I concur with fanta. Oh well, take your best shot. She's a bit out of
my age bracket, anyways.

I personally don't like guns. I have a mixture of respect and fear for
them. I don't own a gun, I haven't used one in years. But around here a
lot of people do. And no one dares cross the line.

Last time someone tried to rape someone in this town- he was shot. We
all know who pulled the trigger.... but the police will never found them
(hehe). There was a gang trying to get started here (we live waaay too
close to chicago).... they left after a few people walked out onto their
front steps holding rifles and shotguns.

Criminals don't like victims who fight back. Any women's self defence
course tells you this. All statistical evidence backs it up.


Violence begets only violence- this is true. But the threat of violence
makes most violent people shut up and hide.

Haven't seen anything else inventing the internet. You have any
examples of space-exploring terran species, where we didn't send them
up?


We might not be the brightest creature in the universe, but we're the
comfortable leaders of our corner of it.


And let me ask you this- if we're *not* superior, why are we held to
higher standards? Is it wrong of a crocodile to cannibalize others'
young? They do, you know. Does it make them monsters? No. It makes them
crocodiles. Is it wrong of a human to eat human children? Does it make
him (or her) a monster? HELL YES.


We're held to higher standards, because we're higher beings. You don't
attribute morals, good and evil, to animals. Only humans, angels,
intelligent machines, and sapient aliens can be good or evil.


Our positions as higher beings give us privileges over lesser life
forms. We can use them- as long as we don't abuse it too much- because
we pay for that with ecological damage and medical troubles. But we can
use them to some degree, with no reason to feel remorse. No eating
humans, but we're born and bred predators, so the rest of the
(unendangered) animal kingdom is fair game.


Speaking of which.... I feel like a steak tonight....

If he didn't have a gun. He'd have used a knife or a bomb. There's no
way to evade the fact that humans kill other humans. All you can do is
fight back when it happens.


You don't have to fear violence in order to know it exists.


And you can't deny the rise in crime rates. As another said, Colorado
has one of the most liberal gun laws in the states. The crime rates in
Denver (a city larger, in population, to Sidney) is far, far lower.
Criminals go somewhere safer.


And don't blame Americanization for your violence level. This is an
American city, after all.

Oh, it's genocide all right. It's already cost more lives than the
Holocaust. It is currently the third largest mass termination of human
life in history. Losing out to the Huns at their peak, and to Stalin's
reign over the USSR. It's coming close, though.

Not that we could fit even the smallest of our effective military
vessels through the canal. Your tiniest of battleships are at least
three times wider than the waterway. And forget about sliding a sub
through.... heh....

It gives us a special place in the universe. More privileges, more
powers. But it also gives us a responsibility to the lesser beings of
existence. A nobles oblige, of sorts. And, of course, as the one species
capable of understanding its own actions, we're the one species that can
be held responsible for its actions.

It makes us more than other organisms. Other creatures have bodies, as
we do, with all the biochemical activities (instincts and some emotions)
that implies.

Many other creatures have minds. They can process information and take
actions accordingly. Any insect has that power. Ours is far superior to
any other known species, but it's what we have.


In many ways, it's our soul that makes up part of, as well as apart
from, the rest of the universe. We can act independently of selfish
emotions. We can care about others, more than just a hormonal bonding
instinct. If you want to see an idea of what humans are without souls,
look up clinical data on sociopaths.


Do these traits make us "better"- yes. From a utilitarian standpoint-
we're more successful, and thus superior. From a spiritual standpoint-
we're the only ones who can even grasp spirituality.... animals
certainly have spirits, but not souls.

You're really missing the concept of "seperate" aren't you? We act
independently. We're more than cause-and-effect. We do things for
reasons that are neither biology nor logic. It makes us different than
any other known being.

A foothold would flow both ways. They'll learn of our culture, and in
return, we'll learn theirs. Like I said- look at Japan.

Doesn't work like that. Not in a globalized world. Either our culture
will subsume theirs, or they will subsume ours. Or a blending will occur
that makes something completely new. You can't have seperate-but-equal
cultures. Minor divergences, yes, but not seperate.

We made guns ourselves. And thus they're a fair tool. We humans build
civilization, and that alone would make us the superior lifeform.



And, no, we're not completely DIVORCED from the flow of things. We're
seperated. There's still a connection, it's just far flimsier than our
individual will.

It's worked really well at least once in America's past. Japan. We
NUKED them. We used atomic weapons on their soil. And yet, bizarrely
enough, they like us. Know why? It's because we created economic ties.
They bought stuff from us, and we from them. We traded cultural concepts
until they became so like us that they're more part of the western world
than the eastern.

Exactly. It's one huge freakin' mess and the best way to clean it up is
to make nice with Iran. They're the one nation that has the political
will, economic strength, and military might to bring a working peace to
the area. And if we can get them to see the value in that- and then make
sure they have enough international economic ties- we can create a
westernized foothold that won't seem to be an enemy propoganda/invasion.

Ok. So. Let's pose a question to your statement. A bear is attacking a
man. You're nearby. You have a gun. You can shoot the bear, killing it
and saving the man's life. Or you can do nothing, thus allowing a human
being to die.


Your choice. If we're really nothing but animals, you have to pick the
later of the two. After all, to kill the bear would be to interfer with
the natural cycle.

Our seperation is not illusory. Transitory perhaps. Innevitably our
individuality will fall away. Our flesh will become the dirt, and our
soul will return to our Creator. But for that brief, mayfly-like moment
called life- we have free will. And free will MEANS seperation.

And in all fairness, Iran is enriching the stuff to enough of a degree
to use it in nukes. There's no doubt they'll make the bomb- they're
backed into a corner. That NEED the bomb. If they have any sanity at
all, they're making it.

I don't agree with you on the conspiracy part, but otherwise your
points are all accurate.


I don't think it's a conspiracy. I think it's fear. Bigotry. Racism.
It's a problem, but it isn't a hijacking.

If we really had no control, we'd still be frightened, shivering, naked
apes huddled around a pitiful little fire pointing spears at the noises
in the dark.


We have plenty of control. It's an imperfect control, but it is
control.

I'm refering to countries like Columbia. Venezuela. South Africa.
Uganda. China. Various chunks of the former USSR. You get the idea.