The last time I made a liberal joke I got an Infraction Warning! So I would suggest a very serious knife! If possible, one built with a third-party ideology such as Rent Is Too Damned High Party. No one will give you flack if you say it's associated with Jimmy McMillan (plus, he's a karate expert).
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Friendly folder for VERY liberal academic office?
- Thread starter waterford
- Start date
These threads all seem to meander to the same place. The fact that I don't really tire of them shows it has no easy answer.
Where you are matters. City or country? What city?
Type of knife matters. Does the knife match impressions of a tool or a weapon?
As said over and over in these threads, attitude of the user matters.
On top of it all, some people are just nosy buttheads who would criticise your dress, hairstyle or whatever if they weren't picking on your knife.
If someone wants to take up the knife rights banner and fight the issue, that's fine. I would have done that not that many years ago. Hopefully that is done in a way that is not too confrontational.
We have no way of knowing if it would be or not at this point.
If someone would rather try to get a more harmless looking knife accepted, that would help knife rights as well. It's just a different tack.
I think everyone here wants anyone to carry any knife they want anywhere.
Where you are matters. City or country? What city?
Type of knife matters. Does the knife match impressions of a tool or a weapon?
As said over and over in these threads, attitude of the user matters.
On top of it all, some people are just nosy buttheads who would criticise your dress, hairstyle or whatever if they weren't picking on your knife.
If someone wants to take up the knife rights banner and fight the issue, that's fine. I would have done that not that many years ago. Hopefully that is done in a way that is not too confrontational.
We have no way of knowing if it would be or not at this point.
If someone would rather try to get a more harmless looking knife accepted, that would help knife rights as well. It's just a different tack.
I think everyone here wants anyone to carry any knife they want anywhere.
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First of all, big respect for achieving that. I believe your boss is a Dutchman right? Now, I am Dutch and work and live in The Netherlands (aka Holland). Since a year or two, almost every city here accepted local laws that forbids "carrying any sharp object". Despite that, I'm still EDC'ing a Spyderco Military in my right back pocket, all day, every day (since 2008). And I have a Cold Steel Rajah II in my Falcon II backpack that I EDC to work. Even in the time that my Spyderco Military was still legal to carry (and it still is according to national law, despite the vast majority here would suspect the contrary) nobody in my surroundings carried even a swiss army knife. In other words, I scared the shit out of people at work when I pulled out my Millie for the first time. But they're used to it now. And since my colleagues learned that I carry a shitload of other stuff next to my Millie, they leave the boxes and little repair jobs for me nowadays, because they know I'm the only one with the tools for it. They got used to it very quickly and they know that me carrying a big folder to work doesn't make me any less of the warm, kind and extremely attentive colleague that I am
So if the laws in Princeton New Jersey allow you to carry a Spyderco Military, I personally wouldn't be bothered with what "liberal" colleagues think of that, if I were you. They will get used to it. And I would expect that the top-notch scientist that are from all-over the world that are your colleagues, will be open-minded enough to understand that different colleagues are different and that they're living and working in a country that has a different "weapon-culture" so to speak, than where they are from. Or at least, that the top-notch scientists that are your colleagues won't judge your work and colleague-being on the fact that you carry something that they won't. (Please mind I'm not a native speaker.)
Knives with the same capability can look very different and how the knife looks often matters to others. None of these knives falls short of doing anything a Sebenza could do, but they all look less intimidating than tactical knives, and non-knife people (regardless of their political views) notice that:
I carry both of these at my college (where I am a faculty member), and both are fine. But there's no denying that one is a lot more attractive and likely to be seen as "nicer" and more acceptable. And, frankly, there isn't much that I do with a knife that the Davison can't do as well as the Beast:
FWIW, I've spent more time at liberal institutions of higher education than not, and have never encountered a situation where someone seriously questioned the fact that I had a knife in my pocket. In fact, during the summer I had a meeting and had my Spyderco Gayle Bradley, which I used to slice my knife. A colleague grabbed it without asking, and used it to cut his sandwich in half. Granted, he is a quirky chemist/farmer, but it clearly didn't bother anyone that I had a big tactical folder. It's more about the person.
DJK
I carry both of these at my college (where I am a faculty member), and both are fine. But there's no denying that one is a lot more attractive and likely to be seen as "nicer" and more acceptable. And, frankly, there isn't much that I do with a knife that the Davison can't do as well as the Beast:
FWIW, I've spent more time at liberal institutions of higher education than not, and have never encountered a situation where someone seriously questioned the fact that I had a knife in my pocket. In fact, during the summer I had a meeting and had my Spyderco Gayle Bradley, which I used to slice my knife. A colleague grabbed it without asking, and used it to cut his sandwich in half. Granted, he is a quirky chemist/farmer, but it clearly didn't bother anyone that I had a big tactical folder. It's more about the person.
DJK
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- May 29, 2011
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- 668
Yes, I did, and I understand what you're trying to say. I posted exactly HOW it reads, as questioned by the gentleman whom I quoted. It's great that he's quietly changing opinions, but that shouldn't be his first priority at his place of employment. If it was his model airplane club, that's one thing, but there are times when discretion is the better part of valor and conformation, at least on the surface level, is required to appease those that need to be slow-played.
While posting Penn States knife policy is a good example of a more reasonable doctrine, the OP does not work at Penn State, and is no different than Flint sharing his vast experience in the academic community.
We're not enemies, we see things the same, we just convey them differently. By the way, we're neighbors, I live in Lake County.
