Penn and Teller are full of bullshit
I found this link to one of Penn and Teller's 'Bullshit' programmes today via Boing Boing today, posted among various pieces on the awful gun massacre in Virginia. Among the usual cries from the "I want to marry my gun" fraternity (already some gun groups have been saying, see, if every student carried a gun they could have stopped this - yeah, that will work, lots of teens with guns, how could that go wrong? And of course high gun ownership has really cut violent crime in the US, hasn't it?!?! Smeg heads). Anyway I watched this video; before it I liked Penn and Teller, now I think they are a pair of arrogant, foolish sods, showing an argument so one-sided and riddled with factual inaccuracies it might as well have been a bloody Fox news programme. Penn and Teller, you are full of it and after watching this I can't help but think how bitterly funny it would be if they were both accidentally shot by Chuck Heston...
I will never understand any arguement that states more guns will stop violence. It's fucking moronic. I do wish we could just outlaw them completely for so many reasons.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have a chance to pull up the video but from your commentary it probably would have just pissed me off even more.
The tragedy at VTech is beyond comprehension....and so very sad.
Just watched this; thought it offered an interesting insight into the American psyche. I don't honestly think we're ever going to get it. America's a young(ish) nation built on the premise that you need to be strong to survive, and taking it down to the individual level has a certain logic to it, and makes sense to them.
ReplyDeletePeoples, countries and nations fight wars to be free, and arm themselves to maintain that freedom. So, again, why is it illogical or necessarily bad to take it down to the individual level? No-one's ever credibly argued that we should disarm or disband our army. And no-one I know leaves their front door open when they go out. How would you feel if politicians suggested that all homes should be left unlocked at all times for the common good? Yes, I know it's very different, but this is, I believe, the kind of mental journey you have to make to get to where they're coming from.
I absolutely do not agree with them (Penn and Teller), but I did think it was an interesting polemic. It's just not an issue that's ever played over here