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‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

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Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#491

Post by loup-vaillant »

pdonis wrote: post #425
baby wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alright. I’ll reply to the troll. How are weapon manufacturers not responsible for the deaths caused by their toys? What baffles me is how intelligent people want to live in a society where everybody carries weapons.

> I’ll reply to the troll. By trolling yourself? > How are weapon manufacturers not responsible for the deaths caused by their toys? Guns are not toys. They are potentially lethal devices that should be used responsibly. So are many other things, like cars. We don't ban everyone from using cars because some people can't use them responsibly. Nor do we blame the car manufacturer every time someone has an accident. (If…

> What baffles me is how intelligent people want to live in a society where the only people who have a choice about having a gun are lawbreakers and law enforcement, thereby putting themselves at the mercy of criminals and the response time of the police.

Maybe it's a cultural thing, but it seems to me that more guns simply mean more opportunities for shooting people. Let's go to the other extreme, and have everyone carry a concealed weapon so they can defend themselves. (Let's exclude former criminals, and whoever didn't pass the psych evaluation).

The only outcome I can see is a ten-fold increase in shootings. If someone snaps for some reason, and they have a gun, they can do quite a bit of damage. I can see them killing a couple people before their surroundings react and shoot them back.

Now it's a whole spectrum, and a "no gun ever" may have some downsides too. Still, I like to live in a place where guns are not easy to come by.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#492

Post by DavidVoid »

notMick wrote: post #307
streb-lo wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure it's being brigaded by both sides for political points/fire control. But you'd have to be willfully blind to describe the events up to now as a "nothing burger."

There is nothing, except a large paid hoax propaganda campaign. With the same team we could make mother Teresa seem like an imperialist religious nut. But anyway, let's agree to disagree. Because the world is nicer that way.

>With the same team we could make mother Teresa seem like an imperialist religious nut.

Wouldn't be too hard considering the amount of valid concerns regarding her practices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Mother_Teresa

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#493

Post by falcor84 »

drhodes wrote: post #410
webkike wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason that guns were created was to fire high powered projectiles into people. Cars weren't created to run people over.

I don't think your response demonstrates why the gun manufacturer is at fault. Does the same hold for steak knives? What about assault knives? All weapon makers share responsibility for the deaths involving the weapons they make if the makers claim the object was created to kill people. That's the argument, but I don't think it holds up to scrutiny.

> All weapon makers share responsibility for the deaths involving the weapons they make if the makers claim the object was created to kill people.

I quite strongly agree with this statement. Indeed some inventors, like Alfred Nobel, have felt this way.

Would you mind arguing why it doesn't hold up to scrutiny?

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#494

Post by PopsiclePete »

PurpleBoxDragon wrote: post #370
naasking wrote: post #355

> I had conversations with Jason [Citron] a year ago about the problem of white supremacy on his site, and he said, “I don’t want to invade their privacy by going into their channels and reading what they’re doing.” And I said, “They’re gonna cause deaths because you’re not doing that.” And he said, “You really think so?” And I said, “Yeah.” And sure enough they didn’t do anything, and sure enough deaths were caused…

More than agreeing or not with this line of thinking, I find the bigger problem is how selectively it is applied. People will point out that if we ban guns, we wouldn't have to worry about school shootings. Even if we ignored the logistics of such a challenge and agreed on the conclusion, why is the same logic not applied to things like alcohol and all the harms that results (drunk driving, alcoholics ruining their l…

A gun if fundamentally designed to kill. That's the only reason it exists. Yes you can use it to eat cereal, I guess, or you can dip the nozzle in paint and create wonderful art, or maybe you can load an AR-15 with 30 rounds and shoot at a giant wall of cheese to make hipster Swiss cheese, but most people realize why guns exist - to end life. Human life, or animal life, but some form of life.

I hear various arguments how somehow a bunch of rednecks armed to the teeth are the reason why the Government hasn't yet come and locked me away in a FEMA Death Camp, but I don't buy it.

Alcohol does not exist to end life. It can be used to end life, yes, either through abuse, or by someone driving intoxicated - but that's not why it exists. It can, and is, used safely, by millions of adults world-wide.

I can go into a room and see someone "brandishing" a shot of whiskey and not be concerned for my safety. If I walk into a room and see a bunch of nutters brandishing guns, I'm getting the fuck out. At best, they're a bunch of insecure-in-their-masculinity macho-wanna-be's - at best. No normal person looks at someone obsessed with firearms and thinks "that's just a normal person with a normal hobby like my aunt Tilly who collects stamps" - nobody.

This is why this whole argument how guns are awesome and we shouldn't be afraid of them but should encourage them and, hell, let's arm teachers and doctors and soccer moms and even the kids' lacrosse teams, why not, it's just like giving them a glass of wine - is starting to sound more and more hollow.

