Oh, is that what you call it? The rest of us call it trolling. I'm gonna have to remember this one.
What previous disagreement did I have with you, Citizen? You didn't participate in the Washington legislative thread.
But you were the first one to shift gears so hard you'd have dropped the transmission in most cars. A man of your intellect, reading, and other abilities should be intrigued by the chance to candidly examine how your response went from implicit defense of the deceased with your attacks on the media and the police officer, to condemning the deceased over one small question, buried in one of my verbose posts.
You're faced with two, equally unpleasant choices.
Either I'm so clever I out-foxed you and trapped you into such an obvious about face, OR, I had no such intentions and the thread simply evolved as a natural consequence of what you posted.
Did I outsmart you?
Or are your own biases a bit inconsistent in some of these cases?
For the record, the thread evolved naturally. No connection to Washington every occurred to me until after several posts were exchanged and you went from implicitly defending the deceased, to very explicitly drawing distinction between him and yourself and the rest of the OC community. Indeed, it was your question in post #6 about when a gun in hand became legitimate OC that brought the Washington thread to mind. Prior to that question, it had never crossed my mind there was any connection. That is the truth and that is more important to me than any entertainment I might get from someone thinking I laid and sprung such a clever trap. Frankly, I just don't put that much energy into posts here. For me, verbosity is cheap and easy.
What is most interesting, is your initial reaction was to condemn the media and cops. When presented with the question of whether you would identify with the deceased, or what him identified with OCing, you immediately drew the distinction of a gun in hand vs a gun in a holster. You even invoked forum rules, something you are loathe to do.
Only when the content of the Washington thread was pointed out to you, did you find some concerns with your prior definition of OCing being about holstered handguns.
Now, someone (who shall remain WW) once pointed out how stupid it is to claim any kind of "winning" in an online discussion. So I would hope that your vacillating positions have far more to do with the particulars of each case than with who took which position.
But your accusations of trolling give me pause.
I know I've rubbed you the wrong way. We have deep and abiding disagreements over the very morality of government. Clearly that is at least as important to you as RKBA. So no surprise you don't like me. And that is fine. Anonymous chat rooms are wont to do that in too many cases. Over dinner and drinks we might find a level of mutual respect or even friendship. I'm no expert but I'm told that we have some fantastic brewmeisters in Utah with excellent micro-brews available. If you're ever out this way, the first pint is on me.
And between here and there, I'd hope a man of your intellect and thoughtfulness would be above letting personality drive your position. You and I are certainly better than the gaggling hordes for whom party affiliation or presidential personality is the only difference between right and wrong. "Bush invade bad (or good)" "Obama invade good (or bad)" respectively.
Whatever differences I have with Walking Wolf, I greatly appreciated his position and explanation on why the 2nd amendment doesn't cover WMDs.
As much as I may abhor how Marshaul conducts himself toward me, his explanation of why high risk of harm is a harm was splendidly done.
So ignore our personality differences and go read the OP. Then your and WW's responses. Then, read post 5 from me ignoring it is from Charles. Then, with everything in mind--including Washington--but ignoring what position Charles took, ask yourself, as objectively as possible, what your position really is relative to a gun in hand and either how to eliminate inconsistencies in your position, or why you are ok with what inconsistencies remain. Don't post a thing. This isn't about anyone "winning". Just take the chance for honest, deep, intellectual, introspection. We can go to PM if you'd like.
Calling me a troll is denying yourself the chance to explore something that might yield some very interesting insights for yourself.
All the best.
Charles
