Guns as tools?
Well, they certainly are working agents in memetics. "You change your
ideality, or I'll shoot
How does this situation self-perpetuate? Isn't that the ultimate virus? Well, let's think about this one... I once posted to this list about an essay on slavery, eventually I finished my essay on Emmanuel Eze's take on Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.... So what? Well, Eze came to the conclusion that the problem remains because we attempt to fight it too much.
Hatred begets hatred, violence begets violence and guns beget guns...
As has been proved on this list. "I'd rather be more well-stocked than my opponent". While I suppose that works on an individual level, that will NEVER get rid of the problem on the massive level that 'we' want to see. Perhaps martyrdom is what's best in this situation. For I know, that as important I view my life to be, I'd rather be killed by a gun, than be forced to kill another. I don't own a gun, I don't WANT to own a gun.... yet I feel secure in the knowledge that I'm actually living my ideology. I don't like guns, or the gun problem, so I'm living the solution - setting the example.
As with racial problems, the gun problem is NOT a superficial one. It's my belief that it boils down to the level of basic human nature. While Eze wrote his paper of "post-racial politics", he was contradicting his own thesis - he couldn't leave the race issue alone. My paper, which received an A+ btw (smile) - talked of "post-human nature". Is this what we need?
I apologize for my ramblings.
-c