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Free Guy | Official Trailer

wraith says...

Watched it (on TV) and it was way better than the trailer suggested.

wraith said:

Stream of conciousness;

Oh another Superhero Movie ..... oh wait .... THIS does look different ... and even more boring!

It feels like 1/10 the Dark Knight, 1/5 Deapool, 1/1 Wreck It Ralph and 12/3 Ready Player One thrown together. And yeah I know that it is basically just a movie about GTA/Saint's Row.

Man I can't even remember when a trailer really really made me want to NOT watch a movie, like this one.

This trailer gives me the feeling that someone thought that every, run of the mill superhero/videogame-movie will get edgy if it stars Ryan Reynolds. This shows me two things: Hoolywood is stupd (who would have thought) and Ryan Reynolds was succesful in making you all forget Green Lantern. ;-)

Destroying an anthill...with gas

wraith jokingly says...

First time on VS after more than a year. Top 1 New Video is a viral video fromm two years ago, about someone from Brazil, trying to eradicate a cockroach infestation, with a new (and wrong) title.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.....

What Evangelical Leader are telling their people bout Corona

Wonder Woman 1984 Trailer

wraith says...

After the huge letdown of the first one, at least this trailer does not pretend to be about the most emancipated woman in movie history, who turns out to always need men (normal ones, without any powers) to help out AND explain the world to her.

But to quote a really funny comedy: "It's set in the eighties!" (in a disgusted sounding voice)

Free Guy | Official Trailer

wraith says...

Stream of conciousness;

Oh another Superhero Movie ..... oh wait .... THIS does look different ... and even more boring!

It feels like 1/10 the Dark Knight, 1/5 Deapool, 1/1 Wreck It Ralph and 12/3 Ready Player One thrown together. And yeah I know that it is basically just a movie about GTA/Saint's Row.

Man I can't even remember when a trailer really really made me want to NOT watch a movie, like this one.

This trailer gives me the feeling that someone thought that every, run of the mill superhero/videogame-movie will get edgy if it stars Ryan Reynolds. This shows me two things: Hoolywood is stupd (who would have thought) and Ryan Reynolds was succesful in making you all forget Green Lantern. ;-)

Honest Government Ad | Quiet Australians

wraith says...

The pessimist in me (i.e. "me") says that they will still elect the same people next time round.

A question I regularly ponder: Is it democratic to elect a government that will abolish democracy?

How Do 90% of Americans Have Jobs? - Daniel Tosh

wraith says...

Pretty funny and mostly on the point but when he proclaimd to have been famous for 20 Years I had to wonder.....why is this the first time in my life that I have heard from him?
Maybe he is world-famous ..... in Kansas.

Back-To-School Essentials | Sandy Hook Promise

wraith says...

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.

harlequinn said:

Thanks for the good questions.

a) yes
b) yes
c) no
d) yes
e) n/a

If you exclude suicide, the USA doesn't have a staggering rate of gun deaths. It is high compared to some other western countries, but on a world rate it is still very low.

When looking at public health (which is the reason for reducing gun violence) you need to be pragmatic. What will actually give a good outcome for public health? In this case there are about a half a dozen things that kill and maim US citizens at much higher rates than firearms do.

E.g. you are much more likely to be killed in a car crash than murdered by someone with a firearm. Cars by accident kill more people in the USA each year than firearms do on purpose. That's some scary shit right there. Think about that for a second, cars are more dangerous than firearms and people are not even trying to kill themselves or someone else with one. So as an example, you'd be better off trying to fix this first.

Or fix the suicide rate in the US. People aren't in a happy place there.

Obesity kills more people. Doctor malpractice kills more people. Etc. But these are hard issues to tackle that will cost billions or trillions. The low hanging fruit is firearms.

Free health care and mental health care, a better social security system, and various other means would all have magnificent outcomes on everyday life in the USA. But again, they cost a lot and require a paradigm shift.

Have you ever encountered interpersonal violence against you (i.e. had someone attack you)? Or have you maybe worked in a job where you often come into contact with people who have been attacked? I find people change their mind after they realize that they were only ever one wrong turn away from some crazy bastard who wanted to hurt them badly.

Out Of Gas

wraith says...

Or: "Car runs out of gas on the highway and the driver decides to endanger everyone else instead of walking a few hundred feet to the gas station."

Back-To-School Essentials | Sandy Hook Promise

wraith says...

@harlequinn:

Putting the legal concerns (It is in the constitution, so we have to heed it) aside, what do you think about the Second Amendment?

Was it meant to enable the people to
a) defend against foreign incursion (in lieu of a standing army)?
b) defend against an oppressive government (as a militia)?
c) assume police duties?
d) defend themselves (in absence of police)?
e) none of the above? (Please state what you think its intended meaning was.)

For your selected reason/s given above, does it/do they still apply today?

What do you think is the reason for the staggering amount of gun violence/deaths in the USA when compared with other countries?

Is the reason for the Second Amendment worth the amount of gun violence in the USA?


Full disclosure:
I am genuinely interested in your answers since you seem to have given this some thought (an impression I frankly do not have about bobknight33) .
I am not from the USA and against any form of private gun ownership except under some very rare circumstances.

Human Cannonball Launch Fail @ Calgary Stampede 2011

You Need to Know About This Caterpillar

Politicians React to Shootings in El Paso and Dayton

MIDWAY Trailer (2019) -- A WWII Movie

Rambo-Last Blood

wraith says...

Us men seem to be way more insecure than I previously imagined.

I get the Action Movies where a young, fit, trained specialist takes out an army of bad guys (against all odds) because he is the hero..

Young men like to watch this, because they have to much Testosterone.

I partly get the Action Movies where a middle aged man of a srtictly civilian persuasion is "pushed too far"(tm), normally by bad guys abducting (or just threatening) his family, and wipes out the bady guys (usually career criminals with lots of training in killing people) by the dozen.

Middle aged men seem to need this to get through the day.

What I really don't get is this slew of movies over the last years, where a retired, old and tired looking man, (usually after his daughter gets kidnapped) decides to come out of retirement one last time (or multiple times) to kill hordes of young, highly trained bad guys.

I get it why some men like to watch this, Testosterone makes you stupid like that, no matter if it comes in syringes, but the rest?



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