Quote:
There's a grain of truth in your reasoning, but...McSheeple? It's McSheeple now? Sheeple wasn't insulting and dismissive enough?
This kind of epithet slinging suggests a level of disrespect that will be an impediment to a polite and reasoned discussion. Granted, most people I encounter who have disdain for guns have not arrived at that feeling through rational analysis. However, there are a lot of things all of us probably take for granted until we have to think logically about them. I am constantly finding myself confronted with newly discovered (by me) facts that don't square with my preconceived notions. I adjust my understanding of the world and move on to the next confrontation with reality. It is imperative that we patiently extend understanding to those who have not (and may not ever) come to the realizations that we find so obvious.
Managing our interaction with information through the often inefficient or erroneous shortcuts of stereotype, prejudice and "common knowledge" is a natural function of being human. No human-ovine hybridization is necessary.
|
Well put, and I agree. Though it is hard, we really should always try to engage rationally and reasonably.
OTOH
To carry the analogy even further, how does one get an animal, sheep or otherwise, to do what he wants? By coaxing or beating? Surely a man that coaxes is wiser than he who beats.