Self-reliance
Last night's spoken word went really well. I did a piece based on that French Jokes post from yesterday and got a lot of laughs out of it. One person who really surprised me though was the English barber, a guy in his 60s who's exceedingly funny and witty as well. I'll call him Herman.
Herman was pissed. I have never seen him this upset. I've also never seen Herman drop the F-bomb either, which he did in his piece. In case you didn't guess, it was a piece on the London terrorist bombings.
After the show, Herman and I had a good talk for 10-15 minutes. I made it clear that I was on his side. He wanted justice and I wanted revenge. I hoped that it wouldn't take a terrorist attack to get Great Britain to show a little bit of muscle, but unfortunately, it did. He mentioned that Great Britain wasn't intimidated by Hitler and they won't be intimidated by these terrorists either. Good for the British. Any way I could help, let me know.
However, our methods differ greatly. Being a city boy, Herman trusts the government to do the job. I don't. I see the government as a bunch of stooges when it comes to doing just about anything. I'll give them props for delivering mail, making good bridges, and plumbing systems. Other than that, they seem to screw up a lot more than they get things right. And I'm not even bringing up how bad they are with our tax dollars.
I'm a redneck in that respect. 9-11 proved that government are a bunch of morons. They think taking nail cutters from 90-year-old ladies will make us safe against terrorists. What a bunch of idiots.
I used to always carry a fighting knife when flying. After 9-11, I just won't fly anymore because I'm no longer allowed to defend myself and my loved ones on a plane.
I studied Kali (Filipino knife fighting arts) for two years. I have no delusions of grandeur. With terrorists armed with box cutters and me armed with a fighting knife, it will be a one-for-one fight. I kill one of them, they kill me. Hopefully there are a few other real men on the plane like my heroes on Flight 93. If so, terrorists lose every time. If not, a thousand more innocent people die.
That's my job as man of the family. I must do whatever I can to put food on the table and if something bad like this should occur, it is my responsibility to defend the family at all costs, even if it costs my life. Because of urbanization, America has lost those beliefs about self-reliance. Now we expect the government to do everything for us. And that belief, my friends, is one of the reasons the Twin Towers were brought down so easily.
posted by The Zombieslayer @ 4:58 PM
18 Comments:
Is spoken word some sort of stand-up? I've never heard of it before. I'm not anti-government, but I don't like what I see happening. I don't think all government is as inept as our current one, but luckily it won't be that way forever. However, there has been enough harm done at this point that it's hard to repair (like foreign opinion of the U.S. for starters). My b/f likes to talk politics and it's very hard for me because I don't usually talk about it and I was discouraged against taking about it when I was growing up. I had strong opinions when I was a teenager and I would argue with other adults in my family. I was basically told to "be quiet" and I've been quiet for many years. My point is that, reading your posts and seeing your reactions to people's viewpoints makes me slightly more willing to share my opinions than I otherwise would have been. :-P
…America has lost those beliefs about self-reliance. Now we expect the government to do everything for us.
True, very true!
I fear that the ‘nanny state’ has done much to emasculate the ‘rugged individualist’ mentality; one that those who fought in the Revolution possessed and demonstrated so valiantly a couple centuries ago.
Well…perhaps hope lay with the parents of the next generation…like you and me.
While I agree with a lot of what you say here, I also think it's a dangerous road to suggest everyone should defend themselves as they see fit. You need some kind of central oversight, or else all the differing views of what law & order really means will conflict and create anarchy.
And nothing any individual citizen could have done would have stopped 9-11 once it was in motion. Maybe fewwer people would have died, but from the reports, no one on the first two planes had any idea they would be crashing into a building. They probably thought they'd be hijacked and held hostage - in which case it would have been counter productive to try to get control of the plane and crash it like 93.
Too much individualism also breeds calousness toward those less fortunate. The Social Darwinists sprung from that - the poor are poor because they're lazy and weak, not because of any underlying social problem. There's also the 1980s "gimme it it's mine" mentality that came from the individualist notion that you have the right to do what you want (outsource jobs, pollute the environment, profit at any cost) without regard to anyone else. I don't buy that.
People working together in communities is more powerful than individualism by far. We don't have THAT anymore either though.
I'm with Laura in a sense. I think it's perfectly agreeable that people should be able to have weapons in their homes for the purpose of defending themselves against an intruder that might also be armed.
However, I'm not comfortable with the idea that people should be allowed to carry weapons with them in public.
Come on, Zombie. Not everyone is as comprehensive as you and I. Sure, WE would only use our weapons to protect ourselves against the "bad guy" but what about the yahoos that experience road rage?
I really don't want to be guilty of stealing someone's parking space by accident and then have that person shove the barrel of a gun in my face.
Is that when I whip out my gun and we see who kills who first in an argument over who has to walk the furthest to the drugstore?
Ridiculous.
I don't trust other people to behave decently.
There has to be limitations. In the case of 9/11 and the box cutters vs. the heroic men on that airplane--It's obvious who the bad guys were and who the heroes were. Had there been weapons all the way around, we'd have to wonder why everyone was packin' a weapon.
