The Curious Case of the Fall in Crime.

[Seth]

That hungry tiger is staring directly at YOUR young daughter as she stands trembling in the corner of the classroom. Whatcha gonna do?

There's no need to do anything.

Just about what I thought you might say. Sticking your head in the sand is hardly rational.

What usually happens, is for an advertisement break to appear. After that the fantasy continues in its predictable way: Just as the tiger sits down and starts purring or licks its arse, some cowboy libertarian named Walter Mitty swaggers in, shoots at it, misses, and accidentally kills the girl instead. The End.

Yeah, I knew you would be unable to face the truth or address the question honestly.

I wonder why these cops didn't try your method...

[Blind groper]

Get real people. There is no tiger, and the odds against such a scenario are approaching astronomical.

[Hermit]

Yeah, I knew you would be unable to face the truth or address the question honestly.

Look who's talking. You don't need anti-tiger powder where no tigers exist.

[Seth]

Get real people. There is no tiger, and the odds against such a scenario are approaching astronomical.

The tiger is a metaphor. There are tigers...or perhaps jackals is a better metaphor...everywhere, even near where you are right this very moment. You just never see them till they strike.

And THOSE odds are anything but astronomical.

[Warren Dew]

Hitler did everything he could to encourage mass ownership of firearms.

Not true. There was strict gun registration throughout Hitler's chancellorship, and Jews were banned outright from owning firearms starting in 1938.

[MrJonno]

Human beings are nearer to ants than tigers or sheep, pretty useless on there own but together they can achieve things no other species can

[Hermit]

Get real people. There is no tiger, and the odds against such a scenario are approaching astronomical.

The tiger is a metaphor. There are tigers...or perhaps jackals is a better metaphor...everywhere, even near where you are right this very moment. You just never see them till they strike.

[MiM]

Get real people. There is no tiger, and the odds against such a scenario are approaching astronomical.

The tiger is a metaphor. There are tigers...or perhaps jackals is a better metaphor...everywhere, even near where you are right this very moment. You just never see them till they strike.

And THOSE odds are anything but astronomical.

Very few that would be out to kill you, at least over here, so the odds are still minuscule. But then we do have a good social security system, and fairly restrictive gun laws, so things might be different where you live. And if they are only after your property, you have no business shooting them anyway.

[Hermit]

Get real people. There is no tiger, and the odds against such a scenario are approaching astronomical.

The tiger is a metaphor. There are tigers...or perhaps jackals is a better metaphor...everywhere, even near where you are right this very moment. You just never see them till they strike.

And THOSE odds are anything but astronomical.

Very few that would be out to kill you, at least over here, so the odds are still minuscule. But then we do have a good social security system, and fairly restrictive gun laws, so things might be different where you live. And if they are only after your property, you have no business shooting them anyway.

Seth was switching horses again anyway. Blind groper was talking about guns and revolutions, concluding with: "You are so hung up on the need to own your own lethal toys that you cannot see that such ownership by private individuals is totally unnecessary." whereupon Seth replied: "Until it is. That's why it's not a "Bill of Needs" it's a "Bill of Rights."" I used the tiger as a metaphor in this context. Now he's switching back to guns in the context of ordinary crime again.

[piscator]

Human beings are nearer to ants than tigers or sheep, pretty useless on there own but together they can achieve things no other species can

Like Jeffersonian Democracy, the Wright Brothers, the Manhattan Project and the Apollo project?

[MrJonno]

Human beings are nearer to ants than tigers or sheep, pretty useless on there own but together they can achieve things no other species can

Like Jeffersonian Democracy, the Wright Brothers, the Manhattan Project and the Apollo project?

The the work of 1000's if not millions, a truly vile cult those who worship the individual

[MiM]

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants

- Isaac Newton

[Blind groper]

To MiM

On that much quoted comment by Isaac Newton.

John Gribbin, in his book on the history of science, had an interesting take. Apparently Newton had an on going feud with Robert Hooke, who was his greatest rival for the position of 'brain of the century'. Newton took every opportunity to try to put Hooke down, and it got quite nasty. Hooke was, physically, a very small man. Gribbon thinks the 'shoulders of giants' reference is a metaphorical dagger in Hooke's back. Vindictive gossip, in other words.

[Seth]

Human beings are nearer to ants than tigers or sheep, pretty useless on there own but together they can achieve things no other species can

Speak for yourself, ant.

[Seth]

Get real people. There is no tiger, and the odds against such a scenario are approaching astronomical.

The tiger is a metaphor. There are tigers...or perhaps jackals is a better metaphor...everywhere, even near where you are right this very moment. You just never see them till they strike.

And THOSE odds are anything but astronomical.

Very few that would be out to kill you, at least over here, so the odds are still minuscule.

However miniscule the odds are the consequences are as serious as consequences can get. Do you have an insurance policy on your house, or your life, or your car? Do you keep a fire extinguisher around the house? Probably.

The point is that YOU get to assess the risks in YOUR life and adjust your risk reduction procedures and policies as YOU see fit, reasonable and necessary.

But there is no argument to be made for allowing YOU to assess MY risks or adjust MY risk reduction procedures and policies as YOU see fit. That's both my job and my right.

But then we do have a good social security system, and fairly restrictive gun laws, so things might be different where you live. And if they are only after your property, you have no business shooting them anyway.

Depends entirely on how they go about being "after" my property. If they threaten me with deadly force or lead me to a reasonable belief that I, or another person, is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm, and to a reasonable belief that a lesser degree of force would be inadequate to prevent that harm, then I have every legal right to shoot them.