Knife Decorum

cerulean said:
It seems really puzzling that the sight of a person carrying a large-bladed tool in a non-threatening manner would alarm someone who regularly visits a place called “Blade Forums”. :confused:
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Some psychos usually look quite normal and have a "non-threating manner" about them. I don't think such a tool has any use to be carried in such an environment. Is this campus in a urban or rural area? Rural I might be able to understand better, but Urban, not a lot of brush in "da hood".
 
madcap_magician said:
Eav, is hoplophobia the irrational fear of knives? If so, thank you, you made my day. That's a great word and I look forward to using it as often as humanly possible.
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Hoplophobia is the fear of weapons. If I remember correctly, it comes from the Greek word hoplon, which is a instrument/tool or weapon.

As for the machete man, it would'nt bother me. I've seen people carry lots of things over the years, as long as they're not threatening or acting odd, it's not a big deal.
 
FYI:

Hoplophobia (pronounced HOP-li-fobia), from the Greek hoplon, or weapon, is an invented phobia coined by firearms instructor Colonel Jeff Cooper in 1962. His intent was to attempt to gain clinical recognition of the irrational fear of firearms. He suggested that "the most common manifestation of hoplophobia is the idea that instruments possess a will of their own, apart from that of their user".
 
id probably be surprised just cause thats not something i see everyday but it wouldnt bother me. If this guy is using the machettee as a tool to be recognised id say the machettee is being used properly, as a tool. Not usre im saying htis right but you guys get it dont you.

Brandon Jones
 
Well, for my part I'll say this:

1. I like your friend.

2. I think "brandish" is too strong a word.

3. I think that the guy you saw fulfilled his goals by getting you to engage in conversation, which is the purpose of the college experience.

4. In the liberal hot-bed that college has become, I have to see signs every year that say things like "wanna see my vagina?" when the Vagina Monologues are performed, and am MUCH more offended by this than an old guy in a suit walking around with a machette strapped to his leg.
 
It seems really puzzling that the sight of a person carrying a large-bladed tool in a non-threatening manner would alarm someone who regularly visits a place called “Blade Forums”.
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its a direct result of the pussification that political correctness has caused in this country. its only a matter of time before the weenies, that already out number people with common sence, take the rest of our freedoms away.
 
If the guy is with in his legal right, who gives a sh1t? From a Law Enforcement perspective If would probably draw my attention and I would probably ask some questions, but if he's inside the law, more power to him. Now if you have a Latino gang member w/ a machete stuck down a pant leg or a sleeve, it's a different story. I've seen some very colorful "after" photos of their work. ;)
 
MikeH said:
<snip>

Rights do not have to be expressed written rights. The Bill of Rights are not intended to be a complete catalog. Rather, they are specific items that are so important that they require being set down in the supreme law of our country. All powers not specifically enumerated in the Constitution for the government are clearly designated as being reserved to the people. That's you and me. Laws do not specify acceptable behavior. Laws specify legally unacceptable behavior. A free people must not be constrained from action because the powers that be have not given their express permission.

<snip>
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VERY well written!
 
Okay, I think it is perfectly okay for someone to carry and use a machete. While a smaller tactical would serve a better purpose on campus than a machete, if someone wants to get off on taking a machete to class and getting the people around them to squirm because they don't know any better, okay. I just think that any one would know that most people wearing a suit do not carry machetes around with them, especially ones attached to their pants leg. On the other hand, if I saw someone in a suit with a machete strapped to their leg walked by me, I would be on the defensive, waiting for something to happen, if I saw him around my little brother or sisters, I would immediately rush to them, and probably tell the guy to get away from them. This may seem reactionary to some, but think about it. Why would you dress in a nice suit, and carry a machete on a college campus? I just think that the guy is either not wound too tight or trying to rouse people, like this particular man was doing. Just my IMHO.

The people on here must understand, most people are afraid of knives and guns, and don't know any better when they are around them. While this is unfortunate, if you want to go through the day without having to put up with a lot of bs from them, you must act inside their norm. I can't carry a knife at work, but when I leave, I carry whateve knife I want, usually under 4 inches blade length. Society is what it is, how would you feel if someone was brandishing a machete in your kids school? Believe it or not, I agree with a lot of people on this board, and I am not against carrying knives, I have been told I carry too many.
 
The man was not walking around with a machete because he thought he might need to cut up a pineapple later that day.

I was on my college campus today and saw an older gentlemen (late 50's early 60's) walking around in a suit which in and of itself is nothing unusual, except that strapped to his leg was a very large and very prominently displayed machette (sheathed mind you). I was very disturbed by this and asked him why on earth he thought it was apropriate to walk around with such an item. He explained that he was trying to draw attention to an exchange program with South America. Now I told him his cause was a worthy one but it was in poor taste to call attention to it in such a manner (effective as it was).
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He had a point to which he meant to draw attention. He wanted people to ask him about it.
 