Way to generalize about people you know nothing about. You're clearly conservative and live in central Florida. I would say it's safe to assume that you live in a trailer, have inappropriate fantasies about your sister, and you have the i.q. of a houseplant. Sound about right?
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Way to come off as a hypocrite who can't articulate an intellectual thought and thus resorts to personal attacks. You really put him in his place.
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First of all, big respect for achieving that. I believe your boss is a Dutchman right? Now, I am Dutch and work and live in The Netherlands (aka Holland). Since a year or two, almost every city here accepted local laws that forbids "carrying any sharp object". Despite that, I'm still EDC'ing a Spyderco Military in my right back pocket, all day, every day (since 2008). And I have a Cold Steel Rajah II in my Falcon II backpack that I EDC to work. Even in the time that my Spyderco Military was still legal to carry (and it still is according to national law, despite the vast majority here would suspect the contrary) nobody in my surroundings carried even a swiss army knife. In other words, I scared the shit out of people at work when I pulled out my Millie for the first time. But they're used to it now. And since my colleagues learned that I carry a shitload of other stuff next to my Millie, they leave the boxes and little repair jobs for me nowadays, because they know I'm the only one with the tools for it. They got used to it very quickly and they know that me carrying a big folder to work doesn't make me any less of the warm, kind and extremely attentive colleague that I am
(Please mind I'm not a native speaker.)
Well said.
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I am not a liberal of the nutty fruitcake variety, but why do we hear of so much talk coming from the right with regard to "freedom" and "rights" ? What about "responsibilities"? Isn't responsibility an essential component of freedom? If the answer is yes then we do need to be considerate of the thoughts and wishes of others by not making them too uncomfortable with a big ole knife in the academic office. This issue cuts both ways, gentlemen.
Again : " The better part of discretion is valor."
- William Shakespeare
Again : " The better part of discretion is valor."
- William Shakespeare
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- Feb 25, 2013
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- 862
Well put and I totally agree. There are faculty that I know well that I wouldn't hesitate to pull out any knife I own in front of, but some that I don't know as well that I wouldn't. Like you said, when you get to know people things are different. I wouldn't pull out a Sebenza in front of new colleagues the first week on the job, though.
Super nice knives you have there, some real beauties!
Super nice knives you have there, some real beauties!
Knives with the same capability can look very different and how the knife looks often matters to others. None of these knives falls short of doing anything a Sebenza could do, but they all look less intimidating than tactical knives, and non-knife people (regardless of their political views) notice that:
I carry both of these at my college (where I am a faculty member), and both are fine. But there's no denying that one is a lot more attractive and likely to be seen as "nicer" and more acceptable. And, frankly, there isn't much that I do with a knife that the Davison can't do as well as the Beast:
FWIW, I've spent more time at liberal institutions of higher education than not, and have never encountered a situation where someone seriously questioned the fact that I had a knife in my pocket. In fact, during the summer I had a meeting and had my Spyderco Gayle Bradley, which I used to slice my knife. A colleague grabbed it without asking, and used it to cut his sandwich in half. Granted, he is a quirky chemist/farmer, but it clearly didn't bother anyone that I had a big tactical folder. It's more about the person.
DJK
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- May 29, 2011
- Messages
- 668
Being considerate of others and their feelings is an important lesson passed down by parents, and far too often forgotten, but it's not a responsibility and certainly doesn't fall within he realm of "freedoms" or "rights". Going one step further, as we often see nowadays, creating legislation to coddle peoples fears and ignorance is irresponsible in and of itself.
ETA: I feel like that seems little one sided and antagonistic, so let me add this for clarity. The world is full of compromises, and the skill of using better judgement on a daily basis to avoid unnecessary conflict based on pride and ego has been largely lost by many. This thread is a microcosm, the OP came looking for what seemed to be knife suggestions to accommodate his sensitive workplace, only to fuss about our suggestions not being cool enough. He doesn't want to carry a suitable $20 common pocket knife that would conform to his work environment, but wants to take something of greater value and exclusivity even at the potential cost of creating conflict with coworkers. Self over others, it's how the world is going, and comes from both the right and left.
ETA: I feel like that seems little one sided and antagonistic, so let me add this for clarity. The world is full of compromises, and the skill of using better judgement on a daily basis to avoid unnecessary conflict based on pride and ego has been largely lost by many. This thread is a microcosm, the OP came looking for what seemed to be knife suggestions to accommodate his sensitive workplace, only to fuss about our suggestions not being cool enough. He doesn't want to carry a suitable $20 common pocket knife that would conform to his work environment, but wants to take something of greater value and exclusivity even at the potential cost of creating conflict with coworkers. Self over others, it's how the world is going, and comes from both the right and left.
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Esav Benyamin
MidniteSuperMod
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We also don't need to make the discussion about each other. Providing an insulting psychological analysis of people you don't know is not appropriate to any online discussion. Next time around, this thread will be closed.
Sorry if that's what it sounded like what I was doing, I didn't mean to. I just thought we could avoid "nutty fruitcake" labels.
pvicenzi
Basic Member
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- Dec 25, 2008
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- 6,672
I also work at a university. I usually carry a Sebenza, and in 20 years I have had no problem. When I need to open boxs around people I don't know, I use the two hand pinch method to open the knife. Just because it is a one hand knife, doesn't mean you need to flick it open.
Esav Benyamin
MidniteSuperMod
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I should remove all the other posts and leave this to answer the original question. At least this one poster knows what the word "reality" means.