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Power and Control


redmanfixit

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It's true, I'm kind of new to this forum, although I've been lurking for awhile. Hope I don't annoy you but I thought I'd put this up here. I found it clear and to the point. I think that when all the sweetness and the sourness of the human experience is washed away the remaining essence, the core, of the human experience can be reduced to a few simple elements. One of them is:

All human relationships are about power and control. Much can be learned about people in your sphere by looking at the relationship an individual, couple or group has with this dynamic. Looking in the mirror while considering this can teach us important things about ourselves. I've seen a lot of interesting threads here with interesting interplay. The text below made something clear to me as a shooter and besides, I spent a LOT of time with the Marines!

> The Gun is Civilization by Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)

> Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.

>

> In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

>

>

> When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.

> The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

> There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed.

> People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

> Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways.

> Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.

> People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.

> The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.

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> When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded.

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> I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation...and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

> By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)

> So the greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never forced.

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> It's not about Right vs Left, Liberal vs. Conservative, Republican vs. Democrat

>

> It's about supporting the US Constitution.

>

>I read this following post here and I need a t-shirt for it. Gun control is NOT about guns, it's about control.

:mellow:

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..... I think that when all the sweetness and the sourness of the human experience is washed away the remaining essence, the core, of the human experience can be reduced to a few simple elements. One of them is:

All human relationships are about power and control. Much can be learned about people in your sphere by looking at the relationship an individual, couple or group has with this dynamic. Looking in the mirror while considering this can teach us important things about ourselves. ....

While the Major's gun control comments make sense, I respectfully disagree with you on the above comment. I look at my most important relationships, those of my family, and have no urge to have power or control over any of them, especially my wife. It's hard to explain, but if you love someone, your goal is not to have power or control over them, but to please them. It is so hard to explain by the written word, but my wife smiling at me, or my son laughing with me probably mean more to me than anything. That's my experience.

I was taught in college that power isn't hard to accumulate. You just have to be willing to pay the price.

I found that price was more than I was willing to pay.

Just my humble opinion on it.

dj

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..... I think that when all the sweetness and the sourness of the human experience is washed away the remaining essence, the core, of the human experience can be reduced to a few simple elements. One of them is:

All human relationships are about power and control. Much can be learned about people in your sphere by looking at the relationship an individual, couple or group has with this dynamic. Looking in the mirror while considering this can teach us important things about ourselves. ....

While the Major's gun control comments make sense, I respectfully disagree with you on the above comment. I look at my most important relationships, those of my family, and have no urge to have power or control over any of them, especially my wife. It's hard to explain, but if you love someone, your goal is not to have power or control over them, but to please them. It is so hard to explain by the written word, but my wife smiling at me, or my son laughing with me probably mean more to me than anything. That's my experience.

I was taught in college that power isn't hard to accumulate. You just have to be willing to pay the price.

I found that price was more than I was willing to pay.

Just my humble opinion on it.

dj

dj

Thanks for this gracious response. It sounds to me that you've looked in the mirror.

Another of the things that beings I consider Holy and Wise have consistently said is: One of the most important things we can know is our own nature. We must know ourselves. I think love is real. I think that the things you speak of have the true substance of this experience. I think that power and control are illusions. It seems to me that most people are oblivious to the expense of their pursuit. I think that on the last day, that to leave with the images you speak of impressed in your consciousness is the point! I've learned something about you!

In another post here there, is a correction regarding the attribution. Thanks for that as well. I found the words I posted spoke more clearly than I could. It's hard to track now in the internet time, who said what. I admit to being a bit envious of the author as I found those words to be so clear and well reasoned.

Fixit

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While the Major's gun control comments make sense, I respectfully disagree with you on the above comment. I look at my most important relationships, those of my family, and have no urge to have power or control over any of them, especially my wife. It's hard to explain, but if you love someone, your goal is not to have power or control over them, but to please them. It is so hard to explain by the written word, but my wife smiling at me, or my son laughing with me probably mean more to me than anything. That's my experience.

I was taught in college that power isn't hard to accumulate. You just have to be willing to pay the price.

I found that price was more than I was willing to pay.

Just my humble opinion on it.

dj

I read your post this afternoon and pondered on it a bit. My sense is that there's more to what you alluded to, but I felt the need to address your initial point. The love we feel for others doesn't really stand in contrast to the author's point. In fact, it fits in as motive of persuasion. What you do for your family is done in anticipation of their needs or at their request. Should you not do those things, they have to either persuade or force you into action.

Otherwise, that little turd isn't going to pick up his room. Yes he's only one, but he's not too young to learn!

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