He wanted people to ask him about it
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Yeap , shock value. Like when I was in high school and some of the punk rockers wore swastikas on thier jacket , they werent nazis anymore than this guy had an intention to use the machete for cutting weeds.
To the guy that posted about the cops being called after some woman freaked on a guy using a machete to clear brush , that story is just frikin ridiculous , makes me sick that our society has become so..... wimpy ? weak ? feminized ?.. whatever word might be appropriate.
 
jamesraykenney said:
VERY well written!
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No it wasn't. The original post says that with explicitly written rights comes implied responsibilities. In other words, just because there is a written law that says you can do something, we all have an implied responsibility not to act like an asshat and abuse that right. We have a right to bear arms? Great, but then we all have a responsibility to exercise that right in a responsible manner.

MikeH saw the term "expressed written right" and wrote a mini-diatribe that had absolutely nothing to do with what the original writer was talking about.
 
brewthunda said:
We have a right to bear arms? Great, but then we all have a responsibility to exercise that right in a responsible manner.
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Exercising that right in a responsible manner means using the weapon in a way that does not interfere with anyone else's rights, including not damaging anyone else's property. It does not mean hiding one's interest in self-defense or weaponry, or grinning sheepishly when confronted with that interest.

If I have the right to carry a weapon openly, you do not have the right to tell me to put it away simply because you're a wimp. I am not behaving irresponsibly by teaching the world around me that inanimate objects may be useful, ought to be available, and will not of their own non-existent volition jump out and bite them.

We live in a world where fewer and fewer people are confronted with the exigencies that used to be normal in everyday life. More and more of us live behind desks or in front of televisions. Some of us feel we have a responsibility to remind the rest of society that the weapons and tools of yesterday still exist, can still be of use today, and will not hurt them once they learn proper handling.

I am not a criminal. I resent being treated like one. I am a free citizen. I resent being treated like a prisoner. I do not wave my knives in the air and scream at people passing by. I resent being told that taking out a knife and using it expertly, effectively, and responsibly is grounds for a public outcry.

By walking around with a machete, harming no one, and advertising circumstances under which people could learn more about cultures where machetes are as useful to them as pencils are to us, he was providing a public service.
 
dormOTRS said:
Hey All,
This is my first post on this forum though i've been skulking around for a couple of years now, so please be gentle....
I told him his cause was a worthy one but it was in poor taste to call attention to it in such a manner (effective as it was). ...
It's true that a machette is just a tool that is most often used to clear brush but when taken out of its natural enviornment, it does illicit certain responses in people and violate certain social norms. My friend who was with me at the time looked at me like i was some knee jerk liberal which isnt the case. I just feel that with expressed written rights come implied responsibilities. Do you agree/disagree?
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I agree and share your sentiments. His action was in poor taste as such, if one cares about not alarming or offending people. You can bracket out the regular high school killings etc. here but not in the feelings of the people alarmed by such out-of-context weapons/tools; yes, college is somewhat different from lower schools but it's also happened there (Texas) - and they're not all athletic males there :-)
The special circumstances of 'worthy cause' etc. justify it to a certain degree, though; weighing the pro and cons more finely would depend on such things as, he probably is well-known to students and other faculty members etc., so it's not like he's in a shopping mall or something, that would speak against it 'violating social norms' (which doesn't have to be a bad thing, but publicity isn't a very good reason, same in the case of the Vagina Monologues, but there you don't have the alarmist element).

Nothing wrong about being a liberal, we need more of them in the knife community to get it away from the militarist associations, nor about being a knee - I leave the rest to your discretion :-)
So welcome.
Hope this was gentle enough for you. And you couldn't find a less contentious issue for a 'gentle' first post? :-)
 
id love to see the teachers responce, why dont you write him a letter and place it seceretly in his mail box without your name. just include this threads address and a brief summry of you posting about his actions. lets see the other side of the story.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Exercising that right in a responsible manner means using the weapon in a way that does not interfere with anyone else's rights, including not damaging anyone else's property. It does not mean hiding one's interest in self-defense or weaponry, or grinning sheepishly when confronted with that interest.
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I'd argue that using a weapon to cause fear in order to advertise a product or service is irresponsible. If I'm minding my own business and you walk up to me carrying a weapon because you want to freak me out - that interferes with my rights.
 
1) You have a right to go about your business unharmed.

2) The man was not carrying the machete to frighten anyone, but to get their attention, in the same manner as Ronald McDonald is not meant to conjure up images of John Wayne Gacy.

3) The world does not have an obligation to cater to your unreasonable fears.
 
A machete is not a weapon, I have at least three at home and have never used them to hurt anybody, a machete can be used to hurt someone but so can a hammer and a pencil, I believe this person was not showing the machete as a weapon but as a tool that people commonly carry around in Latin America, perhaps he could also have worn a straw hat and a wool poncho.

What is bad is that the machete is perceived as a weapon, that people are frightened by its sight and that laws make them illegal because of this perception.

Luis
 
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