cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board  

Go Back   cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board > non-Sports > Politics

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-30-2012, 03:03 PM   #1
MikeWaters
Demiurge
 
MikeWaters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 36,363
MikeWaters is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Fareed Zakariah favors gun control

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn....n-gun-control/

It's not surprising that pundits from all over are wandering into the mass shooting debate advocating more gun control.

Fareed is a supposedly smart guy. But the article he has written is so terrible, that it really stands out. For me, it's one of those moments where you realize that a guy doesn't do his homework and then blathers on a topic--and then it makes you question how knowledgeable he is on other topics. Maybe he does that for everything he writes about, and the reason you haven't realized it is because you aren't very knowledgeable about those other topics. Christoper Hitchens take on Mormonism offered such an example. Gleans some basic things and then goes off the reservation. What I am saying is that these guys are bullshit artists masquerading as smart reasonably writers.

Quote:
At one level, this makes sense, of course, as the proximate cause. But really, it’s questionable analysis. Think about this: are there more lonely people in America compared with other countries? Are there, say, fewer depressed people in Asia and Europe? So why do they all have so much less gun violence than we do?

The United States stands out from the rest of the world not because it has more nutcases – I think we can assume that those people are sprinkled throughout every society equally –but because it has more guns.
Fareed, there are more than two options here. Something as complicated as violence is influenced by an assortment of factors. But you are only here to offer glib analysis.

Quote:
I saw an interesting graph in The Atlantic magazine recently. A spectrum shows the number of gun-related deaths by state. Now if you add one more piece of data – gun control restrictions – you see that the states with at least one firearm law (such as an assault weapons ban or trigger locks) tend to be the states with fewer gun-related deaths.

Conclusion? Well, there are lots of factors involved, but there is at least a correlation between tighter laws and fewer gun-related deaths.
Of course he neglects to mention Chicago and Washington DC, the two places with the greatest amount of gun control, yes shockingly, the highest or close to the highest gun murder rates.

Quote:
Well, here’s what I found surprising: the U.S. is actually getting safer. In the decade since the year 2000, violent crime rates fell by 20 percent; aggravated assault by 22 percent; motor vehicle theft by 42 percent; murder – by all weapons – by 13 percent.
That crime generally has been falling is only a surprise to people who haven't been paying attention. People like Fareed Zakariah apparently. This means that Fareed has paid no attention to crime statistics in the past 15 years. I don't want to hear the opinion of a jackass who cares so little about violence and gun violence that he hasn't paid attention in 15 years, or perhaps his entire lifetime.

Quote:
But guns are the exception. Gun homicide rates haven’t improved at all. They were at roughly the same levels in 2009 as they were in 2000. Meanwhile, serious but non-fatal gun injuries caused during assault have actually increased in the last decade by 20 percent, as guns laws have gotten looser and getting automatic weapons has become easier.
Global expert on war and foreign policy and doesn't even know the definition of "automatic."

I have also found, on my own, an interesting correlation. The country that is the repository and defender of liberty in this world (the United States), that derives it's sovereignty from the people for the people, has the highest rate of citizen-ownership of guns.

That's an interesting correlation.

And that plays out in real life. Why the hell are liberals and others trying to give small arms to the rebels in Syria that are getting massacred?

I don't have the time to really spell out what a dumbass Fareed is. But the liberal policy on guns stems from a couple of things: 1) it's the state/govt.'s job to provide security and safety (not personal responsibility), and 2) "because I don't own a gun out of choice, I would feel safer if I thought no one else could own a gun." Sheeple.

These sheeple will always try to portray people like me as paranoid nuts. They will argue that we are on an uninterruptable path of progress, and anyone that thinks the American experiment could fail due to corruption or other factors is a loon. People like me that feel we need to constantly defend and maintain the republic and our freedoms are crazy.

Fareed, you are a dumbass and a hack. At least on this issue. Thus I give you no benefit of the doubt on any other issue. Your sloppiness here no doubt translates into sloppiness throughout your intellectual life.
MikeWaters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2012, 04:55 PM   #2
MikeWaters
Demiurge
 
MikeWaters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 36,363
MikeWaters is an unknown quantity at this point
Default

John Lott brings the hammer.

Article.
MikeWaters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2012, 05:24 PM   #3
Archaea
Assistant to the Regional Manager
 
Archaea's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: The Orgasmatron
Posts: 24,338
Archaea is an unknown quantity at this point
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeWaters View Post
John Lott brings the hammer.

Article.
Well-reasoned article.
__________________
Ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα
Archaea is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-01-2012, 02:04 PM   #4
ChinoCoug
Senior Member
 
ChinoCoug's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: NOVA
Posts: 3,005
ChinoCoug is an unknown quantity at this point
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeWaters View Post

That crime generally has been falling is only a surprise to people who haven't been paying attention. People like Fareed Zakariah apparently. This means that Fareed has paid no attention to crime statistics in the past 15 years. I don't want to hear the opinion of a jackass who cares so little about violence and gun violence that he hasn't paid attention in 15 years, or perhaps his entire lifetime.
OK, do you have anything substantive to say about Fareed's claims? Maybe an response for why all crimes have gone down except for gun violence?
__________________
太初有道
ChinoCoug is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-01-2012, 02:57 PM   #5
MikeWaters
Demiurge
 
MikeWaters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 36,363
MikeWaters is an unknown quantity at this point
Default

Non-fatal firearm crimes.




Nonfatal firearm-related violent victimization rate, 1993-2008 is down.


After 1996, less than 10% of nonfatal violent crimes involved firearm.



Homicide by weapon type.




This is the data that Fareed must be citing. Really? Homicides by guns are flat since 2000. When I look at the homicides by knife and other means they look pretty flat to me as well. I'm supposed to make some kind of conclusion about gun control based on these numbers? I know you are very interested in trying to understand why Fareed didn't present the data at the beginning of this post. BECAUSE HE HAS AN AGENDA. Duh.


Census Regions

http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/hom...cfm#regionweap


Homicide Offending by Race


The homicide rate for blacks was more than 7 times higher than whites, in 2005.
MikeWaters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-02-2012, 12:00 AM   #6
Archaea
Assistant to the Regional Manager
 
Archaea's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: The Orgasmatron
Posts: 24,338
Archaea is an unknown quantity at this point
Default

Well-done, Mike.
__________________
Ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα
Archaea is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-14-2012, 02:13 PM   #7
MikeWaters
Demiurge
 
MikeWaters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 36,363
MikeWaters is an unknown quantity at this point
Default

Shoddy work indeed. My instincts were right.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifest...ZtX_story.html
MikeWaters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-15-2012, 12:55 AM   #8
realtall
Senior Member
 
realtall's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Krum, TX
Posts: 891
realtall is an unknown quantity at this point
Send a message via AIM to realtall
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeWaters View Post
Shoddy work indeed. My instincts were right.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifest...ZtX_story.html
It's kind of a bush-league freshman mistake. He could have at least attributed the source of his graph data in the gun control article.
__________________
http://realtall.blogspot.com/
realtall is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-15-2012, 04:20 AM   #9
MikeWaters
Demiurge
 
MikeWaters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 36,363
MikeWaters is an unknown quantity at this point
Default

From someone at his level, it's a sign of dishonesty.
MikeWaters is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 02:04 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.