# I pit the woman who said: "Why do you have a Machine Gun? This isn't Israel!" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 23, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636 "2003-12-23T13:56:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/41 "2003-12-24T03:58:39Z")
I’m not that important. ---
**Author:** ![Palewriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@Palewriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palewriter)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/42 "2003-12-24T04:09:04Z")
“The fascists took over in January, 2001.” That’s somewhat of a remarkable statement, Diogenes. Took over where, what? Are you, perhaps, another whiney anti-Bush Democrat? Just go ahead and vote. It’s your democratic right, right? Personally, if someone is charged with protecting my ass, I’m delighted if they have at least an SMG. - PW ---
**Author:** ![45\_70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/5f9b8f/32.png) [@45\_70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/45_70)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/43 "2003-12-24T04:16:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*I’m not that important. \*\* What makes the person important is the mouth. The loudest complainers are always the first to go in a facist environment. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/44 "2003-12-24T04:24:45Z")
No militant fascist bastards anywhere. Maybe France. Sorry. They were German border guards just doing their jobs. It was one of many border crossings on the way to Vienna. The currency would change every time I took a nap – seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/45 "2003-12-24T04:39:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*I’m not that important. \*\* Hot damn… my new sig! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/46 "2003-12-24T04:47:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Palewriter \* > \*\*“The fascists took over in January, 2001.” > > That’s somewhat of a remarkable statement, Diogenes. Took over where, what? Are you, perhaps, another whiney anti-Bush Democrat? Just go ahead and vote. It’s your democratic right, right?\*\* I’m not a Democrat. > [@](#): > > **Personally, if someone is charged with protecting my ass, I’m delighted if they have at least an SMG.** But when the band plays “Hail to the Chief,” you know they point the SMG right at you. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/47 "2003-12-24T04:55:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 45/70 \* > \*\*What makes the person important is the mouth. The loudest complainers are always the first to go in a facist environment. \*\* What makes them important is if they can influence other people. A loud mouth _per se_ is not a threat unless that mouth can find an audience. This is especially true when you’re talking about a _crypto_-fascist regime like the Bush administration. They can’t allow themselves to be too obvious. They squelch free speech but they do it more subtle ways, like having the Secret Service march protesters a half mile down the road to “free speech” zones out of eyeshot of Bush and tv cameras…or maybe like blowing your wife’s intelligence cover as retribution for exposing Bush’s lies. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/48 "2003-12-24T06:39:47Z")
[quote] **crypto-fascist regime** That’s a great buzzterm among the loony left conspiracy set. It means nothing, save that the one using it has no real evidence to back up the “fascist” assertion being made. “Crypto” means BS when dealing with public policy. If the world really were as simple as partisan politics, oh, what a merry Christmas it would be. Moving protesters a short distance away?! Oh, the humanity. What’s next, summary executions? ---
**Author:** ![SeekingTruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@SeekingTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeekingTruth)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/49 "2003-12-24T07:04:10Z")
Dio, we get it. You despise Republicans. Every thread you post to eventually takes a swing at them.Do you hate Lincoln? Would you prefer slavery still be accepted? (Weak, I know, but sometimes a Republican can actually do some good). Oh, wait, you said you’re not a Democrat. So either you’re a 3rd Party loon, or you just hate America altogether. Which is it? Please feel free to reply anyway you want, there aren’t any government agencies that will show up at your door tonight. You live in a country so free that you can rant as you see fit, and feel safe after closing out of SDMB. Really sucks living in the U.S., huh? ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/50 "2003-12-24T07:12:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\*The only place where visible machine gun-toting characters can be found is the US, in my experience. \*\* I fly through Frankfurt every 5 weeks. There are always a few uber-sized guards with sub-machine guns wandering around there. In Dubai you see guards with pistols. In Yemen you see them with pistols and AK’s. The guys with the AK’s scare the crap out of me. Not because I think they’d use them on anyone purposely, but having been in the military myself, I know enough not to use my rifle as prop for leaning on. I keep waiting for the **“BANG”** that indicates someone just vaporized their noggin. I’ve never seen such a blatant disregard for the basics of weapon safety. