From: Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 02:11:39 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Re: Ben slowly learns
In-Reply-To: <MOPAGGPJEBEOAAAA@mailexcite.com>
Message-ID: <19971118095509.08331@songbird.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



On Tue, Nov 18, 1997 at 08:26:05AM -0800, Jonathan Wienke wrote:
> At 01:13 AM 11/18/97 -0800, Kent Crispin wrote:
> >There are many circumstances that don't involve a circle of assholes
> >with drawn weapons.  Perhaps you have a job that allows you to carry a
> >gun; most don't.  Perhaps you drive with your weapon on your lap, and
> >are always on the lookout for snipers; but I doubt it.  Maybe you have
> >eyes in the back of your head, and can read people's minds, but I
> >doubt that, too.  The cold fact is, Ben, if I wanted bad enough to
> >kill you, you would almost certainly be dead, never knowing it
> >happened.  That's not magic -- you could do the same to me, and if you
> >gave 10 minutes thought you would realize this is so. 
> 
> Ummmm, when was the last time you were robbed or pistol-whipped by a
> sniper?  IIRC, the original context was face to face encounters with
> larcenous scum, modulo some gratuitous insults.  This is kind of a red
> herring, Kent.

No, the original context was my statement that I had been robbed three
times at gunpoint, and that having a gun wouldn't have made any
difference at the time.  Ben wasn't there and doesn't have a clue
about the circumstances (of course), but felt free to comment (in
essence) that I must be stupid to let someone get the drop on me.

That's macho bullshit.  There is no perfect defense, and my example 
was to demonstrate that simple fact.

Please note that I didn't say that guns were *always* worthless.  So
Ben's example of ratting on someone and then packing heat to scare off
people who might retaliate is the real red herring.  It also obviously
demonstrates a certain amount of basic, dealing-with-life kind of
cluelessness on his part, for other reasons I won't go into. 

-- 
Kent Crispin				"No reason to get excited",
kent@songbird.com			the thief he kindly spoke...
PGP fingerprint:   B1 8B 72 ED 55 21 5E 44  61 F4 58 0F 72 10 65 55
http://songbird.com/kent/pgp_key.html