I'm a Christian, and I absolutely detest American "thoughts and prayers"-ism. It's done so much damage to America (or abroad) and not just passively let evil deeds to keep happening, it also created and justified many of those deeds. Especially on gun violence, it's downright vile and the 2nd amendment "interpretation" (more like ignoring 100% of the context and 80% of the text before & after "right to bear arms").

This toxic combo of "thoughts & prayers" and "rights to bear arms".... is this "American Exceptionalism"? It happens to no other countries, and I don't see many of their government are less "democratic" or "free," nor its citizens have less rights.

The passivity of whole "thoughts and prayers" is NOT what Jesus said, nor what Jesus wants its followers do. If people read the NT, then they'll know Jesus is more of a SJW progressive/activist than what half of the US - the right leaning people - say Jesus is.

Oh, the all-too-easy "my heart breaks for..." whatever tragedy a politician/faith leaders heard and then DON'T do anything that they can help bring legislation to minimize said tragedy? Just as bad and hypocritical.

What gives a "law abiding" citizen the right to bare mass killing machine guns? Or owning hundreds and thousands of ammo in a home? For self-defense? Is that necessary? Really it's just a twisted sense of entitlement/freedom or some kind of nihilistic fetish. You know, I have the crazy "Borat" idea that if I'm an American (I'm Canadian, so I don't have the "right" to do anything directly), I'd troll the far-right Republican cultists using my Christian "credential" to demand my right to bear ANY arms... like anything from bombs, grenades to tanks, fighter jets and nuclear missiles as a private collection as long as I can afford it (Hooray, Capitalism!). It's my freaking "God"-given right! Carry the selective 2nd amendment reading to the extreme to see how ridiculous the status quo already is! ... But the thing is, I'm not sure anymore if there already IS a critical mass of far-right crazies that really believe what I said make total sense.

unsure of what was said. interpret this as 'he had the opportunity to say he was wrong for his actions, but has decided to avoid full responsibility for his behavior'.

or least that's my personal take of this 'bit'.

implying it was a 'thing' (fetish) needed, and the women (in his employ) okayed his action. nope. not buying it.

ignoring, rationalizing - it's not going away. weiner, allen, cosby, polanski...being creepy stays on your permanent record.

Ah yeah I think I hadn't heard a couple of those.

Definitely have heard the one about fetishizing a POC girlfriend as I've been in mostly interracial relationships myself. God I'm such a racist.

Seems like some kind of fetish.

Thank you for your reply Harlequinn.

I beg to differ: The rate of gun deaths in the USA is only low when compared to countries that are either active (civil-) war zones or basically run by drug cartels. When compared to other, similar developed countries, it is at least 4 times as high (when excluding suicides/accidents) .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate
I would call that a significant deviation from the norm and stand by my use of "staggering".

You compare gun deaths to deaths from car crashes. Others have already pointed out that one of the main differences is that cars are not tools for killing that are put into public hands and furthermore, since I asked you the question (that you did not answer): "Is the reason for the Second Amendment worth the amount of gun violence in the USA?", my follow up question would be: I can show you the (financial, societal, etc.) benefits of cars (i.e. individual travel by car) for the society, what exactly are the benefits of private gun ownership?
(Whether cars are really worth it, is a whole other discussion.)

Regarding suicide rates, this seems to be a compelling argument until you notice that suicide rates in some, equally developed countries and some lesser developed countries are higher than in the USA and that the number of gun killings that are not suicide is still way higher than in comparable countries (see above).

I do not think that gun violence in the USA can be blamed on mental health issues though <irony>unless you count gun/power fetishism among mental illnesses </irony>.
Edit: Saying that whoever commits an act of gun violence must be mentally ill is tantamount of saying that any criminal must be mentally ill and thus not responsible for his/her actions.

<aside>
One nice observation about this gun fetish (not by me, I think it was Bill Burr): Another common argument pro guns is that people are in it only for home security, if that were the case you would have tons of photos of people with their new door locks or magazine-covers with girls in bikinis in front of security doors.
</aside>

I applaud your stand on public (mental-) health policies though.

Now to your main question:
Have I ever encountered interpersonal violence against me or others?
Yes, but not on a level that bringing lethal force to the situation ever seemed warranted. Thankfully. One obvious reason for that is that I live in a country where I don't need to expect everyone else to carry a gun.
Would it be possible that I would think otherwise, if it would have been the case? Yes.
Would I be correct in thinking that way? No.

To explain: I am not a friend of passive aggressive "stand you ground" thinking. The sane response chain is: 1. Try not to let yourself be provoked, 2. try to de-escalate, 3. try to evade/flee, 4. try to defend yourself.....And of course: CALL THE COPS!

Does that harm my male ego? Yes.
Does that matter enough to me for me to risk killing another human being? No.

Pretty pathetic "expose"... a few racy jokes that fly over the kids' heads. Yawn.
It's pretty clear infowars WANTS drag to be viewed as taboo and fetish and so she keeps repeating that they ARE... but that's just not the case for the kind of Americans who would go to a drag con. For them, it's just fun to dress up and pretend.

Some folks just have a spillway fetish.

Featuring a Tarantinos' foot fetish shot.

Automatic up vote on anything Kill Bill.

Nice to see someone whose heart is bigger than his gun fetish.

Your video, How the media's weapons fetish primes us for war, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

How the media's weapons fetish primes us for war has been added as a related post - related requested by notarobot on that post.

No, IMO it was his lip service to the undereducated masses and downtrodden who didn't know any better than to believe him because they never actually looked into who he is. Had they just read his book, they would know his MO is promise the moon and deliver contaminated dirt, and lie, lie, lie until the lie is as prevalent as reality, never accept responsibility for any flaw, and take credit for any success, and always remember the little guy has no power, and treat them that way. His words (paraphrased), not mine.

Your suggestion then? Just shut up and wait 4 years, and in the mean time ignore his many disqualifying flaws, illegal actions, and completely thorough hypocrisy?
No thanks.
Let him prove he can read at an adult level...with the long form reading and comprehension test. Until then, he deserves to be labeled illiterate just like he labeled Obama an immigrant. Turn about is fair play. Once he proves that, we can move on to the next insulting accusations, like incest or urine fetishes. Trump himself created this game, now he has to play it.

Just did it!
Whale voyeurism. That is an exotic fetish. Just sayin'