Re:Anybody listen to NPR for the joke today?
on
April Fools Wrap Up
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· Score: 1
The fake NPR story today was pretty lame for a lot of the reasons people have flamed/. today -- it was far too obvious, even from the promo piece. It took all the fun out of it.
OTOH, the public radio show "Marketplace" had three stories during the 30 minute show that seemed a bit odd but were plausible. At the end of the show they told you that one of them was true and challenged you to guess which one it was. That made it a little more interesting.
BTW, the April Fool's NPR story a couple of years ago about the trend of teen-age girls gettting navel-ectomies was absolutely hilarious. I swollowed it hook line and sinker until the very last line of the story gave it away.
>> Face it, humans are not really evolving anymore.
Real human "evolution" occurs through the evolution of culture and technology, not through genetic mutation and natural selection. So, assuming that human culture and technology don't stop evolving, it is likely that we will always be able to adapt to gradual environmental changes such as global warming.
Why do kids have "access" to guns?
on
Why Kids Kill
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· Score: 2
There has been so much conversation about how easy it is for kids to get guns, for how easy their "access" is. But no one is asking the proper followup question, which is 'Why do they have such easy access to guns? What are the channels to that access?'
The access that kids have to guns is generally through two channels: 1) they get them from home or, 2) they buy them on the black market. The solution to the first channel is for gun owning parents to be responsible and secure their weapons. The bigger problem, however, is the second channel, the black market.
By definition, anyone obtaining anything from a black market is breaking the law, so more laws will not eliminate the market, they will only expand its scope.
Why is there such a thriving black market for guns? It certainly didn't arise as a response to the overwhelming demand of children for guns. The black market is getting guns into the hands of children, but their demand didn't create the black market. Whose demand did feed the growth of the illegal arms trade? The criminal elements associated with the drug trade. The demands of the drug trade for weapons to protect/defend/acquire markets has led to the huge amount of guns that are available on the black market, unregulated by any gun law or legal authority. There are so many illegal guns out there that the spillover is resulting in children being able to purchase guns cheaply and easily.
My thesis is that the rise of the gun culture, and therefore the rise in gun use by children, is one of the many unintended consequences of our nation's illogical obsession with the never-ending drug war. The drug war has led to the prolific rise in the number of unregulated weapons in this country, weapons that find their way into the hands of drug dealers and high school freshmen alike. When we, as a society, come to our senses about our irrational reaction to the use of euphoriants and treat their abuse as a medical issue rather than a criminal issue, then we will see a reduction in the violent crime related to the drug trade as well as a reduction in the amount of guns that are available on the black market, a market that our children are using to arm themselves against the diffuculties of childhood.
my.02
BTW, I do not own a gun, I do not frequently use illegal drugs (though I've occassionally used them in the past). I say this to illustrate that I am not an NRA gun nut, and I'm not a stoner looking for a way to make my habit easier. I'm just thoroughly convinced that the drug war has extremely detrimental effects on society, and the spread of guns and violence is one of the more obvious examples. When is the cure worse than the disease?
Slashdot Mirror
The fake NPR story today was pretty lame for a lot of the reasons people have flamed /. today -- it was far too obvious, even from the promo piece. It took all the fun out of it.
OTOH, the public radio show "Marketplace" had three stories during the 30 minute show that seemed a bit odd but were plausible. At the end of the show they told you that one of them was true and challenged you to guess which one it was. That made it a little more interesting.
BTW, the April Fool's NPR story a couple of years ago about the trend of teen-age girls gettting navel-ectomies was absolutely hilarious. I swollowed it hook line and sinker until the very last line of the story gave it away.
>> Face it, humans are not really evolving anymore.
Real human "evolution" occurs through the evolution of culture and technology, not through genetic mutation and natural selection. So, assuming that human culture and technology don't stop evolving, it is likely that we will always be able to adapt to gradual environmental changes such as global warming.
The access that kids have to guns is generally through two channels: 1) they get them from home or, 2) they buy them on the black market. The solution to the first channel is for gun owning parents to be responsible and secure their weapons. The bigger problem, however, is the second channel, the black market.
By definition, anyone obtaining anything from a black market is breaking the law, so more laws will not eliminate the market, they will only expand its scope.
Why is there such a thriving black market for guns? It certainly didn't arise as a response to the overwhelming demand of children for guns. The black market is getting guns into the hands of children, but their demand didn't create the black market. Whose demand did feed the growth of the illegal arms trade? The criminal elements associated with the drug trade. The demands of the drug trade for weapons to protect/defend/acquire markets has led to the huge amount of guns that are available on the black market, unregulated by any gun law or legal authority. There are so many illegal guns out there that the spillover is resulting in children being able to purchase guns cheaply and easily.
My thesis is that the rise of the gun culture, and therefore the rise in gun use by children, is one of the many unintended consequences of our nation's illogical obsession with the never-ending drug war. The drug war has led to the prolific rise in the number of unregulated weapons in this country, weapons that find their way into the hands of drug dealers and high school freshmen alike. When we, as a society, come to our senses about our irrational reaction to the use of euphoriants and treat their abuse as a medical issue rather than a criminal issue, then we will see a reduction in the violent crime related to the drug trade as well as a reduction in the amount of guns that are available on the black market, a market that our children are using to arm themselves against the diffuculties of childhood.
my
BTW, I do not own a gun, I do not frequently use illegal drugs (though I've occassionally used them in the past). I say this to illustrate that I am not an NRA gun nut, and I'm not a stoner looking for a way to make my habit easier. I'm just thoroughly convinced that the drug war has extremely detrimental effects on society, and the spread of guns and violence is one of the more obvious examples. When is the cure worse than the disease?
O.K., I guess that's my