And it is nothing but unreasonable to have a reaction to me taking out my knife, cutting something, and putting it away. I don't flaunt, taunt, or brandish. Yet that's all we get lectured about.
MOST of us don't. I'd venture to say you weren't at all who my comments were directed at. I would have thought that was obvious, but perhaps not. My comments were directed more at people who would rather tell people off than be polite and responsible. I realize that there are not that many mall ninjas on Blade Forums. But responsible knife users, even around here, aren't as common as irresponsible ones. You are the type of person who IS beneficial, because you use a knife casually as a tool. I'm arguing that that's a good thing.
I don't know where you're from, but I'm from a sheeple area, raised by sheeple parents, and most of my friends would be classified as sheeple. That has given me a lot of perspective on what motivates their fear. Around here, it's fairly common to see kids flashing their tactical folders and seeing how fast they can flick them open, with as much flash as possible. I don't think it's unreasonable to find that threatening, and I'd like to see knife users be a bit more united in demonstrating that knives aren't weapons. Those of us who use our knives more like you do very rarely seem to get in trouble. I'm not saying it doesn't happen. But I think there should be a little thought put into how such a paradigm shift could have taken place.
With regards to your comment about crime and kitchen knives, I don't see how that pertains. I don't mention crime at all in my argument.
There are people who are scared of knives because they don't think about knives, they don't understand knives, and therefore don't know how to act around knives. They weren't threatened by a knife, but they have been groomed to view a knife as threatening.
How exactly does such grooming take place? If you say it's the media, perhaps that's because there was an incident involving an irresponsible knife user? This "grooming" doesn't take place without some sort of impetus. In order for people to see a knife as threatening, there's got to be a reason behind it.
And this paranoid "you'll get fired for adhering to company policy and restrictive laws will be written, voted on, passed, and enforced overnight" is unfounded.
Three of my colleagues at my old job were fired for flashing their pocket knives. It was not against company policy to carry a pocket knife, but they repeatedly flashed them in front of other coworkers, and told people who complained about it that it was none of their business. That's the kind of attitude that encourages people to become "sheeple." PROVE to me that such an attitude is helpful.
As for the "being passed overnight" nonsense, again, point out where I say anything of the sort. In fact, my point is that change IS slow, so it's not too late for us to step up and be an example. But if law changes weren't a concern, what about that DA in New York City. Why does Knife Rights exist at all, if we don't have to worry? It sounds very much to me like you're advocating the ostrich strategy for protecting our rights. Stick our heads in the sand and pretend it's not a problem.
Most of us here on Blade Forums, as you say, are responsible, and leaders in the fight to protect our rights. But there are clearly those who would rather tell people off and call them sheeple. That's not productive; in fact, it's counter productive. And the insistence that those people are "nothing but unreasonable" demonstrates a clear lack of perspective. Sun Tzu's adage to know one's enemy applies here just as well as it does in war. Understanding WHY someone might feel threatened by your pocket knife goes a long way towards knowing how we can act to change that perspective to match one that we feel is more reasonable.
If you're not the sort of person who would strike people as being threatening, they won't care even if you have a giant knife. If people are intimidated by the fact that you have a knife, it's probably nothing to do with the knife, and everything to do with your attitude. If you just keep to yourself most times, and they feel like you're just going to tell them off, and possibly get belligerent, I would be worried about you having a knife also. Take Crocodile Dundee for an example. Most sheeple that I know don't find his character threatening, even though he carries GIANT knives all the time. Why might that be?
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