The Dudeism Forum

I think it's why I don't play any video games at all....I used to like Spyro the dragon....just flame breath.....no handguns !!

Quote from: Dave on May 18, 2011, 06:05:41 PM

Quote from: Rev. Ed C on May 18, 2011, 07:34:38 AM
Am I the only one around here who isn't that in touch with his destructive side?  I've always had a problem with the glorification of weaponry, especially modern guns that seem all too accessible in a lot of supposedly forward-thinking countries.

Despite what those guys in the aborted Dudeism documentary seemed to imply, guns are not dudely.  I mean, I think archery should be considered a nice relaxing passtime, as long as you're aiming at wicker targets, not live ones, but I wouldn't advocate so much dudely worth to it, in spite of it's zenlike nature.  Well, maybe when the world, as a whole, learns some greater sense of responsibility... which, let's face it, is not going to be in my lifespan

I simply don't see how someone with such a destructive property to it can be glorified, especially around here.  I guess I'm just an old wimpy pacifist, like poor Smokey

I also share your sentiments Dude. I've always have preferred peace over fighting.

Peace is the way of the dude (and mine), but even the dude has to square off at times.

I didn't mean to diminish Rev Ed C's point, it is valid and worthy of support, it's just I think there is likely going to be some former Walters around here, I know I am one.

That and nature saw fit to load us up with testosterone, and faux violence, paintball, lasertag and video games give us fun ways of burning it up with out causing real harm. Football and other sports do that also, but video games are safer. I read an article about Sakyong Mipham, Trungpa's kid, he loves to play games like MOH and COD, and one can't accuse him of being a warmonger.

That said, I do not want to glorify these things, just to accept their existence. If everyone were enlightened, then it would be meaningless what weapons existed, and then we could get down to the serious business of having fun with noisy dangerous toys.

Oh yeah, safety is number one with guns, get trained even if you never intend to touch one, you never know what might happen. They are very dangerous and the untrained unaware shoot them selves all to often. Never give a child an Uzi, that is just stupid.

This is a tough conversation, so many ins an outs, and I do not disagree with any of the Dudes here, go to the Fox News forum, probably a very different situation.

Quote from: Caesar dude on May 19, 2011, 04:43:20 PM
Gosh...what an outburst....guns are bad...blah blah blah... YES They fucking are! I believe the start of this thread was about some bad ass TOY!

That's a TOY!

Fucking Hell!

BTW conversations here never run the direction they seem to at the start, they just wonder around any way they want.

That's why I like this forum.

Quote from: revgms on May 20, 2011, 07:41:37 AM
That and nature saw fit to load us up with testosterone...

Speak for yourself man   I've been vegetarian since birth, and my animalistic side is comprised mostly of ape-like grooming rituals.  Shout out to all those other chilled-out, fruit-eating urangutans out there

My old post-work mantra was "It's 5 o'clock, time to go home and kill stuff".  My main hobbies still consist mostly of taking on the role of an axe-wielding dwarven longbeard and taking out my grudges on things with less hit points than myself.  Everyone's gotta have a hobby, even the gun nuts

One of the other reasons I prefer archery over gunplay is the ecological aspect.  Bows and arrows are made from wood, a naturally replenishable resource and generally speaking you retrieve an arrow, metal-tipped or otherwise, for reuse.  Gun and bullet are made from metal and people don't tend to do much with them apart from leave the casings on the ground and the nubs in their targets.  With all that waste from one little session of shooting there's probably enough metal lying around to build my granny a replacement hit

Quote from: meekon5 on May 20, 2011, 08:02:12 AM

Quote from: Caesar dude on May 19, 2011, 04:43:20 PM
Gosh...what an outburst....guns are bad...blah blah blah... YES They fucking are! I believe the start of this thread was about some bad ass TOY!

That's a TOY!

Fucking Hell!

Ok, enough of the raised voices, I'm aware it's supposed to be a TOY, I did watch the video   However, my original point is one of destruction and destructive sides.  As I've proceeded to point out, I like fantasy destruction, but I'm not really down on the whole real-life side of destruction.  Guns, and indeed TOYs, make me a little nervous if their sole perpose and use is for dangerous, destructive persuits.

What can I say, in the cycle of existance, I'm down with the creators, not the destroyers.  Found something I'm not so neutral on, right there... I think I just picked a side

Quote from: Rev. Ed C on May 20, 2011, 08:16:17 AM
Ok, enough of the raised voices, I'm aware it's supposed to be a TOY, I did watch the video   However, my original point is one of destruction and destructive sides.  As I've proceeded to point out, I like fantasy destruction, but I'm not really down on the whole real-life side of destruction.  Guns, and indeed TOYs, make me a little nervous if their sole perpose and use is for dangerous, destructive persuits.

OK it did get a bit like christmas amongst the psychopaths there for a while ().

I have to admit I love my games and films with a high level of gore in them, but that has not turned my into a blood lusting axe wielding loony, well not "axe wielding" at least.

I have hunted with .22 rifles, on a friends farm, mostly vermin (though usually inanimate objects as target practice).

But have not raised my hand in anger for many years now.

Quote from: Rev. Ed C on May 20, 2011, 08:16:17 AM
What can I say, in the cycle of existance, I'm down with the creators, not the destroyers.  Found something I'm not so neutral on, right there... I think I just picked a side

Endless creation with out destruction is stagnation, there has to be a yin to the yang. Nothing is forever, nothing lasts, everything is replaced eventually.

Quote from: meekon5 on May 20, 2011, 08:58:50 AM

Quote from: Rev. Ed C on May 20, 2011, 08:16:17 AM
What can I say, in the cycle of existance, I'm down with the creators, not the destroyers.  Found something I'm not so neutral on, right there... I think I just picked a side

Endless creation with out destruction is stagnation, there has to be a yin to the yang. Nothing is forever, nothing lasts, everything is replaced eventually.

Hence my use of the word "cycle"  I'm down with being a creator, just need someone else to be a destroyer   Usuaully I'm the balanced one when it comes to things, but my destructive side is somewhat lacking, so it seems.

Quote from: J. Robert Oppenheimer

Now I am become death the destroyer of worlds.

Quote from: meekon5 on May 20, 2011, 09:27:15 AM

Quote from: J. Robert Oppenheimer

Now I am become death the destroyer of worlds.

Yes, well, now, that wasn't a toy, was it? :/

I'm just down on unchecked aggression. "An it harm none, do what ye will."

However, since we all cause harm every day, if only because we eat other living things in order to sustain ourselves, here's where the stickiness ensues: "If it cause harm, do as you must" (second half of the Rede in the Lycian tradition). 

Lots of disagreement is floating around on the subject of what we "must" do, especially in regard to waging war.