It was, after all, a lunatic with a gun who killed a bunch of people at that Vegas concert, not a guy with a beer keg and some Jaeger bombs. Unless I'm not quite remembering the facts.....nah, pretty sure it wasn't Jaeger bombs.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#495

Post by falcor84 »

TearsInTheRain wrote: post #402
seunosewa wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the difference is that guns are designed to cause deaths. Cars are not designed to be in accidents.

Imho, I don't think that that matters. Guns have plenty of legitimate, beneficial, and legal uses. Sure it is easy to use them illegally, but similarly it is also easy to use a car illegally, so I think my analogy still stands.

The way I see it, the question is not whether the instrument in question has legitimate uses, but rather whether there are (reasonable) non-violent uses for which this is the best tool.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#496

Post by ameister14 »

loup-vaillant wrote: post #487
ameister14 wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could argue that, but there's no real evidence for it and it's been studied with music, television and video games. All have been blamed, using the argument that you'd have to be naive to assume that killing people in a video game doesn't have an effect on someone's likelihood of killing people in real life, or listening to angry music makes you more likely to hurt people. The list of murderers who've listened to…

I don't know about the other media, but the effects of TV are both disastrous and thoroughly demonstrated. IQ, SAT scores, obesity, teen pregnancy, violence, tobacco… Depending on what you watch and how often, all can be increased. All won't show on each individual, but the statistical effect is far from negligible. As for video games… that's a tricky one. I recall an anecdote about two teens holding up a bakery at g…

While awful, one of the problems with that facilitator is that you don't shoot the enemy when they threaten you in an FPS. You shoot them when you see them.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#497

Post by stale2002 »

komali2 wrote: post #463
stale2002 wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can do whatever you want. That's the great part about places like reddit. I am merely informing you of the fact reddit isn't going to go along with your idea to engage in mass censorship because they are strongly pro free speech, and only ban subreddits in very rare situations. They aren't perfect on free speech, but Id give them a solid A-. You have lots of other options if you like censorship, and you can feel…

I don't know why you seem to think I have some kind of authority. I feel like I'm being propped up as some sort of powerful villain here, or maybe that there are strikes being taken at my agency. >Reddit isn't going to take away OTHER people's choice because you say so Why use language like this? I bring it up because this is exactly the sort of haughty writing style I'm used to hearing when I engage t_d users... I d…

The confidences comes from listening to the thing that reddit and its founders say and claim themselves.

They self identify as being strong supporters of free speech and strong opponents of censorship.

They literally founded their platform based on these ideas.

This stuff isn't a secret or some mystery. Just listen to the actual words that come out of their mouth and read the things that they actually write.

And they aren't shy about this kind of stuff. They speak frequently on these topics, both online, in person, and in their public official media posts.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#498

Post by abritinthebay »

abnry wrote: post #209
abritinthebay wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is bizarre to me - the average comment quality on /r/politics is both more informed and higher level than about 90% of subreddits. Granted it's center-left most of the time (from a US perspective anyhow - as a European it is at best centrist) but that's more a function of a reaction to the current climate than anything else. So I guess I'd ask: "what kind of comments are you looking for?" because outside of the…

/r/politics does have quality comments that also get upvoted. However, you have to dig through 90% of bad comments. For instance, you get one article about Trump's nickname for Sessions being Mr. McGhee. The comments decide this is bad. Then you read the comments on other stories and people are gleefully calling him a racist elf. That's just pointless and is a disincentive to visiting. But I keep returning to the sub…

Well... poor quality posts tend to attract poor quality comments so I don't know if that's a great metric but sure, I get what you're saying.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#499

Post by loup-vaillant »

ameister14 wrote: post #496
loup-vaillant wrote: post #487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about the other media, but the effects of TV are both disastrous and thoroughly demonstrated. IQ, SAT scores, obesity, teen pregnancy, violence, tobacco… Depending on what you watch and how often, all can be increased. All won't show on each individual, but the statistical effect is far from negligible. As for video games… that's a tricky one. I recall an anecdote about two teens holding up a bakery at g…

While awful, one of the problems with that facilitator is that you don't shoot the enemy when they threaten you in an FPS. You shoot them when you see them.

Correct, I'm not sure how well that would translate. Probably not very well.

Re: ‘I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place’

#500

Post by leereeves »

aplummer wrote: post #477
pathseeker wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The thing is, you don’t really need to theorise about how to stop school shootings. It’s been done. It's still theorizing because there are no comparable countries to the US that have done it when it comes to the number of guns already out there (300+ million) and the importance of the 2nd amendment to many of the citizens. >It just required people to prioritise children’s lives over a minority hobby. If you see it…

1st point: It’s been done for hundreds of millions of people and hundreds of millions of guns, and it’s regulation not removing all guns, which is already done in the US, you can’t get a rocket launcher, so why am assault rifle? No banned guns, just licenses, gun safes, regulation on types, reasonable ownership limits (all farmers I know in Aus have 5+ guns) - that’s all it takes to stop mass shootings. If it’s a hob…

Civilians can't buy assault rifles in the US. What civilians buy is a hunting rifle that looks like an assault rifle.
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