Absolute ignorance

S

steve f

Joined
Jun 22, 2000
Messages
88
I would like to share with you all an email I have just recieved from someone who inadvertantly found my united bladeworx website.
''I was looking for wood but found your webpage - sorry but I think you are sick in the same way I think gun makers are sick. It is certainly not art''.
Dr. Ian Dunlop



This is not the first of this kind of rubbish I have recieved , do any of you guys get this type of mail.

.

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Steve Filicietti
Custom Knives
AUSTRALIA
http://www.unitedbladeworx.com.au

[This message has been edited by steve f (edited 05-22-2001).]
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by steve f:
....feel free to send this guy your opinions on what is and is not art...
</font>
Click to expand...

No point to it, IMHO. It's like arguing about firearms with the anti-gun crowd.

"A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still."


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Holger :c{{{&lt;
AKTI Member No: A001324
CKG-F
-----------------------
www.cockroachfarm.com
 
I'm afraid you are sick Steve. In order to begin the healing process you must divest yourself of all those evil knives.

Just ship them all to me and you will feel much better (at least I will feel better).

mike



[This message has been edited by mike45 (edited 05-22-2001).]
 
Steve
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder while fear and ignorance is in the brain of someone like that. Write him off for what he is which is nothing. Great web site by the way.
Bob
 
Note the .edu email address. 'Nuff said? More anti-freedom types on campuses than most anywhere else.

Tom
 
Holy crap!
eek.gif
That address is from a lecturer in the department of economics in my university! I guess in a way I'm fortunate that I don't know that guy or take any of his classes (I'm in engineering).

Man, I wish I could re-educate him.
mad.gif


Hope he gets mugged or something.
 
steelwolf-
i can understand being upset,but hoping that someone gets mugged?
confused.gif
confused.gif

 
This guy is a doctor. That says it all!! The only proffession that will rob you even more is a lawyer!!!! JK- you gotta make a living somehow...not only am I a gun dealer, but I am also an Insurance Agent. Now thats BAD!!! Anyway, I agree with cockroachfarm, this could go on forever fighting with this illiterate doctor. Keep on making that beautiful art!

RattlerXX
 
Ignorance! Here's what I sent:

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Dr. Dunlop,

I understand that you sent an email to Custom Knives in Australia
( http://www.unitedbladeworx.com.au ) in that you stated that he as a knifemaker is akin to the sick people who make guns. I do strongly disagree with you.

Knives are among man's oldest tool. Knives are used predominately for domestic, peaceful purposes. Rock climbers use knives to cut their rope if they get tangled up. Hikers use them to prepare wood for a campfire. Cooks use them to cut vegetables in food preparation. In looking at the history of military knives, soldiers almost never use them in combat scenarios, using them rather as a "field knife" for anything from food prep to digging holes to sectioning rope for binding.

But if they happen to be used for combat, like guns, what is your concern there? You, like me, live in a country protected by guns and knives. It is very ignorant of you to call the makers "sick" if you are living under the freedom they afford you.

Statistically, by far, those who are murdered with knives are killed by basic kitchen knives that every home possess. They are "crimes of passion" in which the user grabs the most accessible item they can find. That includes any blunt object (a phone, lamp, chair, baseball bat, etc.). Are the makers of those such items "sick" as well? They make tools used in daily life that can be be adapted by a crazed homicidal individual. The sick person is not maker, but rather the user. Place the blame in the correct place.

Lastly, relative to knives not being "art," art is a subjective and highly personal expression. Some think Picasso's paintings are ugly. It is a personal opinion upon which each person have a right to make and possess.

Will this fall on deaf ears? Most likely so. But remember that you sleep at peace each night under the protection of the tools you so glibly say are made by sick people.

Sincerely,

Ron Andersen </font>
Click to expand...

I doubt it will help. Maybe it will prompt the Doctor from sending hate mail in the future.


------------------
Ron Andersen
Consumer Services Manager
SOG Specialty Knives, Inc.

Website: www.sogknives.com
Email: ron@sogknives.com


[This message has been edited by Ron@SOG (edited 05-22-2001).]
 
These freaks need to get a grip. I wish nothing bad upon these sheeple, but wait till this guy gets beat down and his girlfriend gets raped. He may live to regret his stupidity, but I doubt it. A weapon is just that and nothing more. A tool has no concience or will of it's own, and all those ignorant elected officials and new agers that think otherwise have a serious mental problem. Why is it that those with the most influence on our society are such weirdos?
 
Steve, we all have the right to think what we please.
He has the right to his opinion, I have the right to mine, which is the he is a bit of a d**ksm**k. Oh well, the world needs all kinds.

Steelwolf, wishing that someone gets mugged, shame on you.

------------------
Keith

AKTI Member #A001338
 
Well done Ron for an erudite reply! Like you say how much difference it will make to his closed little mind is another thing. I am sure all of us on this forum have recieved anti knife comments/been viewed as dangerous/crazy/sick etc. The civilised half of me tries to give answers such as Ron's - talk to them in their own language, educate them. We all definitely need to stick together in this political climate I feel like weapon users/collectors are a hunted bunch. Of course the other half of me wants to shout and scream and call them all the names under the sun.
As he is a Prof of Economics I would like to hear his definition of art.
 
I really hope that guy has not had the opportunity to reproduce and further pollute the gene pool. Kudos to Ron for the reasoned, intelligent response. Too bad that it probably did fall on deaf ears.
 
