by Itch » Wed 29 Sep 2004, 15:37:40
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')y sincere apologies to Barbara, but if those millions of Jews, Gays and Gypsies had guns, and been sufficiently violently pissed off THEY would still be here to tell there story
Or the Nazis would just cut off their food supply, and demand them to turn in their guns if they want food.
Many Americans are looters right now, and many middle class people, who have their material needs satisfied by buying things legitimately, will loot in the event of a severe economic depression, not necessarily because because they have to, but because they want to. I don't think there are many people in America that are actually starving; if they're having some kind of food related problems, one reason is that it is probably due to the quality of food they eat. So not many people loot for necessity; they usually do it for simply getting more materials so the thief can validate himself, which is the dominant religion of this country.
Looting usually occurs when there is a crowd of unhappy people near a source of loot, and also when treasure is left unguarded. I'll acknowledge that not all protestors do this, but many people at protests, no matter what kind of self-righteous protest they're participating in, usually, at some point, end up with looting, though it may be on a small scale. There was the nonsense in Florida, the Rodney King beatings, the WTO in Seattle, and countless protests which all seem to suggest that no matter what skin color you're wearing on a particular day, there will always be looters in cities.
So it seems that the trick is to stay away from cities. If you're in the country, I would find masses of looters to roam the country side, looking to steal food. The farther they get away from the cities, the more dispersed they'll get. And if they're pissed off and starving to begin with, they would probably have better luck finding food in the cities. If things are so bad in the cities, then there would be hordes of trash lying around, which would mean that it would attract plenty of animals. They may not be walking tri-tip steaks, but starving people generally don't give a fuck about what they eat; most of the people in America don't give a fuck about what they eat already. Besides, all animals that eat city waste are complacent as hell, and much easier to catch, as opposed to wild animals who are ridiculously alert of their natural predators. Starving people will not have the patience, energy, knowledge, or discipline to catch wild animals. If they have lived in the cities all of their life, then what would they know about the contry? It's a completely different environment.
I'll admit that guns are pretty useful tools to have, though I'm not the kind of guy that is very enthusiastic about shooting guns, even though I own one. I know it's a trite thing to say, but it is better to have one than not need one than to need one and not have one. Of course, a gun is a tool used to kill things; I'm not going to lie to myself by saying that it's used solely for self defense, trying to hide the actual purpose of a gun.
It's particularly useful for hunting some of the larger mammals, simply because of the range. If you were to hunt with a bow, and wanted to hunt deer, it would be difficult to kill a deer unles you're in a tree, because the deer will be able to pinpoint your exact location from a half mile away just from the your scent.
Guns have a longer range, which make killing deer from a distance much easier, especially if you're using hollow point rounds.
The downside of having a gun is that it takes a bit of maintanence if you want it to work right, and require lubricants which are petroleum based. Maybe there are substitutes but I have not found any that aren't mass produced.
Bows don't need much maintanence, and their ammunition is renewable.
Americans usually don't work well together. Individualism has been successfully marketed ever since the beginning. There was cooperation in rural areas all the time, probably because the residents were in a fixed position, rather than subscribing to the frontier mentality, where people were a bit more selfish. Contemporary marketing has recently revived itself to fit the classic American views of the frontier. Car commercials, particularly SUVs, will show one car roaming trhoughout the country by itself, while most people use these cars to drive in paved areas. Most advertised products depict how their product will benefit the buyer. Most commercials aimed at guys will say, "Buy our shit, and you'll fuck tons of hot chicks," while commercials targeted at girls will say, "you'll look good if you buy our shit." Marketed insecurity has been insidiously successful. Why does this matter? Most people have been conditioned to want materials. Some steal them, some buy them, or they simply do both. To think that people will be able to work together under bad circumstance will not happen unless it is heavily marketed, otherwise many people will continue what they have been told to do, meaning that they wil still go forth and get materials in one way or another.
I would not feel comfortable living in a city even right now. If there was some kind of breakdown in a city, I would want heavy firepower, because most people are fuckin' crazy, at least in my opinion they are.