231–240 of 399 posts
Lying with statistics is very easy, there is a book about it: https://amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/039331...
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Statistically speaking, suicide is the #1 cause of gun death in the US, gang activity is #2. School shootings are far down the list. They get a lot of attention but don't account for a large proportion of deaths. Of course, that any of these deaths occur is tragic, which is why the most sensible solution is repeal of the Second Amendment and implementation of a nationwide, federal license requirement to purchase or o…
> gang activity is #2 What is that based on? The only people I hear even talk much about 'gangs' is conservative propgandists trying to demonize black and brown people and cities. I'm not saying no gangs exist, but they aren't really an issue (unless you define 'gang' as any association of >1 person > the most sensible solution is repeal of the Second Amendment and implementation of a nationwide, federal license requ…
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That'll be very very difficult. Even very restrictive weapon ownership countries like Netherlands and Sweden have a big violent gang problem. And a policy as strict as they have is just totally unthinkable in the political reality of the US. So a policy stricter than the US can have isn't enough to solve this problem. That's why it's better to aim at reducing accidental underage gun deaths which is much more achievab…
It's so bizarre that America is the only country in the world that seems to face these kinds of problems. As a Canadian who grew up in a household with a dozen firearms, I never once touched those firearms, and hardly ever saw them until I was taken to the range by my father and taught how to use them.
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>There's something very deeply wrong in American society, and I don't see things improving any time soon. Any hypothesis as to what it is? I think it is a lack of community. We've become transactional and virtual/online communities are not sufficient. In terms of driving I think it got a lot worse during the pandemic because with the lack of daily commuter traffic allowed people to drive faster and hence more reckles…
The encouragement of hate, outrage, prejudice, and mis- and disinformation. It's pretty transparent - we see the expected outcomes.
By the time the "regular" people feel it (ala, the rich people), the problem may be irreversible.
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True. But language is important. We don't have to help them victim blame.
No victim blaming. Smaller cars are more dangerous given an accident is already occurring between multiple cars. Choosing a car to be in an accident, a bigger car is a solid choice. Of course, that skips over being in an accident at all . It also skips over any concern for others -- but so many people view that hypothetical accident as clearly the other person's fault, so may as well go with the big car.
Again, you're victim blaming here. The small car is not causing the danger. T-shirts are not more dangerous than guns just because someone firing a gun randomly into a crowd is less likely to get hurt than someone in the crowd wearing a t-shirt.
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That doesn't require a repeal of the second amendment. That just requires a willingness to interpret the full text of the amendment, instead of focusing only on the last four words. School shootings are far down the list as far as fatalities go. But that's a poor way to measure the impact of school shootings. The trauma inflicted by each of these events goes way beyond the number of children killed. Everyone who has…
The full text of the amendment is pretty clear that "a well-regulated militia" depends upon "the right of the people to keep and bear arms", it does not limit that right. In order to train farmers and craftsmen into an effective reserve fighting force, they have to have weapons of their own they can practice with. Times have changed, obviously, and civil society no longer depends on citizen firearm ownership. You can…
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> Smaller cars are more dangerous in a multi-car accident. Smaller cars bear more of the risk in a multi-car accident from the more dangerous larger cars. The smaller cars themselves are safer. It's like saying t-shirts are less safe than guns because they won't stop bullets.
It's a negative spiral. More people get bigger cars now because well there are more bigger cars on the road now. That and the convenience of an SUV is unbeatable for people with families - like baby seats or ease of getting in and out and so on. When I bought my car almost a decade ago, it felt reasonably sized. Now it looks puny on the road.
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True. But language is important. We don't have to help them victim blame.
No victim blaming. Smaller cars are more dangerous given an accident is already occurring between multiple cars. Choosing a car to be in an accident, a bigger car is a solid choice. Of course, that skips over being in an accident at all . It also skips over any concern for others -- but so many people view that hypothetical accident as clearly the other person's fault, so may as well go with the big car.
And that’s to say nothing of what happens when the person being hit is a pedestrian or cyclist.
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Something happened during the initial stages of the pandemic. People lost their absolute minds and aggressive and reckless driving got way, way worst than I've ever seen. Hell, about an hour ago a cop tailgated me while I was going 15 over the limit, wove through traffic to cut me off, run a red light, then damn near ran another driver off the road. No lights, no emergency, just an asshole. This is the behavior you h…
>There's something very deeply wrong in American society, and I don't see things improving any time soon. Any hypothesis as to what it is? I think it is a lack of community. We've become transactional and virtual/online communities are not sufficient. In terms of driving I think it got a lot worse during the pandemic because with the lack of daily commuter traffic allowed people to drive faster and hence more reckles…
"1 in 25 Americans being born will not make it to their 40th birthday." Wow. Actually impressed with the analysis backing this up. If you read the entire thread, he actually covers nearly every correlating factor I could think of. And it's pretty clearly drugs, guns, suicide, and cars. (The cardio health one doesn't seem as strong). The one that is crazy to me is the uptick in driving fatalities. Cars are an order of…
Something happened during the initial stages of the pandemic. People lost their absolute minds and aggressive and reckless driving got way, way worst than I've ever seen. Hell, about an hour ago a cop tailgated me while I was going 15 over the limit, wove through traffic to cut me off, run a red light, then damn near ran another driver off the road. No lights, no emergency, just an asshole. This is the behavior you h…