@Mik said in Here's how to address old age:
Agreed. But that is ever more frequently the case. He's really an argumeent for KEEP MOVING!
There's a movie with Mel Brooks, Dick van Dyke and some others - 'If you're not in the obit, eat breakfast', which looks at a bunch of highly functioning folk in their 90's. It's a feel-good movie for all the right reasons.
Yeah, this is stupid populist rubbish.
Having said that, it does stick in the craw a little when we get through a winter where fuel prices rocket, and people struggle to make ends meet, only to hear that the fuel companies have made record profits. Even for somebody who works with the oil industry like what I do, there is definitely a bit of a temptation to say 'fuck those guys'.
@Mik said in He's right:
I don't think this girl had an obsession with gun ownership, but with violence. She was under treatment for mental illness and should have been unable to purchase firearms.
No, you're right. But she lives in a country where getting hold of a lot of guns is really easy.
There has to be a reason why this happens so much more often than elsewhere, and so you logically have to ask 'What is different about America?'. It's not the level of mental illness, is it? It's not the amount of computer games being played. It's not the lack of religion. So what is it?
@Mik said in Here's how to address old age:
Gotta love Dick Van Dyke.
He is freaking amazing. I'm not sure I like the phrases used in the article 'Brave Last Days', 'looking frailer than ever' - they're clickbaiting.
@Jolly said in He's right:
I'm going back to the WSJ poll...I think we are forgetting what it means to be American. We are forgetting the things that make us a great nation. Things like religion or a broad agreement on what is right and what is wrong. What is good and what is bad. The tolerance for differing views. A lost sense of community.
We've lost the drive for equal opportunity in a misbegotten drive for equity and that puts a strain on one of the greatest American strengths - merit. Cream should rise to the top, no matter it's beginnings.
And people have to buy into the American dream. Work hard, work smart and you will succeed.
At the end of the day, it boils down to hope. It boils down to a person being the captain of their own destiny.
I don't think you're wrong, but I also think that the American obsession with gun ownership is also a factor. Pretending that this has nothing to do with the problem isn't realistic.
Now, you can take the view that the freedom to bear arms is more important, and that's valid. I don't agree, but it's an argument, and I'm not American so I'm kind of an outlier anyway. But to try and claim that it has no bearing on these shootings, which are so much more common than in other countries with similar cultural concerns is just avoidance.
@Jolly said in He's right:
Ain't happening.
Culture needs to change. We've been going down the wrong road for awhile.
Almost everybody can agree that the culture needs to change - the problem is getting people to agree on the direction, and the best way to start pushing. Nobody really seems to want to compromise. You understandably apologize for not being British, but compromise has historically something the Brits were quite good at. I'm not sure it's true any more.
And changing a cultural direction deliberately is really, really difficult. It takes a long time. I'm not convinced that people have the patience.
@George-K said in Cherry Blossom Time in DC:
But it's not only the cherry blossoms.
There's also roots, shoots and leaves.
@Horace said in He's right:
Guns aren't going anywhere, but ultimately, the GOP spends a great deal of its cultural capital on its defense of guns. Which reduces the capital available for other stuff.
I guess there is an upside to the never-ending debate after all.
@Renauda said in Trump: "I have a plan...":
In fact, I’ll bet he has a cunning plan.
He probably has some cunning stunts to go along with it. A whole team of them, in fact.
@Mik said in He's right:
It’s not guns. It’s willingness to use them.
If you don't have them, you can't use them.
I know all the arguments, but the bottom line is that this is primarily an American problem, and the one thing that distinguishes America from the rest of the West is it's attitude towards firearms.
And clearly it's not going to change. It's ingrained in the national psyche. So the congressman is correct.