Or knife rights anyway... There's a nice overdramatic title for you.
My minds been meandering, there are regularly threads on people overreacting to knives, sheeple hating knives, etc., etc..
Like anything else people's first, gut, reaction to what they see is the key. The way our minds work, when we see something we categorize it based on constructs we've learned.
I'm not sure of the word for the concept I've been pondering, it could be gestalt (my word of the week
), it could be meme, it could just be impression set.
As an example, in the 50's there was a "switchblade scare" in congress. Switchblades were tied into juvenile delinquency and there was a drive to ban them. This was your typical vote getting drive. You know, make up a danger then offer to save people from it. Still, the publicity made a lasting impression on our collective conciousness.
When people see a switchblade opening there is a certain set of images and feelings which will be evoked *as a whole* (thus gestalt as an attempt at a word to describe it). People my age will flash on the movie Blackboard Jungle, but this is a whole set of impressions and is part of our collective culture. There are bits and pieces in movies and media everywhere and even younger folks have it in their head.
From a song I like.... "flash blade in the ghetto night, Rudie's looking for a fight". It evokes knife fights and a whole set of images and feelings all at once.
This is how our minds categorize and pigeonhole things without even realizing it, we want to put everything in a box and we often perceive things as a whole. Our analytical reasoning is linear but our "gut" is parallel processing.
Another gestalt, meme, whatever which is more recent and less developed was given to us by 9-11. A group of guys with box cutters changed our nation. Never mind that the policy had been to give in to hijackers and that the hijackers knew that and used it. We now have a generalized "fear knives" gestalt in our collective conciousness.
When someone has a knife out and open with one hand suddenly, these two "gestalts" (at least) hit a person before they think analyticaly as their mind attempts to categorize what just happened. If they have no other interests or impressions involved it is no wonder that in many cases their mind says "keep on eye on this" at the least.
So, what's the point of all this gobblety gook? There are other impression sets related to knives. When you first take out a traditional people flash to Tom Sawyer, their Grandpa, someone cutting a fishing line, nice stuff. We've all seen or posted things about traditionals "evoking a simpler time" and similar thoughts. That's their "gestalt".
When people see a traditional that gestalt will very often counterbalance the 9-11 gestalt. There is no switchblade gestalt so you often get a positive reaction. An SAK has a gestalt of first aid kits, boy scouts, and nail files so it's alrighty too.
A Buck Folding Hunter has a bit of a redneck, pick up truck, deer hunter gestalt and thus you get a "fear reaction" somewhere in the middle. (now don't be upset, I'm a bit of a redneck myself)
I've found that a "modern traditional" with say, a metal handle, screw construction, etc. will evoke more of a fear reaction than a true traditional with bone or stag handles and all those accoutrements which say "grandpa knife". This, even when the knife is the same size and is two handed opening.
Peoples minds work by perceiving whole objects and complete actions and putting them into little boxes based on holistic notions they have learned (or been fed). All the quaint, eloquent notions we have been been posting about "the old days" might just be the meme we need to save knives.
Or I could just be going off the deep end... (goes back to sharpening his Barlow).
My minds been meandering, there are regularly threads on people overreacting to knives, sheeple hating knives, etc., etc..
Like anything else people's first, gut, reaction to what they see is the key. The way our minds work, when we see something we categorize it based on constructs we've learned.
I'm not sure of the word for the concept I've been pondering, it could be gestalt (my word of the week
), it could be meme, it could just be impression set. As an example, in the 50's there was a "switchblade scare" in congress. Switchblades were tied into juvenile delinquency and there was a drive to ban them. This was your typical vote getting drive. You know, make up a danger then offer to save people from it. Still, the publicity made a lasting impression on our collective conciousness.
When people see a switchblade opening there is a certain set of images and feelings which will be evoked *as a whole* (thus gestalt as an attempt at a word to describe it). People my age will flash on the movie Blackboard Jungle, but this is a whole set of impressions and is part of our collective culture. There are bits and pieces in movies and media everywhere and even younger folks have it in their head.
From a song I like.... "flash blade in the ghetto night, Rudie's looking for a fight". It evokes knife fights and a whole set of images and feelings all at once.
This is how our minds categorize and pigeonhole things without even realizing it, we want to put everything in a box and we often perceive things as a whole. Our analytical reasoning is linear but our "gut" is parallel processing.
Another gestalt, meme, whatever which is more recent and less developed was given to us by 9-11. A group of guys with box cutters changed our nation. Never mind that the policy had been to give in to hijackers and that the hijackers knew that and used it. We now have a generalized "fear knives" gestalt in our collective conciousness.
When someone has a knife out and open with one hand suddenly, these two "gestalts" (at least) hit a person before they think analyticaly as their mind attempts to categorize what just happened. If they have no other interests or impressions involved it is no wonder that in many cases their mind says "keep on eye on this" at the least.
So, what's the point of all this gobblety gook? There are other impression sets related to knives. When you first take out a traditional people flash to Tom Sawyer, their Grandpa, someone cutting a fishing line, nice stuff. We've all seen or posted things about traditionals "evoking a simpler time" and similar thoughts. That's their "gestalt".
When people see a traditional that gestalt will very often counterbalance the 9-11 gestalt. There is no switchblade gestalt so you often get a positive reaction. An SAK has a gestalt of first aid kits, boy scouts, and nail files so it's alrighty too.
A Buck Folding Hunter has a bit of a redneck, pick up truck, deer hunter gestalt and thus you get a "fear reaction" somewhere in the middle. (now don't be upset, I'm a bit of a redneck myself)
I've found that a "modern traditional" with say, a metal handle, screw construction, etc. will evoke more of a fear reaction than a true traditional with bone or stag handles and all those accoutrements which say "grandpa knife". This, even when the knife is the same size and is two handed opening.
Peoples minds work by perceiving whole objects and complete actions and putting them into little boxes based on holistic notions they have learned (or been fed). All the quaint, eloquent notions we have been been posting about "the old days" might just be the meme we need to save knives.
Or I could just be going off the deep end... (goes back to sharpening his Barlow).
