RE: Why have a gun?
April 2, 2022 at 1:54 pm
(This post was last modified: April 2, 2022 at 2:22 pm by Thumpalumpacus.)
(April 2, 2022 at 1:29 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote:(April 2, 2022 at 1:25 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: Confusing legality and morality is a common American malady.
Is it illegal? Is it unethical? Would you do it?
It's actually not illegal for me to dump non native fish in the creek. It's highly unethical. I'd certainly do it.
I make no claim to superior moral standards. I don't own a gun right now, though I could legally do so and have no intent of unethical use of it. I could use it to deal with the wildlife that shows up here, but there's plenty of ways to address that without spending the $ on an 870.
(April 2, 2022 at 1:48 pm)Anomalocaris Wrote:(April 2, 2022 at 1:25 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: Confusing legality and morality is a common American malady.
To attribute it to confusion gives rather more credit to much of the population than they deserve. In most cases it is ruthless self-interest. Doing the illegal thing to serve self interest carries the risk of consequences that heavily outweigh the perspective value of the self interest. Doing the legal but amoral thing to serve self interest actually provides legal protection against consequences.
I wasn't ascribing it to mental confusion, I was simply saying that confusing the two is widespread in the American public, for whatever reasons -- some of which are indeed deliberate rather than a result of mental deficiency.