Yep, that was clear. I'm just pointing out that for some people, that's relevant information that should be considered as part of your "knife vs knife objective comparison." I agree that it would be good not to let it turn into a flame war. But that's still important information to some people, and even though it's been discussed heavily, there are still many people who weren't privy to those discussions and who might actually care.
Feel free to reread this post. Some of us care about lies about military service. Some of us don't. All of us are entitled to our opinions. I find it telling that by and large, the people who are fine with Strider having lied about his past service are generally the ones who do things like telling the rest of us that our opinions are stupid or that we shouldn't talk about politics. I say, why the heck not? Why are your opinions the only ones that matter?
Well this is stupid because every company has liars that either own the company, make the products, etc. so are you just going to stop buying anything at all because people lie?
I'm adopted, and I feel that I owe my country for giving me the opportunities I've had, rather than having to grow up an orphan in some other country where the things we take for granted are privileges. Today is Patriot's Day, and a memorial for those who have given their lives for this country. So yes, absolutely, if the founder of a company lies about his military service, and uses those lies to build his business, and trades on the names and reputations of heroes who gave their lives so people like us can debate the relative merits of their sacrifice on the internet, then yes, absolutely, I will refuse to do business with ANY company that has proven themselves that dishonorable. I'm not saying the knives are bad. I'm saying that I personally consider that despicable, and grounds not to spend my money on those knives, especially when there are many other companies who also make great products and DO NOT have those lies in the background.
You trying to tell me that folks like Ethan Becker, Darrel Ralph, Bob Loveless, Sal Glesser, (or some makers with a similar marketing focus--Curtis Iovito and Mark Carey, for that matter), etc, have lied about having served their country to make a buck off of unsuspecting servicemen? Put up or shut up. You think EVERY company lies? Prove it. Strider's indiscretions are well documented. I don't see the same kinds of lies going on with other companies.
I ALSO don't think there's anyone saying that Strider doesn't make good knives. But there are those of us who would rather put our money towards other companies, and in my estimation, if that's important to us, it's not your place to tell us that our opinions are stupid, or to tell us not to focus on the politics, etc.
You want to avoid flamewars? Stop making inflammatory remarks like saying that it's STUPID to refuse to buy from a company with a dishonorable track record for lying to its customers, or that people who refuse to buy from such a company should "focus on the knives, not the politics." There are much better ways to express your opinions.
And all of that is true, also they both in fact did serve in the Military, what happened or what they did doesn't matter, they did serve and are former Military just like a lot of us here on BF.
The knives perform as designed and are very high quality.
And again, find me one person in this thread who has said the knives are not high quality. That's not the point. The point is, some of us DO care about honoring those who have served or given their lives for our country, and to us, that IS relevant information. The Strider fans need to back off of those of us (like duro and myself) who have made the decision not to support that company with our hard earned money because of that information. Fine, so the knives are good quality.
And for those of you who think it doesn't matter, let me ask you this:
Would you rather get a great product from a maker who's always been completely up front about his business, his reputation, and his character, and treats you as well as possible, or would you rather get a great product from a maker who's got a long track record of lying to his customers? Be honest with yourself, and perhaps you'll see where some of us are coming from. It's not like Strider makes the only high quality knife out there.
