I recently got into a cyber-argument on Facebook about whether gun-facilitated suicides ought to be "counted" when making the case for gun control.
It is said that every death "caused" by a firearm is part of the "problem" of excessive guns, therefore, suicides-by-gun ought to be counted.
My position is that the problem - such as it is - should only be measured with respect to the threat of gun violence to the general public. No one is "threatened" by someone else's suicide. Indeed, suicide is the ultimate act of personal freedom. To be, or not to be - It's my decision. Although it can be described as a crime against the survivors, that only follows if you presume that we all have an implicit obligation of companionship or support that trumps our right to determine whether we shall continue to exist. I don't buy it. I demand the right to off myself at such time as I consider that that option makes most sense for me (chronic pain, being the main possibility in this regard).
Moving on...
So person #1 says, "Black lives matter."
Person #2 says, "All lives matter," which pisses off Person #1 because it diminishes his point.
But I say, "Not all lives matter." Some lives matter more than others, and some lives matter not at all. Indeed, I have known many people who have died and, for one reason or another, the world was actually a better place without them in it. Sorry to say, but true.
And getting back to person #1 above, if one Black gang-banger kills another gang-banger, it is an example of the case I mentioned in the preceding paragraph. That particular Black life didn't matter (except to the victim's mother who will invariably say, "My son had just found JESUS!"), and the world could well be a better place without that now-dead gang-banger. And if the assailant is imprisoned, so much the better. It is, as they say, a "Two-fer."
It is the attitude of police in cases of one GB killing another GB that brought about the "Black Lives Matter" movement, and specifically the case of the Brown fellow in Ferguson, MO.
But really, compare the Indian medical student, slain on the eve of his graduation from medical school, versus the dope dealer killed in the course of a transaction gone bad. Are the police and the public supposed to treat these as equally "tragic" events?
Get serious. Not all lives matter, and some lives are definitely more significant than others.
It is said that every death "caused" by a firearm is part of the "problem" of excessive guns, therefore, suicides-by-gun ought to be counted.
My position is that the problem - such as it is - should only be measured with respect to the threat of gun violence to the general public. No one is "threatened" by someone else's suicide. Indeed, suicide is the ultimate act of personal freedom. To be, or not to be - It's my decision. Although it can be described as a crime against the survivors, that only follows if you presume that we all have an implicit obligation of companionship or support that trumps our right to determine whether we shall continue to exist. I don't buy it. I demand the right to off myself at such time as I consider that that option makes most sense for me (chronic pain, being the main possibility in this regard).
Moving on...
So person #1 says, "Black lives matter."
Person #2 says, "All lives matter," which pisses off Person #1 because it diminishes his point.
But I say, "Not all lives matter." Some lives matter more than others, and some lives matter not at all. Indeed, I have known many people who have died and, for one reason or another, the world was actually a better place without them in it. Sorry to say, but true.
And getting back to person #1 above, if one Black gang-banger kills another gang-banger, it is an example of the case I mentioned in the preceding paragraph. That particular Black life didn't matter (except to the victim's mother who will invariably say, "My son had just found JESUS!"), and the world could well be a better place without that now-dead gang-banger. And if the assailant is imprisoned, so much the better. It is, as they say, a "Two-fer."
It is the attitude of police in cases of one GB killing another GB that brought about the "Black Lives Matter" movement, and specifically the case of the Brown fellow in Ferguson, MO.
But really, compare the Indian medical student, slain on the eve of his graduation from medical school, versus the dope dealer killed in the course of a transaction gone bad. Are the police and the public supposed to treat these as equally "tragic" events?
Get serious. Not all lives matter, and some lives are definitely more significant than others.
