Some Of My Best Friends Are Idiots

Cougar Allen

Cougar Allen

Buccaneer (ret.)
Joined
Oct 9, 1998
Messages
75,294
Um ... are we talking about knives or about the people who buy them? There's a current thread going on where half the people are talking about knives, saying things like Brand X knives are junk; they have this, that, and the other thing wrong with them (in some cases only asking whether Brand X knives are really as junky as they've heard), and the other half are responding to that by saying -- You've just insulted zillions of idiots who love Brand X junk! -- You shouldn't insult people! -- You're rude! -- You're a dork! -- You're ignorant!

Some of my best friends are idiots.

I had a friend (I say "had" because she died about a year ago, cancer) who loved Franklin Mint stuff -- not just knives, all kinds of things, but especially Franklin Mint knives. She sincerely believed that outrageously priced "limited edition of only 1,000,000,000,000" junk was an investment and everything in the Franklin Mint catalog was going to appreciate in value to many times its original cost in only a few years. She thought that unspeakable garbage was beautiful, too. There was no telling her otherwise -- it didn't upset her at all when her friends explained to her she was wasting a large portion of her Social Security check every month on horribly ugly junk that her children would have to pay to have hauled away to the dump -- she was so sure she was investing in valuable collector's items that her children would someday mature enough to appreciate and treasure and would be able to sell for vast amounts of money if they were ever in need ... you couldn't tell her she was being exploited ... you could tell her, but she would only smile at you and go on leafing through the catalog, deciding what she would waste her next Social Security check on....

She was a nice person and a good friend ... just because she was an idiot doesn't mean she wasn't likable.

When I say nasty things about the Franklin Mint, United Cutlery, Frost, Windlass/Atlanta Cutlery, etc., and people get upset -- I think that's a good sign. I think it means they're beginning to get the message, beginning to question their beliefs. Questioning your beliefs is an uncomfortable thing to do if you're not used to it; it's upsetting....



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-Cougar Allen :{)
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This post is not merely the author's opinions; it is the trrrrrruth. This post is intended to cause dissension and unrest and upset people, and ultimately drive them mad. Please do not misinterpret my intentions in posting this.
 
Excellent post Cougar. I have also tried to explain why someone's knife which looks as good as mine but was made in Pakistan, was not such a good bargain. On the other hand, I have often seen one of these "cheap, satruday night special knives" used effectively in a fight between a couple of intoxicated idiots.
 
Your tag line says it all Cougar:
This post is not merely the author's opinions; it is the trrrrrruth. This post is intended to cause dissension and unrest and upset people, and ultimately drive them mad. Please do not misinterpret my intentions in posting this.

Since I am already quite mad, the truuuuth that you speak does not confuse me Cougar. I have never misinterpreted your intentions (well, maybe a little). I appreciate your poking so much fun at people's beliefs. I myself think that keeping an open mind about the world is the Most important thing we can do. Otherwise, we stop learning anything at all. If any of us knew everything about knives or anything else at all, what would be the point of reading and participating in this or any other forum. I think the eleventh commandment is perhaps the Most important: Thou shalt Not take thyself so gosh darned seriously.

I felt compelled to soften the expletive a little in that statement, but I do think it has much More meaning the other way.

I said it before:

Paracelsus (a complete idiot)

When you Really think about it, aren't we all?
 
My grandfather used to say that only rich people can afford to buy cheap stuff. (It sounds better in the original polish)
wink.gif


Only they (the rich) can afford to replace the item when it breaks and then replace that one and then the next one ... ad infinitum

The rest of us have to pay the big bucks and get something that works right and last forever!

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~ JerryO ~

Cogito Cogito Ergo Cogito Sum


 
If I knew it all I would have you all groveling at my feet. Fat chance of that happening anytime soon. Good thing too, I would probably keep tripping over all those poor misguided souls.

Besides knives are one part entertainment, one part tool, and one part investment (in that order). If the person enjoys the stuff - power to them - whatever it is.
 
Cougar,
We're all idiots or foolish in one degree or another, and we all delude ourselves that what we collect or cherish, will some day be worth something to somone else. I know people who spend more on Lottery Tickets, than they have in a bank account. To some that's there only retirement plan. Truly sad.
I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, it must have hurt you to watch her spend her money the way she did. Most of us have a hard enough time tending to our own mistakes, it's harder still to deal with someone else's, if we care about them. I'm sometimes better at giving people advice than I am heeding my own. I've come to accept that we all have our faults, and our foolishness. I haven't met the exception yet.
 
There are no bad knives. El-cheapo Brand X Pakistani Pot Metal has its place -- primarily for those nasty, icky jobs for which you wouldn't want to use a more expensive blade.

On the other hand, I have often seen one of these "cheap, satruday night special knives" used effectively in a fight between a couple of intoxicated idiots.
Click to expand...

The "Saturday Night Special" concept has been used to deny poor people the right to keep and bear arms by denying them inexpensive alternatives under the falsehood of banning "junk guns." I get the cold sweats just imagining it turned on the low-end cutlery market segment, no matter how dubious the quality of the hardware in question.

Owning a "junk knife" is not going to harm your person or your character or your standing before the gods, provided you know enough not to depend too much on its lock strength or rust resistance.

Standard disclaimers apply.

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 17 December 1999).]
 
Thank You, Cougar.

I got a very clear response to a question I'd posed in that other thread. I felt somewhat responsible that the respondent was getting a little cooked. He probably saved me some grief.

Sometimes, politically correct, polite, gentile, opinion bereft responses just don't tell this newbie what he needs to know.

We may all be getting a little too thin skinned - twenty years ago wasn't the word "offensive" reserved pretty much for matters of hygiene?

Keep up the good work.
 
I have a friend at work and he's not an idiot, by any means, but he started with the Franklin Mint knives and kept bringing each new one to me to be awed by it. Then he really started to notice the knives that I have and started to compare them to those,
He said `these are pretty much junk eh?' I said they looked pretty but not my cup of tea. He learned the value of a good knife and now has several `good'? knives that he is proud to show off to folks, a recent one was the Kestrel Microtech which he just loves.

I've always told people up front that if they bring me a Pakistan made knife I wouldn't sharpen it for them, as it just clogs up my stones something fierce and is not worth the trouble, they get a little peeved at me but they too will learn, slowly but surely I pray anyway!

G2

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"There are no dangerous weapons;
there are only dangerous men."
.......... Robert A. Heinlein, 1959


G2 Leatherworks

Gillett, PA.
 
CA

"Just because she was an idiot doesn't mean she wasn't likeable"

That was just irony, wasn't it? Or didn't I get the point?

Al
 
BTW,

Not really looking for an argument. Both Wife and Mom are in the hospital right now and I guess I'm a little sensitive. Please disregard last query.

Al
 
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