Kino's Journey Episode 1 Discusion.

[Madner Kami]

I would rather live in a Free country then a country with no Violence.

False equivalence that can be easily disproven. US citizens are fairly proud of their great freedom, yet die more often to violence than in any other 1st World Nation. Conversely, the North Koreans are probably one of the least free citizens in the world, yet violence by the state is what is keeping them there. Where the hell do you get the notion that freedom and violence go hand in hand, when all you have to do is, look outside of the US into any other 1st World Nation to see, that you can both be free and not be under constant threat of being shot by either someone mistaking your intentions, the cops, any run-down thief around the corner or, heck, your own children playing with an unsecured gun?

[Admiral X]

Violence by the state is what concerns me in that I do not believe the state should have the monopoly on it, with North Korea serving as a great example of why. As for comparing the US to other countries, this is somewhat disingenuous as the US is unlike other countries in both a racial sense and a cultural sense. We are the great American melting pot, after all, and "Americans" come from many different backgrounds, plenty of which have historically not really gotten along, even just among the white folks. What always strikes me about conversations like this, though, is that they inevitably focus on the guns themselves, rather than violence and homicides. For example, people often cite Australia, but are apparently unaware that they did not see a significant drop in their homicide rates after their ban/buyback program. Which just shows that it isn't really about saving lives, it's just about the guns themselves, which some people seem to have the idea in their heads that the objects themselves are evil, rather like some fundamentalist Christian sects might for playing cards, Ouija boards, or alcohol. As I've stated before, this really just boils down to a liberty vs. security argument, and my stance on it is rather like the Benjamin Franklin quote, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Incidentally this is also how I feel about legislation like the so-called Patriot Act.

[MithrandirOlorin]

If Chuck ever covers the new Kino, episode 4 will inspire some Prime Directive references.