An armed society is not a polite society!

[TNLib]

An armed society is basically a society filled with a bunch of fearful paranoid individuals that are more likely to kill one another.


I think the closest thing we've seen in our nation to an armed society is the Wild West. When individuals had to carry firearms to protect themselves because there was not a solid law enforcement infrastructure in place.

It seems to me there was allot of senseless violence at that time and society was not Polite.

If people want to carry fire arms because they're scared and paranoid that's one thing. But I just wish people would stop using the saying, "An armed Society is a Polite Society." It's nonsensical and moronic.

[baldguy]

1. An armed society is a fearful & dysfunctional society.

[xchrom]

3. +1

[lastlib]

2. "Armed society is a polite society"--or Somalia (Mexico, Afghanistan, El Salvador....)

[JackintheGreen]

4. You probably overstate the realities of the frontier west

I think historians have shown that it wasn't quite the lawless wilderness portrayed in the movies, but I agree with your premise. A society where people feel the need to walk around armed is a fearful and paranoid one.

That said, I think it's entirely possible to *own* guns without being one of those people. Guns can be and are owned recreationally. Whether that's a good thing I think is an altogether different discussion. Or is it? It may come down to the working definition of 'armed.'

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. rec

[jpak]

6. yup, yup, yup - Paranoid Vigilante World sucks

yup

[MichaelMcGuire]

7. Archery is far cooler than guns. (nt)

[struggle4progress]

8. America's new epidemic of politeness:

‘Wild, Wild West’ shootout in Upper Darby
Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2012

... “It was a shootout between Tucker-Knight and the individual he was robbing in a drug deal,” Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. “A total of nine shots were fired from both semiautomatic weapons. Apparently, Tucker-Knight’s gun jammed when he pulled it out for the holdup. It was like the Wild, Wild West. There are bullet holes in cars parked on the street and one car has a flat tire from one of the shots.”

The other person involved in the gunfire, a 24-year-old male from Upper Darby, ran for cover behind a car and was not shot.

According to Chitwood, the robbery victim is a person of interest in the investigation into the fatal shooting involving a drug sale of prescription medication.

“The 24-year-old has no arrest record and has a permit to carry a gun,” Chitwood said. “He was taking Percocet for an arm injury and a woman told him she knew someone who would buy them. He decided to sell them and when he went outside to meet the guy, Tucker-Knight pulls out a gun and says, ‘Give me all you got.’ ... http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/03/20/news/doc4f69404ea0e57588603701.txt

[HereSince1628]

9. There's a potenitally bad positive feedback loop in gun-carrying.

(Positive in this sense doesn't mean good or bad, it means a feedback that up-regulates a response--makes it stronger, while a negative feedback would down-regulate or cause a response be dampened)

Most people carry guns because they perceive (correctly or not) that they need the gun for personal protection.

A recent psychological study undertaken at Notre Dame (http://newsinfo.nd.edu/news/29684-holding-a-gun-makes-you-think-others-are-too-new-research-shows/) found that holding a gun makes people more likely to think others are holding guns.

If that result extends from the experimental result to community streets, then it's quite possible that carrying a gun to make a person feel safe, actually makes that person think others are also carrying guns. It would follow that the act of gun carrying the person undertook to give his/herself piece of mind actually may make him/her more anxious and have greater need to be vigilant to the perceived risks represented by ordinary people they meet.

Polite doesn't seem like the right word to describe a community populated by nxious gun-toters ever vigilant for the need of a quick draw. Frightened seems more accurate.

[TNLib]

11. That's a very interesting study thanks for posting.

I live in the south east and have met many gun owners. The ones that owned the most guns and even had permits to carry firearms seemed to be the most fearul and paranoid of others.

It's been my obersvation that the more fearful and paranoid the individual the more likely they are to stock pile weapons.

[KG]

10. An armed Society is a Polite Society - when has that ever been true?

[TNLib]

12. Living in the south I hear it all the time when discussing gun control

I'm tired of hearing it.

[pscot]

13. Fear rules!

And Americans are a frightened people. We're afraid of Mooslims. We're afraid of gays. We're afraid of immigrants. We're afraid of the Truth. Most of all we're afraid of the future. Scared shitless and armed to the teeth is hardly a prescription for civility.

[obxhead]

14. The wild west was not like it is as depicted on TV.

The raging gunfight in the street over a spilled drink or a cheating poker player was simply not the reality of the time.

The wild west was wild, but no where near as wild as it's depicted in movies/tv.

Now is an armed society a polite society? No I don't think so. I've had some dealings with police, all armed, and polite is never what I would call it. It did make me "respect" them though as I didn't want to be murdered.

[cognoscere]

17. Ah, someone finally made the link to our overarmed and militarized

police departments. Now go a little farther and apply it to our country and the government that runs it.

[Turbineguy]

15. A friend told me that term originated in prisons.

Prisoners who would accidentally bump into or even touch someone else would apologize profusely and make sure no offense was taken rather than risk getting killed for a slight. How very polite!

I've noticed over the years that people at large say "Sorry" an awful lot in America. So on the surface it seems a more polite society, but reveals fear on a deeper level. But then again, people do things because it's in fashion without realizing the underlying message or significance.

[RevStPatrick]

16. Robert Heinlein was a science fiction writer.

He coined that phrase in the 1942 novel Beyond This Horizon.

The full quote is:

"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life".

And really, what the fuck did he know?

I've always loved Heinlein's novels, and even sort of lived a version of Stranger in a Strange Land for a while. However, he was one of those brainy Libertarians who conjured rules for how society should function from his imagination. Much of what these types think have no relation to reality, and to how humans actually behave. The man lived in the United States during its Golden Age, and spent most of his life behind a typewriter so that he wouldn't have to go out and get a real job. What did he know about "an armed society"? I respect a lot of what his imagination brought forth, but I've always thought that was a particularly dumb line.

[TheKentuckian]

18. "Polite" is an odd way to put it but determent/mutually assured destruction

can act as a lid on a boiling pot.

When everyone thinks everyone will potentially blast on them, efforts to avoid rocking the next boat may well go up.

I tend not to carry but I usually function under the assumption that anyone I encounter may be and encourage especially the loudmouths and tempermental to think the same and usually they settle down instead of acting an ass over some perceived slight or in response to roadrage.

I've seen "you never know who is going to blast in a country with more guns than people" shake a little discretion into folks to think the expression is without an element of truth.

[starroute]

19. Blame Robert Heinlein

That man would have a lot of pernicious nonsense to answer for, if he were still around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_This_Horizon

Beyond This Horizon is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It was originally published as a two-part serial in Astounding Science Fiction (April, May 1942, as by Anson MacDonald) and then eventually as a single volume by Fantasy Press in 1948. . . .

One sub-theme of the book is the carrying and use of firearms. In the novel being armed is part of being a man; otherwise he wears a brassard and is considered weak and inferior. Women are allowed but not expected to be armed. Duels, either deadly or survivable, may easily occur when someone feels that they have been wronged or insulted, a custom that keeps order and politeness. A defining quote from the book which is repeated throughout Heinlein's work is, "An armed society is a polite society", is very popular with those who support the personal right to keep and bear arms.