The right to bear arms

[Sancho]

Well, of course Custard is the only truly brave one in the poem. Belinda, Ink, and Blink are the phony-brave. And the Pyrate (the only one with a firearm) is the coward. Custard, like my trembling soldier going over the top, despite knowing the consequences, faces his aggressor with grit. Even though Custard is well armed, he must close with the enemy. The Pyrate, by contrast, holds a stand-off weapon (and a bottle of rum for courage), and merely needs to flick his finger to kill his enemy - the coward's way. Although in the poem it seems he is too drunk to hit what he's aiming at. And that's good news for Custard but no slight on his bravery.

So I think bravery can be perspectival, and also a function of proximity to the threat. Most of us think of an Army Sniper as a brave man, but I've known foot infantry soldiers who consider the sniper business to be somewhat cowardly. You see a sniper hides himself and fires his weapon from a great distance. The foot soldier has to look the enemy in the eye. Of course an Army Sniper could look at an Air Force Fighter Pilot in the same way a foot soldier looks at a sniper. And I suppose a fighter pilot could look at a Predator Drone Pilot, who is sitting in a trailer in Nevada killing people 4000 miles away, with contempt. By the same token a man with only a knife might consider a man with an M-4 a weak-kneed panty waist, and a man with only his fists...I can take this to absurd levels, but I can find no way to assign bravery to a man who beats a child. That man is a coward, despite the societal repercussions he will face. Now the child who places himself between his little sister and his drunken abusive father is truly brave.

Ah well, if I could figure out how to get to work from Eugene, I'd move there in an instant. Great place. My wife has relatives over in Springfield. We're presently working on a short-sale house in Gig Harbor, WA and short sales can take a while. I'll be working in Seattle and she'll probably be working in Olympia. I'm relatively familiar with area south of Seattle, being as I spent a fair amount of time at Fort Lewis years ago.

As for, Portland...I'm in. I've had the pleasure of spending several fine, rainy afternoons browsing the stacks at Powell's on Burnside. And I agree, those people up there do seem to have an unusual affinity for a good cup of Joe. You know what goes well with coffee - ice cream! Last year, on a hot summer night, I left Powell's and in a moment of weakness stopped at Ruby Jewell's scoop shop a couple of blocks away. Mmm-Mmm good.

[ennison]

The argument that you can turn broken sticks into weapons is silly. Lets drop some firewood to the Kurds and some broken glass. That'll frighten these Jihadi coves. Yanks hate and fear themselves and their governments. So they need ****-extensions to feel better, more secure. It'll give their opponents something to pry from their cold dead paws. What's a few thousand domestic shootings. It's a price worth paying to live in the land of the brave und the Frei. Gawn yerselves. Blood s funky fun. How come this comes under "discussion" and "serious"

[Pompey Bum]

Someone's had his wee dram o' Yank hatred this morning, eh? ;-)

[prendrelemick]

I strongly suspect I'm a coward, but have never been tested. If I was threatened with some sort of deadly violence I think I would react with some fairly pathetic grovelling or some intense running away, or some such. Andy Mac Nab (ex SAS) discribes more than once how difficult it is to get up and move under fire, when all you want to do is bury yourself deep into the ground. You train and train and train, but only when the time comes do you find out - you either got it or you aint. Someone said a brave man dies but once, a coward a hundred times, but according to Andy it's the same fear for both - some control it better than others.

[Sancho]

Oh, I don't know, Mick. I believe that a brave man is also a humble man, not a braggart. Knowing what I know of you, I'm sure that anybody stupid enough to threaten your family would not enjoy facing your wrath.

If I were to continue my above theory of bravery as a function of proximity to the threat, I'm going to have to consider internet tough-guys. I propose that they are a group who falls squarely in the phony-brave category, ^ennison for instance.

And the funny thing about this post is that by calling him out, I'm also putting myself in the phony tough-guy category.

Which is probably true.

[Pompey Bum]

If I were to continue my above theory of bravery as a function of proximity to the threat, I'm going to have to consider internet tough-guys. I propose that they are a group who falls squarely in the phony-brave category, ^ennison for instance.

