The "right to keep and bear arms"

subjects that are really off-topic

Postby Robb_K » Mon Apr 30, 2007 1:00 am

Well, The DCF Forum has been kaput for how many weeks now? Maybe some people would return here if we had deep thinking, but respectful dialogs here, with no petty bickering. I hope we can provide that from here on.

I think DCF starting their new forum caused most of the international members here to leave, as they already were members of DCML, and already conversed with all their members for several years. A few got a little discouraged because we sometimes went a few days with no action here. They'll probably take a look here now and again. So we should put on our best face, if we want this to be a lively forum. We used to have the only Barks quizzes. But DCF has since started one. But, we still have a nice feature they don't have: "Fanfiction" (in which fans can post their very own story scripts and drawings. That, alone, would make this a forum I would frequent. I am hoping that will bring more people here. When the return to Internet operation, I will point that out on their forum, and try to bring more people here.
Robb_K
Member
 
Posts: 444
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 2:35 pm

Postby Rockerduck » Mon Apr 30, 2007 1:40 am

Hey, you know what would attract people???!

DEBATE! For crying out loud! How can you say debating is the same as 'bickering'? If you want to have a forum where everybody agrees constantly, thén you're bound to scare away all potential visitors.
Rockerduck
Member
 
Posts: 262
Joined: Sat Apr 15, 2006 6:40 pm

Postby Robb_K » Mon Apr 30, 2007 1:46 am

Rockerduck wrote:Hey, you know what would attract people???!

DEBATE! For crying out loud! How can you say debating is the same as 'bickering'? If you want to have a forum where everybody agrees constantly, thén you're bound to scare away all potential visitors.

Debates are fine. I have nothing against anything in the posts above, except the name-calling. Telling someone you think they are wrong about an issue is fine. But calling them names distracts one from true argument (and produces extra dialogue that moves away from the logic line of the thread).
Robb_K
Member
 
Posts: 444
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 2:35 pm

Postby Barko » Mon Apr 30, 2007 1:48 am

Robb_K wrote:Well, The DCF Forum has been kaput for how many weeks now? Maybe some people would return here if we had deep thinking, but respectful dialogs here, with no petty bickering. I hope we can provide that from here on.

I think DCF starting their new forum caused most of the international members here to leave, as they already were members of DCML, and already conversed with all their members for several years. A few got a little discouraged because we sometimes went a few days with no action here. They'll probably take a look here now and again. So we should put on our best face, if we want this to be a lively forum. We used to have the only Barks quizzes. But DCF has since started one. But, we still have a nice feature they don't have: "Fanfiction" (in which fans can post their very own story scripts and drawings. That, alone, would make this a forum I would frequent. I am hoping that will bring more people here. When the return to Internet operation, I will point that out on their forum, and try to bring more people here.

Thanks for filling me in, Rob! So people first started to leave after the DCF was up and running. I see. Great we have the fan-fiction thread. Maybe we could create some other interesting threads as well. Maybe a thread with Rosa quizzes? He´s very popular especially with the younger generation. We need some features that only we have - and that we are good at! When people see we have some good features, they´ll become members I think. So maybe we should make some new features/threads as soon as possible...
Barko
Member
 
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 3:09 am

Postby Daniel73 » Mon Apr 30, 2007 12:30 pm

I don't know what to do with this. It seems that when people get in conflict, McDrake gets being discussed as a board. I feel tempted to reply to Robb_K and Barko, about McDrake and DCF, but then this topic about the "right to keep and bear arms" gets further and further derailed.

One reason for me to leave a board like this would be that it's off-topic too often. People discuss about anything anywhere on McDrake, in the wrong topics. (I've been guilty on that myself.)
Daniel73
Member
 
Posts: 313
Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2006 4:40 pm
Location: Netherlands

Postby Egg » Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:20 pm

Robb_K wrote:
Rockerduck wrote:However, I don't agree with Rob that the world has become more violent. Just today I tead a story in a free Dutch newspaper, which told about a professor who, after doing research, concluded that the world nowadays is much less violent that hundreds of years ago. I think everybody, no matter their age, wants to believe the world was better and safer when they were younger --despite the facts.

Also, I don't think television or films or computer games are to blame. I believe it's too superficial to put the blame on them. That was also a point made by Moore in 'Bowling for Columbine'. After the Columbine-incident, there was a witchhunt after Marilyn Manson. Instead, one should look at the environment in which kids grow up. I think it's not a question of a violent culture as well as an individualist culture (again, like Moore also pointed out). Without a decent upbringing and education, the risk of kids doing these awful thing increases significantly, I think.

That's not to say that the laws concerning weapons in the US should be much stricter. I've heard opponents says: "then why don't you ban knives? People kill with knives too", but that argument doesn't ring true. Knives are generally not produced to kill, but a gun is. And then there are people who say: "if everybody had a gun, we would be safer" and that's also not true. Baghdad is unsafe, *because* everybody has guns in their house. But if you make it difficult or even almost impossible to get a hold of guns, the risk of tragic incidents will decline.

I agree with you, Rockerduck, on MOST of your points. But, I don't agree with you that the USA was just as violent when I was growing up than it is now. Your professor stated that The World was more violent "hundreds of years ago". Despite the fact that I am significantly older than you are, I wasn't alive hundreds of years ago. I grew up in the late 1940s and 1950s. I say that the societies in Canada, USA and The Netherlands (places I observed in those days), were significantly less violent than they are now. I'm not talking about the period just before, including World War II (when there was much more violence than now).

Fifty years and hundred years ago there were less people on earth than there are now. Could that also have a reason in having less violence? Less people. Less weapons? Less killings?

Robb_K wrote:I agree that the environment in which children are raised has more to do with the way they behave than watching violent films or playing violent video games, or listening to violence-themed "Gangsta Rap". But I believe that all those things foster a growing desensitivity to violence in youth, and a growing feeling that such violence is "normal" and to be expected. I think it DOES help make the situation worse.

Wasn't the guy in Virginia inspired by some violent movie? Egg saw a photo in a Dutch newspaper ('Algemeen Dagblad') that was compared with a photo of an an actor having a similar expression in a movie that the guy was inspired with. (Egg would need to dig up exact information, but this is what Egg remembers.)
Violent movies, or nay movies, do give people ideas. People are much influenced by the media, and - more important - what they choose to be their media.
Egg
Member
 
Posts: 550
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2006 11:19 am

Postby Rockerduck » Tue May 01, 2007 8:51 pm

Fourhundred years ago there were much, much, much less people, and the world was much more violent back then, Daniel, as I explained on the previous page.

Media and movies are -as usual- the scapegoats for a violent outburst of a confused soul. It's a tragedy, really, but to blame videogames or movies is entirely wrong. The shooter's roommate has declared he never, ever, saw Cho Seung-Hui play videogames or watch violent films. People just have to stop the witchhunt for a scapegoat!

Jon Stewart -as always- had a great piece about the media coverage and scapegoating in The Daily Show:
http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload ... large=true

(ABSOLUTE MUST-SEE FOR ALL CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS THREAD!)
Rockerduck
Member
 
Posts: 262
Joined: Sat Apr 15, 2006 6:40 pm

Previous

Return to Off-Topic International

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests

cron