I'm sure there have been any number of legal precedents set. Doesn't change the fact that the major point of the second amendment was not self-defense.

Besides, it's an anachronism. You can have all the guns you want, but you ain't defending shit if your (or another) government decides to go full Hitler.

Look, you're already not allowed bombs or RPGs or missiles or whatever, so your right to bear "arms" has been infringed.

Aside from the raving Alex Jones style lunatics, everyone already agrees that there are limits on the weapons available to civilians. So the second amendment isn't inviolate. It's just a question of degrees.

Besides, pretty sure the constitution has been changed before (14th and 21st most famously).

But again, I'm just glad I don't live in a country where people genuinely believe that they need a gun for home defense.

You should read the prince. Look at what people did throughout history, and look at what we and other nations do today.

At some point, you have to realize that nothing has changed. Technology has moved on, but we're still the same monkeys that were around before, and we're still behaving the same way.

Nations don't last. You can be on top for a couple centuries, but afterwards you fall down the totem pole. Most places on earth spend most of their time getting crapped on. It's a special time when they get to crap on others.

Regardless, the 2nd amendment was made with the awareness of the human condition. The perpetual dissatisfaction that drives people to strife. Peace is not everlasting. Even if you behave well, there's always a group that comes along to bring trouble.

A gun behind every blade of grass is the best possible method for national security there is. A nation with a broke government in turmoil will not have an organized military. But an armed people still represent a massive discouragement to any candidate occupier.

The west has had a good run for the past few decades. But it's never lasted before, and it won't last this time. It may not be in our lifetime, but things will eventually go belly up.

Then again, it could be in our lifetime. Europe is getting rapidly nationalistic under immigration pressures. US/Europe are poking Russia in the eye with missile installations and military exercises (maybe to rile them up and get people focused more on Russia and less on the immigrant crisis - common enemies are the best unifiers). You never know. Historically, when things go to hell, they were ~always fine not so long prior.

You don't have to worry about these things. They'll happen when they happen. History doesn't care either way.

2nd amendment can look like an anachronism during a period of quiet. But eventually it will make perfect sense again.

-scheherazade

dear USA, i hope you guys make sanders happen. partly so people with social and political views like bobknight will quickly be understood as the anachronisms that they are and their untenable ideas will be laughed out of any intelligent conversation.

I was surprised to hear John Oliver discussing the "Get Rid of the Penny" topic in the USA, not because the subject is uninteresting, but because he failed to point out the glaring anachronism that Americans still call their one cent coin a "penny".

Do they not realise that they started a revolution in 1765, declared independence in 1776, and started making one cent coins in 1793?

Why do they still call cents pennies? After more than 200 years, I would have thought that even the most parochial or remote American would have heard the news.

The Canadians aren't much better. The penny finally dropped there in 2012, when they stopped minting one cent coins. The first Canadian one cent coin was struck in 1858. One strange quirk is that the word penny in Canada used to refer to a two-cent coin, even though they never issued any 2 cent coins! It is possible they were referring to US 2-cent coins, which were issued from 1864 to 1873, but more likely because a French sous was worth approximately half a (British) penny, therefore a two sous coin was the near equivalent of a penny.

In Euroland, the Irish recently started to phase out the use of one and two cent coins, but most of their discussions were also about dropping the penny!

One solution could be to emulate Zimbabwe, where high inflation means that one US dollar is worth about 360 Zimbabwe dollars, or about 520 to a British pound. This neatly avoids the need for any fractional denominations.

Talking about fractional coins:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lawrence_chard/7145393421/

...which also reveals a surprising etymological link between coins and anatomy, as does this:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lawrence_chard/6390568191/

Perhaps the guy he mentioned getting a cent stuck in his anus was going for the closest alternative.

Disappointed by the anachronism of baby-cut carrots, which weren't produced until 1986. Real 1920s hamsters would have had to peel and slice their own full size carrots, many of which were larger and heavier than the hamsters themselves, before storing them in their stylish cheek-pouches.

Comedy timing > Arbitrary contemporisation


The moment of static (esp the hiss sound) creates a naturalistic feeling pause/reset between each unrelated snippet of humour. A "comedy beat" if you will.

If this video was edited with the smooth silent transition one gets with modern digital broadcast it would detract significantly from the overall effect i.e. beat, reset, beat, reset, beat etc.....

Analogue static does this job beautifully and despite being dated is still almost universally understood/recognised by viewers. Perhaps another less anachronistic technique might have worked (with "boop" noises or something) but the fact remains that this whole static thing does the job wonderfully (for most of us anyway).