Since I made the earlier semi-snarky remark about ennison, I want to add that I respect him and greatly enjoy his posts. I have never found him cowardly and did not mean to (nor did I) imply it. I have a low tolerance, though, for Yank bashing, especially when applied to such a polarizing issue for my country. But ennison is a hyperbolic cat, and I was just giving it back to him in a spirit of rough-ish fun.

Sancho, you're cool, too.

Is it me, or are the LitNet regulars acting a bit pissy these days?

[Sancho]

Haha!

Pompey, you may be right about pissy-ness. Probably got my panties all in a bunch. Honestly I'm just trying to have a little fun.

Hey, here's a cool video of a brave soldier, named Fluffy:

http://youtu.be/mv3tJXpDlEM

[Pompey Bum]

Yeah, it's too bad Clopin and Ecurb aren't around. Those two always manage to hug it out. Heh heh.

Thanks for the video, too. I'd seen it before, but it's still pretty inspirational. I wonder if the person with the camera really should have been filming it, though. Blackbears are supposed to be cowards, but I still wouldn't want one in my living room.

[prendrelemick]

The Victoria Cross is awarded for "valour in the face of the enemy." I've been looking at some of the citations -they almost beggar belief. From WW1 up to today, single handedly charging machine gun nests might get you one, though nowadays saving wounded collegues under fire is more the thing. In Victorian times, continuing to direct artillary with both your legs blown off would do. The common factors seem to be; showing complete disregard for personal saftey, acting on ones own initiative and being sucessful (though not necessarily alive) in acheiving the goal.
There are other kinds of bravery I'm sure, but putting your life on the line for a common benefit is the gold standard.

[prendrelemick]

Groundhog day.

[Kemijost]

Some nut was running from the cops through the woods after firing on one officer after a road rage incident in our usually Mayberry type town. Rumour was he still had a gun. The helicopter from the police was practically landing in the field in front of the house, he was so low, but he kept circling around. Until my husband called and said "lock the doors and don't go outside" I thought it was a medivac in progress. After the prison break last summer, which had everyone freaked out in these parts for weeks, I was made very nervous. And as my husband had run out with the fire department looking for the guy, I wanted some peace of mind, so I loaded my husband's hunting rifle. I had been watching too much "Game of Thrones this week, as I was recupping from a nasty virus, so I was, without a doubt, ready to hold down the fort.

Mind you, I am anti-gun in general. I am not anti-hunting, but that is another story.

The thing is, the genie is out of the bottle. There are sooo many guns around, how do we control them all? The sheer number of weapons is monumental, and they make thousands more each day. Conflict.

[prendrelemick]

"The thing is, the genie is out of the bottle. There are sooo many guns around, how do we control them all? The sheer number of weapons is monumental, and they make thousands more each day. Conflict. "

Suppose you make a start, anything, just the smallest of starts.

[Sancho]

How about deterrents for crimes committed with guns. We could bring back public executions and mutilations. We could dust off the old rack, the wheel, and maybe even the iron maiden. I know there's a cat-o-nine tails around here somewhere. That might help. Perhaps we could just remove all the trigger-fingers of all the convicted felons in all the prisons here. Now where's my meat clever?

Mmm, wait, uhh ... this thread is in the serious-discussion area.

Sorry.

[HCabret]

'

How about deterrents for crimes committed with guns. We could bring back public executions and mutilations. We could dust off the old rack, the wheel, and maybe even the iron maiden. I know there's a cat-o-nine tails around here somewhere. That might help. Perhaps we could just remove all the trigger-fingers of all the convicted felons in all the prisons here. Now where's my meat clever?

Mmm, wait, uhh ... this thread is in the serious-discussion area.

Sorry.

The death penalty is an extremely ineffective deterrent to crime. Crime has gone down since 1977, not up.

[Sancho]

'
The death penalty is an extremely ineffective deterrent to crime. Crime has gone down since 1977, not up.

I was joking