- Joined
- Nov 6, 1999
- Messages
- 2,639
People react to knives in many amusing, interesting, and disturbing ways. Whenever I have been questioned about my need to carry a 'weapon', I point out that I carry a useful tool. Among other things, I use my edged tools for all sorts of things: opening mail, cutting string, peeling oranges, whittling wood, trimming plants, cutting out articles and photographs, opening food packages, and possibly, saving someone's life in an emergency.
I don't live on a ranch like Ed Fowler. I live in the city and work in an office, but I have always carried a knife of some sort wherever I go because I was taught to Be Prepared. It is our personal and national lack of preparation that has helped create the untenable situation in which all of us now find ourselves.
People ask 'why would anyone need a knife in the modern age?' and then struggle to open a well-wrapped cardboard box with their bare hands. Many people who would never think of using a knife as an offensive or defensive weapon will gladly use a knife in the kitchen, while gardening, on a camping trip, in the shop, doing craft work at home, and so on. But when someone with foresight and good sense has the outrageous audacity to be prepared, and puts a useful tool in their pocket and carries it around in the real world where it might actually be needed, the tool is somehow magically transformed into an evil weapon, and its owner into a criminal in search of a victim. And it just ain't so
Although I do not think of my knives as weapons, they could certainly be used in that capacity if necessary, just like hands, feet, pencils, scissors, glass bottles, laptop computers, or a myriad of other objects. Sadly, we have recently learned that a few dedicated and fearless men armed with little more than fanatical commitment and small utility knives can so intimidate folks that they can kill thousands of people, and take an entire nation hostage.
But is anyone crying out for outlawing the weapons of the terrorists? The terrorists real weapon is not the boxcutter, or anthrax, or an airplane, it is our own fear. Fear can be an effective and crippling Weapon. It is the terrorist's intent is to use our own fear against us. It is a strategy of the weak and powerless. The crime is that it works. Someone once said that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. That sentiment is full of wisdom. The terrorists certainly understand this idea. But do the rest of us?
Objects are not intrinsically dangerous; it is a mind that is willing and able to use almost anything at hand to harm people that is dangerous. That the terrorists were armed with box cutters did not make their crime possible, it was the fact that they were able to sufficiently intimidate folks on those airplanes with little more than a common and relatively harmless tool. It was the preparation, training, dedication, and commitment of the terrorists that made it possible. And the Lack of the same by those they made their victims.
Sadly, the public has been taught by the film, television, and print media that knives (or guns) are the tools of criminals and evil doers, and that by outlawing such things we can make the world a safer and happier place. But it just ain't so...
People are afraid of the risks in the modern world. People want to live in a world free from danger and risk. But that is impossible. As long as someone has the intent to harm others, they can accomplish their goal with almost anything or nothing. Intent is necessary to use anything as a weapon, to commit a crime, or to defend ones self. The terrorists use our own technology against us. They are using our own fear against us. They do this because they are weak, and have no other way to harm us. The box cutters they carry are far less dangerous than what is in their minds. They take advantage our fallacious belief that by banning things we can somehow make the world a safer place. But it just ain't so
Cutting stuff is one of the most basic of human activities. All of us do it everyday in many different ways. Knives are simply tools. The fact that many tools can also be used as weapons does not make them weapons. It takes a mind that is committed, prepared, and motivated to use a tool to kill, or to defend one's right to live.
Tools are not evil. It just ain't so
Paracelsus
I don't live on a ranch like Ed Fowler. I live in the city and work in an office, but I have always carried a knife of some sort wherever I go because I was taught to Be Prepared. It is our personal and national lack of preparation that has helped create the untenable situation in which all of us now find ourselves.
People ask 'why would anyone need a knife in the modern age?' and then struggle to open a well-wrapped cardboard box with their bare hands. Many people who would never think of using a knife as an offensive or defensive weapon will gladly use a knife in the kitchen, while gardening, on a camping trip, in the shop, doing craft work at home, and so on. But when someone with foresight and good sense has the outrageous audacity to be prepared, and puts a useful tool in their pocket and carries it around in the real world where it might actually be needed, the tool is somehow magically transformed into an evil weapon, and its owner into a criminal in search of a victim. And it just ain't so
Although I do not think of my knives as weapons, they could certainly be used in that capacity if necessary, just like hands, feet, pencils, scissors, glass bottles, laptop computers, or a myriad of other objects. Sadly, we have recently learned that a few dedicated and fearless men armed with little more than fanatical commitment and small utility knives can so intimidate folks that they can kill thousands of people, and take an entire nation hostage.
But is anyone crying out for outlawing the weapons of the terrorists? The terrorists real weapon is not the boxcutter, or anthrax, or an airplane, it is our own fear. Fear can be an effective and crippling Weapon. It is the terrorist's intent is to use our own fear against us. It is a strategy of the weak and powerless. The crime is that it works. Someone once said that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. That sentiment is full of wisdom. The terrorists certainly understand this idea. But do the rest of us?
Objects are not intrinsically dangerous; it is a mind that is willing and able to use almost anything at hand to harm people that is dangerous. That the terrorists were armed with box cutters did not make their crime possible, it was the fact that they were able to sufficiently intimidate folks on those airplanes with little more than a common and relatively harmless tool. It was the preparation, training, dedication, and commitment of the terrorists that made it possible. And the Lack of the same by those they made their victims.
Sadly, the public has been taught by the film, television, and print media that knives (or guns) are the tools of criminals and evil doers, and that by outlawing such things we can make the world a safer and happier place. But it just ain't so...
People are afraid of the risks in the modern world. People want to live in a world free from danger and risk. But that is impossible. As long as someone has the intent to harm others, they can accomplish their goal with almost anything or nothing. Intent is necessary to use anything as a weapon, to commit a crime, or to defend ones self. The terrorists use our own technology against us. They are using our own fear against us. They do this because they are weak, and have no other way to harm us. The box cutters they carry are far less dangerous than what is in their minds. They take advantage our fallacious belief that by banning things we can somehow make the world a safer place. But it just ain't so
Cutting stuff is one of the most basic of human activities. All of us do it everyday in many different ways. Knives are simply tools. The fact that many tools can also be used as weapons does not make them weapons. It takes a mind that is committed, prepared, and motivated to use a tool to kill, or to defend one's right to live.
Tools are not evil. It just ain't so
Paracelsus
