and killed a lot in
RW> those days. Today the criminals don't know who's carrying. To help
RW> even more, the state no longer issues vehicle license plates that
RW> indicate that a car belongs to a rental agency.

The latter, as far as I'm concerned, being the most important factor. Remember,
my folks used to live in Florida, so I have a fair idea of what went on there
before rental vehicles weren't so obvious as such, particularly when tourists
unknowingly ventured into the "wrong" neighborhoods. But stuff like that was
mainly in Miami, not in the Sarasota-Bradenton area.

RW> Do like I do and stay away from the big city trouble spots and
RW> everything will work out just fine.

No problem with me, but foreigners who may not even speak the language can have
big problems. I don't like big cities, anyway, be they in Germany or the USA or
anywhere else. At any rate, I'll definitely talk to my son before he leaves.

RW> Stop all Americans from doing drugs and the cartels will dry up. No
RW> demand, no sale.

See what I'm writing Michiel.

Cheers, Bob

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