In article <121415@netnews.upenn.edu> egedi@ahwenasa.cis.upenn.edu (Dania M. Egedi) writes: >In article <1993Apr16.222604.18331@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU>, andy@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (Andy Freeman) writes: >|> In article <1993Apr16.174436.22897@midway.uchicago.edu> pkgeragh@gsbphd.uchicago.edu (Kevin Geraghty) writes:  >>>wrong about the  whole guns-for-protection mindset, it ignores the >>>systemic effects of cumulative individual actions.  If you want fire >>>insurance on your house that's prudent and it has no effect on me; but >>>if you and a bunch of other paranoids are packing handguns in the >>>backcountry it makes me, and anyone else who doesn't chose to protect >>>himself in this manner, pretty f**king nervous.  >> >> Why?  If you're not a threat, you're not affected at all. >>  > >Aha.  That's the part that makes me nervous too.  Who gets to decide if >I am a threat?    	When I might possibly be on the receiving end of a violent gesture,  	then *I* get to decide for myself.  If someone does not like it, too 	bad.  I would be doing exactly what YOU  or any other living creature 	would do in terms of evaluation.  What's the big deal?  >Based on appearance?    	Sometimes.  >Would someone feel more threatened when approached by a very dirty, smelly,  >slightly-maniacal looking person with a slight glaze to the eyes, muttering  >to himself?    	I might.  >Doesn't this describe most backpackers after they've been out more than a  >couple of days?    	Not in my experience.  And let us not forget that context is often an 	important factor in evaluating a situation.  Seeing disheveled persons 	on a hiking trail is not likely to be evaluated equally with meeting 	a grimey sort, as described above, on a lonely city street at 3 am. 	Anyone that cannot properly discriminate between these two different 	situations is legitimate fodder for the old "survival of the fittest"  	principle.  >Or based on something else?  Proximity?  No room to pass on the trail >without getting *real close* to someone.  An inner sense?  Now I'm really  >getting nervous.  	Sounds like you doubt your own abilities.  You sound pretty 	typical in this respect.  You also seem to think that you'll 	be safe or safer if others are unarmed.  This is dangerous  	fantasy.  >Twice when I was hiking the A.T. I came up on a shelter that I was planning >on staying at and saw someone sitting there cleaning his gun.  Softly I backed >away, and hiked another 5 miles to get *out of there*.  I'll freely admit it here: >I'm not afraid of guns; I'm afraid of people that bring them into the backcountry.  	Then you are in need of some form of therapy.  Not necessarily that 	of an analyst, but maybe you should learn about guns.  Your fear is 	seems to be based in ignorance and false knowledge.  You see a person 	with a gun and you feel threatened.  Why is this so?  Have you any 	legitimate basis for this?  Any first-hand experience that lends 	validity to your fears?  Or are your fears based on mediated experience, 	i.e. the anecdotes of others such as network news?  I trust you can 	see the lack of legitimacy in such mediated inputs?  	And why are you afraid of the PEOPLE as mentioned above?  Forgive me, 	but you sound afraid to the point of paranoia.  Perhaps you should talk 	to someone about this.  I am not saying this to be rude or fascetious, 	but I think anyone with fear as deep and baseless as yours *seems* to 	be needs some sort of help.  Living in fear really sucks, even if it 	is only when around people with guns in the back country.  	Tell me: would you be as fearful of a park ranger who was right in  	front of you with their side arm in clear view?  Why or why not?