I was going to ask you why you think having a removable speakthroughable paper mask equates to a ‘muzzle’...
When it is FORCED on you, then it's a muzzle, much like a real muzzle is forced on a dog or a wild animal.
Happily, in my world; being ‘muzzled’ is simply wearing a mask to protect others in these times of pandemic...
I will choose to wear a mask when asked politely. But if being forced without good reason, then it's a muzzle. And it was one particular political ideology that was trying to force muzzles on everybody.
...and living in such fear of 2 or 4 or zero legged predators and/or prisoner escapees so much so as you feel the need to be armed at all times is not something to be found on every corner here...
I love teachable moments, don't you?
So please allow me to explain: I don't fear "every corner" as you accuse me of doing. But even if only 1 in 100 corners has dangers, then why would a person NOT take initiative and why would they NOT practice proper prudence?
Are you really a fearless daredevil in disguise as a mild-mannered article/forum poster?
I'll demonstrate by playing a game with you. Here's a bowl of 500 M&M chocolate candies. You can eat as few or as many as you like. But you should know that some number of them (between 5 and 10, but we don't know for sure)
are bad and will poison you, resulting in anything from no adverse symptoms at all, to a mild headache, a stomach ache, or all the way up to a gruesome death with much suffering and pain.
Think of this as the "bowl of risks". They range from zero danger to 100% danger, and the bowl contains all of them, whether high or low.
What do you do? Play my game and take 1 M&M? Take 10? Take 50 and give some to your friend? Or do you choose to reduce this risk as much as possible and take none of my M&Ms?
Now taking no M&Ms won't protect you from all dangers through the rest of your day, right? You know that and I know that, because you could still be hit by a train, get food poisoning at your favorite local restaurant down the street, or have your house or apartment completely collapse like that awful building collapse in Miami earlier this week.
But at least you have safeguarded against my M&M risks, so that's not a bad thing, right? I'm assuming of course that you've said "no thank you" to my generous but slightly suspicious offer of 500 M&Ms.
And THAT's why I take responsibility for my own safety. It won't protect me from all dangers, no. But it will give me a fighting chance against some of the most violent dangers
HERE, WHERE I LIVE AND WORK. Because one or several of those dangers may be around one of the corners I'll have to walk past today. Or none may be there, sure. But then my protection remains unused for that corner, on that day. And that's a good thing too!
One other thing I'll share with you, and I hope you take it to heart. By taking responsibility for my own safety, I actually fear very little. If you live in France, you probably are not allowed to protect yourself, so this may be an unusual line of thinking for you.
Even though I don't have fear every day or everywhere I go, I know I'm not Superman. I don't let myself get careless of course, because being armed is NOT the same as having an invisibility cloak, a force field, or having a Genie who can grant me three wishes in a dire emergency.
By the way, I also have fire extinguishers and first aid kits in my home and car. Because again, I never know when I'll have to deal with a "bad M&M", and I'm not talking about a candy there.
And please be aware, by here I mean a continent of over 500 million people.
Brazil and Venezuela are EXTREMELY dangerous, moreso because only the police are allowed to protect themselves. Closer to home, people are killed every weekend in Chicago, and it's mostly due to gang violence in parts of the city where the police won't/can't go.
It’s funny, guns breed guns. Take away the guns and suddenly there is calm.
It's cute how you say that like it's true. But what you think you know as truth is really propaganda. I know of a lot of knife attacks throughout Europe just in the last 6 months. So "suddenly there is calm", really?
As a Southern California resident I’m shocked they were able to capture photo’s without the homeless camps in sight. Especially in Downtown.
It’s getting beyond out of control here.
It breaks my heart to know that Californians are forced to make a decision to either live with this squalor or pack up and move to another state.
But yay, new Apple Store!
Apple stores are mostly entrepreneurial, so I like it too!
Conflating a political and social issue with the opening of a shop! Only on an Apple fan site 😂
I think you need to look up the meaning of the word "conflating", because it doesn't mean what you think it means.
So do you bit to help out then! I do, here in Paris where we also have a huge homeless problem. The way the op wrote the original piece was totally conflating it. It’s not that I don’t agree, it’s just a strange thread to write about it.
I help when I see behaviors happening that make me believe that my help will actually be used
responsibly, and will actually have a decent chance of being an agent of change. Change for the better, that is. That means that Root Cause needs to be found and fixed. All too often, it's not even being sought out.
rarehistoricalphotos.com
