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| The Ice Cream Man |
A basic tenet of civilization is that the property of a citizen is worth more than the life of a barbarian. I’ve been thinking about this, abd I think that’s right. Especially if barbarian is held to have the meaning of one outside of civilized society. | ||
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A Grateful American |
And the #1 reason civilizations fail. For the worth of the man, is not in his possessions, but his heart, and a man with great possessions, most always trades his heart for them. The heart of the barbarian, stays true throughout his life. -monkeyosophy "the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" ✡ Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב! | |||
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| The Ice Cream Man |
I’m not saying it’s Christian, but a thief is also a slaver, and I’m not sure that should be tolerated. | |||
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| Too soon old, Too late smart |
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19–21). I'm not especially religious but this verse has always stuck with me. _______________________________________ NRA Life Member Member Isaac Walton League I wouldn't let anyone do to me what I've done to myself | |||
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| Experienced Slacker |
I've come to believe that experiences are better than property. I do like to have some of both, and think it wise to be prepared for at least some unforeseen events. But do I try to have every base covered at all times and/or lose sleep over what I might not have thought of? No. Life is short and meaningless enough without any help in wasting it from me. | |||
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| The Ice Cream Man |
I’m not talking about personal philosophy- maybe this distinction makes more sense to those who’ve had to do ethical, immoral, things. I think another one has to be some sense of guilt or shame over failure. To let the rioter burn a city, saying “it’s just property damage” imperils a civilization. To let a willing buyer and willing seller, knowingly, engage in the commerce of fentanyl, does not. This may be a useful refinement to “broken windows.” Drug sales, prostitution, gambling and illicit weapons don’t really matter, provided every instance of theft and violence is addressed as vigorously as possible. My family has been, professionally, in food for generations. One great aunt was know to be exceptional. When asked how she got so good, she said she fed a lot of ducks. Any time something didn’t meet her standard, she fed it to her poultry, rather than let people know she made it | |||
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| Freethinker |
If someone wants to live without any possessions, that’s fine. If I were really interested I would want to learn, though, how that’s possible (and living off someone else’s possessions is living with possessions). (I’m not really interested in what anyone would offer as a supposed answer to the question because it’s manifestly impossible for any entity to live without acquiring some sort of possession.) For those of us who have possessions, a mentor long ago pointed out that they represent and are therefore part of our lives. If someone steals or destroys a possession, they have taken from me the part of my life that was necessary for me to spend to acquire that possession. Even if, as is largely true now, most of my income is not derived from current work, my pensions were acquired by spending part of my life on earning them. Now, does that mean that possessions control me or that they are necessarily more important to me than other things? Of course not. But decisions about how important they are, including how I might dispose of my possessions, are mine to make—no one else’s. ► 6.4/93.6 “ Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one’s own understanding without another’s guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one’s own mind without another’s guidance.” — Immanuel Kant | |||
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I Deal In Lead |
Well said. My sentiments exactly. | |||
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"Member" |
It's not because the property truly has more value, it's that the barbarian has devalued his own life in said society, living outside of it. (behaving outside it accepted norms) | |||
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| Member |
My approach (or logic) to this discussion is that I don't value material possessions over a person's life, but I do value MY WAY OF LIFE and that is somewhat determined by my possessions. If my way of life encroaches on yours, we can talk. However, short of any encroachment on my part, I will defend my way of life for me and my family and if that means a forfeiture of your existence because you tried to take that from me, so be it. Call me selfish, self-centered, or whatever term fits, but all life ends for every individual without doubt at some point. If another individual shortens his stay by the choices he makes, that is his way of life that he chose. My involvement is purely coincidental based on his decisions. | |||
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His Royal Hiney |
I see my property as something for which I exchanged a slice of my life which I'll never get back. Therefore, I see property as an extension of someone's life. "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946. | |||
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| Lawyers, Guns and Money  |
Where do you get that idea? "Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown "The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor | |||
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