I like pineapple but not pizza. Should I leave now?
What are your thoughts on chips/French fries?
We like twice fried taters. Once to cook and a second time to crisp. I love homemade onion rings too.
I want pizza now
Is this still going on?? This thread went Bananas!
I am having pizza tonight
One of the main reasons I really like this forum is because of the civility. Actually MTO goes beyond civility to a friendly camaraderie most of the time. Some forums have issues even achieving civility, which is why I no longer participate in them. Unfortunately, in the US at least, many topics are now treated as black and white (or more aptly blue or red) by people. Knowledge-based discussions/debates have frequently been replaced by emotion-based heated arguments. Even if you partially agree, but are somewhere in the middle, you may find anger directed toward you especially on certain topics, which guns are one. It can really be frustrating, especially when your opinions are based on knowledge based research and tend to be varying shades of gray and don’t usually align with the side people assume you should align with.With that said I will gladly conceal carry my handgun (along with my other tools to include a pair of tweezers specifically for tick removal and a locking knife) to the local pizza parlor to pick-up a pepperoni, pineapple and jalapeño pizza to bring home to my wife. After the gun is put away, I’ll have a drink made with Fizziest (no name real sugar Dr. Pepper) and Irish Whiskey.Over the pizza, we may find ourselves discussing how someone online got “triggered by the Amy-Doll”. [Amy Doll is our term for a person who becomes emotionally outraged. It is an almond shaped pillow doll that works like a voodoo doll but for emotions. The name is based off amygdala.]
I'm not sure if we're still discussing the OP?For reference - I am in Australia.We can own and use firearms for a variety of legal purposes (hunting, target shooting, professional, or agriculture are basically the options)I like firearms, I have used them for all of the above, and I am more than happy to discuss their use for all of the above, hear other's views, and look at pretty pictures.As far as it goes - "self defence" is not one of the legal reasons to own, or carry a firearm in this country - the law sees you leaving the house with an item for "self defence" as the same as leaving the house with an item "for murder" - you are planning, ahead of action, to have something ready for violence against someone else. Like it or lump it, that's our laws.BUT - as I started with, that's not the guns fault, and there are a number of other well respected and understood uses for firearms, that have some overlap with the audience here - hunters, outdoorsmen, farmers, law enforcement and military. I would argue that firearms have as much of a place to be discussed here as kayaks do, if not more - It's not my call whether or not the moderators/owner of the forum entertain discussion of using them against other folk - but it's a slippery slope. We say we can't talk about shooting people, then maybe we can't talk about skinning animals, or butchering carcasses, and then maybe we're not allowed to use our multitool to cut a green branch off a tree...You can never say that your "line in the sand" is any better positioned than someone elses, and here at least, on a nice friendly forum, the discussion is just that...a bit of talk. It's not really the place to leverage influence for changing the world, if indeed, you feel that the world needs changing....
I've said before, what makes this a great place to hang out is that there are people from all walks of life that make an effort to come together, noting that people will even use Google Translate to communicate and come together. I've also said that as an American, I don't assume that my flavor of the English language is the correct one when I go tramping with my friends from Australia. Aristotle said that the mark of an educated mind it to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it, and I always try my best to do that.In America, I'm able to see both sides of the firearm, so to speak, though I see one side more than the other - and that's likely a product of where I live. Again, put aside red or blue for a moment - I've had great fun with target practice as a kid, and I like to go shooting once in a while when my friends and I plan a "trip" to the range. I'm in an area with much more restriction, therefore its a bit of a "production" to get out to the range - the range where most people rent firearms for a day - the same range where every once in a while someone rents a firearm and tragically ends their own life on the spot. So like any hobby, it becomes a matter of enjoyment vs cost. Though for many people, it's a bit of a religion where the only amendment if the US Constitution that matters is the 2nd. Admittedly, because I rarely shoot for sport and not a single person I'm aware of carries for defense, I lean on the side of "you don't need them"Then I think about knives and multitools. A few months ago, we got into a heated debate about locking knives, with tempers really flaring up. Everyone had something to say - "you don't need a lock, a lock makes it a stabby stabby weapon, you do need a lock for safety, why do you need a lock? , I never needed a lock"... etc etc. etc. I really thought at the time that what nobody was paying much attention to was that we individuals are used to what we can legally carry. Some folks criticizing others for saying locks are unnecessary, didn't realize many of us were used to rarely using one because of the law. Some folks complain about the large Vic Alox Hunter without the OHO thumb hole not realizing it's that way to make it legal in some countries. I get that Gerber is "just plain stupid" for not putting a pocket clip on some models - but I'm glad for that, because a pocket clip is grounds for me to be stopped by police to see if the blade length is within limits. I'd rather not be stopped by the police.What I'm trying to say is - there are so many cultural variables in all of these things, and while we do have polarizing aspects to knives - OHO, blade length, clips, too often, we forget that what we're used to is based on the laws and customs of where we live. I don't know a single person who carries a fixed blade. They're legal, I just don't know anyone who carries one. The same thing goes for firearms - and sadly it's even more polarizing because it's tied to politics. But with politics, it's even more sadly tied to race/culture/creed/history. Not totally, but the undertone is there. Theres an amusing CollegeHumor skit about the NRA that pokes fun at that point. I try to be sensitive to that. So what I try to do myself is think of how knife laws and culture shaped my choices and preferences, and realize that different laws and culture informs other people's choices about knives... and similarly about guns. I chalk it up to something we can't control about ourselves.With humility, I try to remind myself that I'm from just one place in this world. And with humility, I remember that while we debate over here whether pineapple belongs on pizza around here, the mortadella that DOES belong on pizza has never even set foot in the pizza parlor. And I remember that in this place where I live and have developed my opinions, habits, biases, and preferences, I am the strange one for calling a pineapple... a pineapple.
Did you say Pizza with Bananas?Hmmmmm?
I like turtles.
Donations
Community Links