It's not "dumbass" when it works this well and the last 70-80 years of visual media didn't just disappear from the cultural memory when digital came along.

If you think you can do better then be my guest, maybe you might find a way that's even funnier and changes peoples attitude. Until then the artistic choices of others stand on their own merits and personally I can't think of an editing technique that would fit this style of vid better.


In summary, it's comedy not a documentary and out of place anachronism is a well practised and successful comedy technique (i.e. the very fact its so out of place is part of the reason its so funny). Why does that bother you so much???

This vid is a lot of fun It might get a few more views with a little blurb selling it in English... Minstrels! Musketeers! Dumas! Anachronisms! Folk rock! Everything was better.

Buy all the guns you want, the government has the A-10 Warhog and the AH-64 Apache Helicopter. Your pea shooter ins't going to do shit.

The 2nd amendment is a lingering anachronism.

>> ^Payback:

Why does neat stuff like this only happen in foreign countries?
I mean, other than them all being arrested for disturbing the peace or street performing without a permit.


I'm assuming you mean why doesn't this happen in America? The reason is America doesn't have a public commitment to the arts like the European countries. Europeans think this music and this ensemble is an important part of their culture. I think too many Americans look at orchestras and opera companies like over-funded anachronisms.

This isn't to say that there aren't street performances in the US. Quite to the contrary, they're all over the place (weather permitting.) However, they're usually playing guitar and hand drums.

That was definitely the crux of my point. We definitely don't live in an equal world. We won't get there in our lifetimes, probably not even our children's lifetimes.

My only point is that, hopefully, one day they will not be needed. The problem is, when you've had an organization exist for so long...but then at some point is no longer needed. People have trouble letting go.

It's the same for racism. Hate and ignorance doesn't go away overnight. People don't want to let go of what they believe has worked for so long.

Anachronisms don't die easily

I'm just hoping they're still holding pod races on Tatooine in the OG timeline and that's what we saw...... *cringe smile*

Otherwise the whole Darth Vader bit in the vid's an anachronism.... *cringe smile* right?

I don't think this is authentic. Chuck full of anachronism.

http://www.videosift.com/video/Ron-Paul-on-Homeschooling#comment-471053

In reply to this comment by jonny:
You're both wrong. The problem with the public education system in the U.S. is not monetary. It's jurisdictional. Why do we allow thousands of local school boards decide what will and will not be taught? Many (most?) of these school boards are filled with agenda driven ideologues who haven't the least bit of experience in teaching or education.

You want to improve the education system? Devise a comprehensive curriculum for K-12 that is rationally based and universal. Local decisions about what kids need to learn is an anachronism from the agricultural bliss of Jefferson's mind.

Or perhaps you think that each local community can decide for itself whether or not evolution or calculus or music or critical thinking should be taught.


This is not about money. It's about ideas, and the ones that as a coherent society we wish to further. Sure, keep letting those local school boards decide that the "evolution controversy" should be taught. I don't care how much money you give them, they will still churn out class after class of folks who think fossils are the work of the devil.


PS: blankfist, L.A. = Los Angeles, LA = Louisiana.

You're both wrong. The problem with the public education system in the U.S. is not monetary. It's jurisdictional. Why do we allow thousands of local school boards decide what will and will not be taught? Many (most?) of these school boards are filled with agenda driven ideologues who haven't the least bit of experience in teaching or education.

You want to improve the education system? Devise a comprehensive curriculum for K-12 that is rationally based and universal. Local decisions about what kids need to learn is an anachronism from the agricultural bliss of Jefferson's mind.

Or perhaps you think that each local community can decide for itself whether or not evolution or calculus or music or critical thinking should be taught.


This is not about money. It's about ideas, and the ones that as a coherent society we wish to further. Sure, keep letting those local school boards decide that the "evolution controversy" should be taught. I don't care how much money you give them, they will still churn out class after class of folks who think fossils are the work of the devil.


PS: blankfist, L.A. = Los Angeles, LA = Louisiana.

Religion should be an anachronism of a bygone era, it doesn't really contribute much to modern society, only detracts from progression. I'm not too sure why Americans are so insistent to cling on to religious tradition and influence. In other parts of the world such as Europe and Asia, the populations are shifting towards an atheist majority fairly rapidly. Only time will tell if America will follow trend, until then, we have to deal with the whack job creationists.