Sure government is corrupt and all that...
But imagine what "terrorists" could do to us if we had a WEAKER government. If the security is given LESS resources.
Jen - spoken word is anything, poetry, comedy, or you could read part of a book. Anything that comes out of one's mouth is spoken word. As for your opinions, they are more than welcome here.
Robert - you and I seem to be much alike. I'd definitely want you on my side in the zombie wars. :)
Laura - Agreed, but in any robberty situation, including a hostage crisis, the best thing to do is lash out immediately instead of waiting for backup. 9-11 proved that. As for too much individualism, I do agree with you that we need not be so callous. However, I do not think it's entirely the government's job. For example, I'd give more money to charity if I wasn't broke from paying taxes. I'll write more on that later.
I am Right-wing on that view to a point, but I do believe we should have some safety nets and I do believe if we managed our tax dollars better, we could afford things like single-payer health care. I think of it like a business. I want to make money, but I want to take care of my employees as well, offering them better benefits than the next guy. That will bring me better employees and better employees make better products. If that makes sense.
Sadie - I think if everyone was armed, and if someone got unruly and did something like stick a gun in someone's face because of a parking space, we'd have ten other people whip theirs out and tell the guy to back off. I do believe 99% of people are good. I've met thousands of people in my life and have only disliked probably about 10 to 20 at the most. That's why I trust people with arms. Yes, there are jerks out there, but they'd be much less of jerks if everyone was armed. Nobody wants to get shot.
Joe - I really believe in what the Founding Fathers wanted. You and I are the government. The government serves us, was made by us, and consists of us. Sure, we need it to have some teeth, and it will have those teeth when we the people decide it needs it. Does that make sense? Right now, government is kind of removed from us. Of the 100 senators, if I'm not mistaken, 97 of them are millionaires. Presidents are always multi-millionaires (like the Bushes) or have access to big money (like Clinton). It has become more like a representative oligarchy than a government of the people, by the people, for the people like what our Founding Fathers intended. If you read people like Samual Adams, Jefferson, etc., you'd see that they really intended us to be armed at all times so in case of foreign attack (including a terrorist attack), the attackers would be in trouble. And if we go back to growing up around weapons, we'd have more responsibility with them. Most accidental gun deaths are due to negligence for example.
I think if everyone was armed, and if someone got unruly and did something like stick a gun in someone's face because of a parking space, we'd have ten other people whip theirs out and tell the guy to back off.
I'm not so sure about this. Maybe it's my social psychology background kicking in here, but there are truckloads of real-life and experimental cases where this is exactly NOT the case. It's called diffusion of responsibility. The larger the crowd, the less likely you are to get help in a time of need.
The most famous, of course, is the case of Kitty Genovese
very good point, less government is better government. Bring back the militias!!!!
Sadie, you have a greater chance of dying from your doctor, outside pool, and getting into your car everyday than an accidential gun death if you have a weapon at home. All you lefties are so adement about the 1st amendment, yet not the 2nd. It's in our constitution no matter how many gun control laws are passed.
sorry, I meant Laura, my bad
Laura - I'm well aware of that story and I was probably just as disgusted with it as you were when you heard it. However, that problem is with overpopulation more than guns. As I've said many times before, the more people, the less important each person is. In a crowded area, people are no longer people and more like rats who are in your way. But if you go in the middle of nowhere, you'll notice people look out for each other though.
Ben - Did you get my email?
Actually guys, I never said anything about guns or the 2nd ammendment. All I was pointing out was that the government is a necessary form of oversight for law and order and that unchecked individualism, in my opinion, breeds short-sightedness and selfishness.
You're right to point out that urban areas have less people looking out for one another - that supports my earlier argument that communities working together are a more positive force for change and protection than individuals out for their own personal goals.
Laura - well put. I must have misunderstood you then. Agreed that some gov't is necessary. I wasn't implying anarchy by any means. I was more implying that if your average Joe and Jane stood up against the terrorists, the terrorists would be in trouble.
ZS, for some odd reason I didn't.
ZS, yes that's absolutely true. Problem is we have to find them. The British bombers were UK citizens - born there, not naturalized. How do you deal with that? I don't know either.
I also think we've got to look into why our policies are breeding so many angry, disillusioned youth who feel the only way to change things is by blowing themselves and any number of civilians to the sky. A lot of people seem to think that explaining their reasons is the same as condoning their actions, and that's not true. We've got to take a long hard look at ourselves to find part of the answer.
Lose the fighting knife and get a nice legal cane. A heavy wooden walking stick. Then take a class in filipino stick fighting, english single stick, or even basic fencing and you never need be unarmed again.
It'll be good against the zombies too....
I like your new Zombie. He's better than the first Zombie.
Ben - Okay, I'll send you another email. Weird.
Laura - I'll make a separate post to reply. That's an excellent statement and brings up something I said on Ben's blog.
Exmi - Yeah, studied Kali for two years. Good stuff. Now I just have to buy a cane and learn to make it look like I need it. ;)
Sadie - Thanks. I like this new one much better too.
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