Shane 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 10:23am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: This blog amazes me

    They don't decry JUST games. That's the straw man you're knocking down, not the sum total of their position on the cultural affect on human behavior.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 09:10am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: This blog amazes me

    Of course it does. If target practice is violent in a video game, obviously this extends to real target practice, and hence to the idea of owning a gun for target practice.

    Take a few deep breaths. You're in danger of splitting a blood vessel for no good reason.

    This article IS anti second amendment. That's not the end of the universe. Heck, you look to be anti second amendment so you should be glad Tech Dirt supports your cause.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 09:08am

    Re: Re: Asked and answered

    People own armored vehicles privately. People own planes privately. What exactly is your issue with them mounting a gun or weapon to them?

    What is your position on guns carried by security guards?

    All of your arguments are basically just you acting all shocked that anyone would disagree with you. I'm less afraid of my neighbors than I am of organizations like huge corporations and out of control governments. That's all it boils down to.

    That and I have some sense of history that the vast majority of anti-gun nuts seem to lack.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 08:52am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: This blog amazes me

    Nice smear job. Have a good day.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 08:52am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: This blog amazes me

    As I said before, the part of it that is anti Second Amendment is the REASON for the COMPLAINT.

    Nothing in this article points to anything the NRA is doing that is all that bad. They say video games may cause violence. I think violent society causes violent video games. Psychologically there is a feedback loop of some sort there, for sure, as it is more or less impossible to separate motives from behaviors.

    So their position on video games is based on reasonable assumptions, and they have gone on to make video games they feel send a healthier message than, say, Grand Theft Auto IV.

    They're just lobbying for a more intentional culture, which is something I believe in deeply.

  • On the post: Deadspin Shows Again That New News Media Can Do Investigative Journalism

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 04:50pm

    Old Media

    The problem is they never were that good. Centralized as they are, they fall into the trap of doing the bidding of their owners. They are, in fact, selected for promotion in no small part based on their track record of anticipating what is wanted from them and doing it without asking. It gives the higher ups a metric f-ton of plausible deniability when accused of manipulating coverage. They're always under pressure to complete stories on a deadline. The facts are secondary.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 08:48am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: This blog amazes me

    Unless, of course, by "violence" one means any sudden movements, loud noises, or flashes of light.

    It concerns me a lot that people do not get the distinction.... A lot.

    Good post.

  • On the post: Deadspin Shows Again That New News Media Can Do Investigative Journalism

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 04:44pm

    Link Problem

    I think you linked your second link to the same article as the first accidentally.

  • On the post: Deadspin Shows Again That New News Media Can Do Investigative Journalism

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 04:40pm

    Awesome opening

    "If you sit down quietly, wherever you are, close your eyes, quiet your heart, and listen closely enough, you'll be able to hear someone somewhere talking about how journalism is dead and the internet killed it. "

    I love your writing style. How many times have I heard that or something like it. Reminds me of the Wikipedia haters too.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 08:29am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Good point.

    I think it bears pointing out that the video games, in and of themselves, are not the point the NRA is making. Violence in many instances is motivated by our culture, which includes video games, but extends to movies, tv, out day to day conversations, and so forth.

    What conservatives, as opposed to specifically second amendment supporters do not seem to get, is that greed plays a very real role in creating a culture of violence as well.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 08:26am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: This blog amazes me

    Both in history and in the modern era, your assertions are not backed by reality. We won in Iraq and Afghanistan not simply because of superior firepower. Specifically in Afghanistan, the Soviets had superior firepower. They simply refused to work with the people. They had nuclear bombs, tanks, etc. It was their philosophy that lost them the war there, not their lack of hardware.

    The only way tanks and planes win you a war like that is if you are willing to commit genocide.

    Your argument just falls to pieces in the face of reality.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 08:06am

    Awesome post

    Thanks for putting this out there. I especially like the part about setting an example.

    We complain here constantly about government overreach, but no one is out demonstrating. No one is pointing out how the system include the military and police, and that these are the people who are often actively doing the bidding of those trying to push the envelope.

    Stop allowing our agents in the government to use violence to spread the interests of our banking elite across the globe.

    I dunno if that's what you meant.... but that's how it explodes in my brain when mixed with all the things I have concerns over.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 08:01am

    Asked and answered

    Tanks, planes, bazookas and the like probably do need to be legal to own, but the cost is prohibitive. The reason guns trump those in terms of a free society is that those are weapons whose usage is largely strategic. You can park a tank close to a warehouse, or use it to blow a warehouse to kingdom come, but it is nigh useless in house to house fighting.

    The problem is we have a large standing army and no militia, and people have become accustomed to this and also enamored of mocking the concept because there is little to any military training in the average person's life anymore.

    But really, that is one of the problems the NRA and Republicans should address. Without taking the second ammendment seriously, they are going to lose this political fight for us by not insisting on the well regulated militia portion, and they are not interested because their consitutuency (Oh, and the Democrats as well) is actually the same group that want us enslaved.

    I find it hilarious that this site is absolutely swarming with people who claim the government is often out of hand, then turn around and cry "paranoid" when people point out that, if the government is out of hand, you need to be prepared to fight its armed agents if it comes to that.

    Not a single one of the revolutions that made democracy in the west a reality could have happened if the populace had not somehow found a way to arm itself. Why make that harder than it has to be?

  • On the post: Senator John Cornyn Asks Eric Holder To Explain DOJ Prosecution Of Aaron Swartz

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 04:01pm

    Heh heh

    Cornyn has been on Holder like white on rice for ages. It is fun to see this issue make its way to his desk as another thumb to poke in Holder's eye.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 07:55am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: This blog amazes me

    I said, "Because the single most frequent precursor to totalitarianism is to disarm the population, or that part of it you are about to oppress?"

    You said, "He gave guns to everyone but Jews."


    ...............................?

    Exactly.

    How would slavery in America have worked out if blacks had had guns?

    The thing is you do not even try to read or understand. You have the media talking point embedded in your brain, and it just pops out of you anytime the trigger concept is put forward without conscious thought on your part.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 07:52am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: This blog amazes me

    Lack of any historical reference to back your falacious argument that there is no need for an armed populace to maintain a democracy duly noted.

    Next.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 07:49am

    Re: Slants and Observations

    Very well put in my opinion.

  • On the post: NRA: Games To Blame For Violence! Also, Here's A Shooting Game For 4-Year-Olds!

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 03:03pm

    This Thread

    Would have been a lot more effective had it focused on the idea that video games do not cause violent crime rather than taking specific aim at the NRA.

    There's a post on the front page now where Biden jumps on the anti-video game bandwagon.

  • On the post: Another Legislator Hops On Board The 'Violent Video Game' Bandwagon; Introduces Redundant Labeling Bill

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 03:01pm

    Aaaand viola.

    Suddenly we see how idiotic it is to blame just the NRA for this little trend.

  • On the post: Scientist Explains Why Putting Research Behind A Paywall Is Immoral

    Shane ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2013 @ 01:51pm

    Moral Imperative

    This is exactly what I believe. The moral imperative is actually exactly the opposite of those accusing Swartz of knowing he did something wrong. He knew he was doing something right. He also knew some people would be out to get him for it.

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