Guys,
i hate to play devil's advocate here,but i did see a post that bothered me (again).

"closed little mid".. ?

this man has an opinion that differs from ours, so he has a closed little mind?
with all due respect,i do not agree.

everyone is entitled to their opinion,but as soon as a person develops it they also become close minded.or so it seems in some people minds.
 
Ron,
Oustanding email to the "doctor". Please let us know if he ever makes a feeble attempt at a reply.

Maurice,
Kudos to you for trying to see both sides of the issue, but remember, it was the "doctor" who called Steve "sick" simply because he is a knife maker. He knows nothing about Steve other than his occupation and yet he is qualified to determine that he is sick. I'm quite confident the "doctor" would contend that you are sick as well, simply because you contribute to this forum. I'm sorry, but there's no question who has the closed mind in this debate; Doctor, heal thyself.

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Semper Fi

-Bill
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">
this man has an opinion that differs from ours, so he has a closed little mind?
with all due respect,i do not agree.

everyone is entitled to their opinion,but as soon as a person develops it they also become close minded.or so it seems in some people minds. </font>
Click to expand...

To paraphrase a dead Russian-born philosopher, an "open mind" isn't the best thing to have. Rather, have an active mind. These days the definition of "open mind" seems to be that you have no opinions and make no decisions (at least publicly) about an issue. And there is an important statement that must be made:

NOT ALL OPINIONS ARE OF EQUAL VALUE.

Everyone may be "entitled" to their opinion, but if the opinion you hold is wrong, having an "open mind" won't change the fact that you're wrong.

It is a fact that private citizens are better off when permitted to legally possess and carry the appropriate tools for self defense. That's backed up by endless statistics, the lessons of history, and simple common sense.

Calling someone "sick" because they make knives is like calling them "inferior" because they're black. It's bigotry, it's prejudice, and it's wrong.

Period.

-Razor


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AKTI #A000845
And tomorrow when you wake up it will be worse.

[This message has been edited by Razoredj (edited 05-22-2001).]
 
Hi Maurice,

I agree that this person is free to have an opinion that differs from mine. That is not my concern here. Mine is that he proactively sent "hate mail" berating the opinions of others. Also of note is the view shared by these people manifesting the duplicity of their peace/anti-weapon position when they live under the peace that weapons afford them I find very hypocritical. Let Australia ban all knives and guns, disbanding their military and disavowing allegiance to any country using weapons, and they will find quickly they will be the servants of an oppressive government (or third-world dictator)...or even anarchists.

We did not go knocking on his "door," he came knocking on ours...We're just opening the door (wielding knives
smile.gif
).

------------------
Ron Andersen
Consumer Services Manager
SOG Specialty Knives, Inc.

Website: www.sogknives.com
Email: ron@sogknives.com


[This message has been edited by Ron@SOG (edited 05-22-2001).]
 
Like Ron, I felt that this guy needed a considered response, so:

Dear Dr. Dunlop,

I am a citizen of the United States of America and a member of the Religious Society of Friends, otherwise known as the Quakers. But I came to them by way of a rather long journey that took me from being a member of a family whose history of military service to my country extends back to before it was a country, so I had a very rocky road to travel, given the Quakers' very well-known Peace Testimony. I have owned several firearms, and retain a few which I keep unloaded and under lock and key in a gun vault, as does any reasonable person who lives in suburban America (my opinion, only). I also have a substantial collection of sharp, pointy things. I also keep these locked up, for the most part, as I would rather not come home to find that one of my daughter's friends had been injured playing with one of them. I would also rather not have any of them stolen, as they have considerable value to me.

As Ron of SOG told you, a knife is man's oldest and most useful tool. I carry a pocket knife and have done so since I was seven years old. In my country, in the society in which I was raised, carrying a pocket knife was something that men and boys did and it was not looked at askance. Even the school that I attended during the 1950s, a relatively elite Anglican preparatory school, did not object so long as it was not openly carried or flaunted. I also grew up in an area where I and my friends were very fortunate in our ability to hunt, to camp, and to fish pretty much at will, a privilege of which we took great advantage, you may believe. I find it unfortunate that the children of today's suburban Washington, DC, area can not do this because it has become much, much too crowded. I involved myself with the Boy Scouts to allow my son to have some of those advantages that I had. The Boy Scouts had a policy that did not allow the boys to carry fixed blade knives, but did allow them to carry folding knives once they had been properly trained. The interesting aspect of this training was that it was conducted by the older boys, thereby reinforcing the responsibility involved in carrying a potentially dangerous tool.

Now, as a son and grandson of military persons, I will not attempt to deny the weapons potential of knives, especially of certain knives. The Bowie knife, the Fairbairn-Sykes Commando knife of World War II, and the Renaissance Italian stillettos come to mind in this area. But I would posit that these are, by far, in the minority of the knives made throughout the history of humanity, and that the quite vast majority of knives have been made as tools first and only then pressed into use as weapons when the need arose. And I would maintain that we should be thankful for those ad hoc weapons, for they have been what have preserved our liberties throughout history. Our British yoeman ancestors pressed the agricultural billhook and the hunting longbow into service as weapons to defend their liberty, and did so with great expertise, if I remember my history. That they also used them in wars of expansion is beside the point, what is important is that they were there when needed to defend freedom, home, and family.

Thank you for your time and may you walk always in the Light, Hugh Fuller

------------------
Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
 
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