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Is it better to live in a society where there are abundant dangerous materials, (hunting weapons, sharp objects, explosives, etc,) but no hate-motivated violence, or in a society where there is abundant hate-related violence but fewer tools that can facilitate it, such as kitchen knives, saws, or nail guns, or more restrictions?
I am interested to hear how people feel about this.
| No hate, more tools | 41 | |
| No tools, more hate | 6 |
I can't help but feel like this question is designed to trick me into saying something I don't believe. But I'll bite.
No hate, more tools. Obviously.
No, it's not! Haha. I just like discussion!
And I live near an area where this discussion is happening a lot lately, but everyone is simultaneously very biased, stubborn and unwilling to concede each other's point.
I'm actually realizing now I forgot to include some of what I typed up in notepad.
I also wanted to put in a section on the feasibility of a hate-free society.
hehe, sorry about that. I was wondering if you were trying to trick pro-gun control people like myself to give anti-gun control sentiments. I'm glad that's not the case though :)
A hate-free society, eh? That's interesting. I don't think a truly hate-free society is possible, because my hypothesis is that hate is an innate reaction (I have no evidence for that, it's simply a belief).
However, we need to think if it is hate that is the enemy or the way we deal with hate, i.e. by behaving violently. I think we can live in a violence-free society, if not a hate-free one. Maybe the vital characterizing feature of hate is the desire to commit aggressive behaviour, in which case maybe we can live in a nearly hate-free society too.
Either way, there are some non-violent societies. The !Kung (the "!" is pronounced with a click of the tongue) people of the Kalahari desert are a people who traditionally have very low levels of intra-group aggression in adulthood. There are several ways in which this is achieved though the way children are treated in childhood and adolescence.
One way is the way kids are treated when they behave aggressively. Instead of being shown attention related to their bad behaviour, they are given a distraction and separated from the child they are fighting with. This means that children are not rewarded for aggressive behaviour either by victory or with adult attention.
A second trait of the !Kung people is the way the children are raised in a mixed-age environment. Children are usually more aggressive toward those of a similar age to them; you can see this in playgrounds in schools where the majority of competitive aggression is between kids of a similar age group. Keeping kids in mixed-age groups improves their ability to co-operate as adults.
Finally, teenagers become responsible much earlier, because they have to for the group to survive. In-group fighting is detrimental to the groups survival.
There is a catch. Apart from the first factor, all those traits of !Kung society rely on one thing: the fact that they live in a hostile environment and in small groups of around 10 - 30 members. Most of those contributing factors couldn't be translated to Western society because of the difference of our environments. It's food for thought, even if it can't be practically applied. Here's a nice link, if this has been even remotely interesting to you: <a href="http://www.context.org/iclib/ic04/mcelroy/" rel="nofollow">http://www.context.org/iclib/ic04/mcelroy/</a>
I guess you could say I think a hate-free society is possible, but it's not possible for our society ti be hate-free :P
That was very well put, sir!
I like to compare Sweden to the US. Not necessarily because it's the best comparison but because it's an easy one to draw.
They don't seem to necessarily FEEL safer, though. :/
I unfortunately think in a giant urban environment, there will probably never stop being crime or danger.
Also I think mean world syndrome makes it SO MUCH WORSE than it is? I'm not really sure, though, it's so hard to tell with 24/7 news coverage bombarding everyone with information that may or may not be skewed all the time.
Ill intent will always necessitate a means by which to fulfill its purpose (read: there'll always be "weapons") so of course good intent and more tools is my answer.
Word of the day: Necessistate
Nessesitate
Lochnessesistate
Sessessitate
No hate, more tools, obviously. Don't the tools become redundant if there's no hate? Also, if there were a lot of hate and violence, then you don't necessarily need tools.
Nail guns? Ack! That reminds me of a a story my friend's mom told me about a classmate who was attacked by a vegetable peeler. People will use anything as weapons.
No hate and more tools sounds better to me. But how do we get there? What drives people to these extreme actions of hate?
That's what I'd like to talk about! I like to think that a lot of the time a lot of people are too willing to blame the ease of use of the tools to see that the motivation was the real issue all along, but I KNOW there are some other issues, obviously. I'm not really sure how to explain what I think of those, though. :/
People need to feel like they belong to society and are a contributing member of it. Otherwise there is little incentive to play nice. Sadly there are people who have no hope and see no way out of a vicious cycle. How do we hold people accountable for hate and fear mongering without spreading more fear and hate?
Our hands are tools, they can harm and take things from people just as easily as any weapon. But they also give.
Simply put: it is better to have and not need, than to need and not have.
and now that there are weapons the balance of force has finaly leveled. With no weapons the strong rule, with weapons the strong get blown away.
The answer is obvious. Good intent, more tools. If those tools are not going to be used by people with ill intent, then the most to be feared is accidental injury.
In a society with more hate and less tools... there will also be a lot more in the way of creative people.
Wen there's more hate less tools itl turn into a match if tool vrs hate were well u would not wana be there for that