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/51 "2003-12-24T07:44:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SeekingTruth \* > **Dio, we get it. You despise Republicans. Every thread you post to eventually takes a swing at them.Do you hate Lincoln? Would you prefer slavery still be accepted? (Weak, I know, but sometimes a Republican can actually do some good).** I despise Bush, not republicans. i think if you really look at my posting history you’ll see that I basically just bash Bush and his administration. I don’t bash Republicans or conservatives in general (although I might bash a policy or two). Lincoln was a liberal, btw. Party ideologies change over the years. Republicans weren’t always on the right. > [@](#): > > **Oh, wait, you said you’re not a Democrat. So either you’re a 3rd Party loon, or you just hate America altogether.** There are two stupid assumptions in that senrence. One is that all third parties are 'loony," the second is that if someone doesn’t belong to any poltical party they must “hate America.” I’m a liberal independent. I’ve never belonged to any political party and I’ve never hated America…please, get another strawman. That one’s had the shit kicked out of too many times… > [@](#): > > \*\*Which is it? Please feel free to reply anyway you want, there aren’t any government agencies that will show up at your door tonight. You live in a country so free that you can rant as you see fit, and feel safe after closing out of SDMB. Really sucks living in the U.S., huh? \*\* I can rant as long as I don’t do it in earshot of the president. I also better not bust him on any lies or he’ll put a hit on my wife. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/52 "2003-12-24T08:30:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\* > I can rant as long as I don’t do it in earshot of the president. I also better not bust him on any lies or he’ll put a hit on my wife. \*\* So what is the weather like on your planet this time of year? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Serpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Silver\_Serpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Serpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/53 "2003-12-24T09:18:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Dio, we get it. You despise Republicans. Every thread you post to eventually takes a swing at them.Do you hate Lincoln? Would you prefer slavery still be accepted? (Weak, I know, but sometimes a Republican can actually do some good). I’m not touching the rest of this post with a ten foot pole, BUT . . . Wasn’t Lincoln a Democrat by today’s political standards? If you asociate past political parties with what we have today (basically conservative/liberal), you’ll find that party names and ideologies don’t always match the current system we have. Republicans during Lincoln’s time were the “bleeding-heart liberals” as today’s Democrats, and vice-versa. So, in name, yes, the Republican’s have done some good. But they weren’t the Republican’s of today. One of the few things I remember from History class. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Serpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Silver\_Serpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Serpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/54 "2003-12-24T09:20:01Z")
DAMNIT. Take those spostrophes out, please. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Serpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Silver\_Serpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Serpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/55 "2003-12-24T09:22:09Z")
AH! “apostrophes” Bad night. ---
**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/56 "2003-12-24T12:27:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AnimistDragon \* > **Wasn’t Lincoln a Democrat by today’s political standards? If you asociate past political parties with what we have today (basically conservative/liberal), you’ll find that party names and ideologies don’t always match the current system we have. Republicans during Lincoln’s time were the “bleeding-heart liberals” as today’s Democrats, and vice-versa.** Well, no, Lincoln was somewhere to the right of Pat Buchanan. So were Douglas, McClellan, _et al._. So were the great majority of politicians until the mid-1960s. It’s possible to credit some of the “Radical Republicans” (mostly, although not entirely, from New England) with having views on race relations that would have passed as enlightened in 1954. They were only briefly in control of the party, however, and, by the mid-1870s, the North was tired of spending money and blood to try and suppress white Southern terrorism (Ku Klux Klan, Knights of the White Camellia, etc.) Plus, the attitude of Dixie towards blacks, whilst hardly anything that could be termed “racial equity”, was good enough for the time (the vast majority of Northerners were equally bigoted). Jim Crow didn’t really get rolling until the 1890s. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/57 "2003-12-24T13:48:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phlosphr \* > Then the camera man caught this young woman yelling at an armed police officer. > > _“\…Why do you have a machine gun? This isn’t Israel! Fascist!..\”_ > > I almost spilled my coffee! Why on earth would you say something so blatently ignorant, so obtuse! Well, it’s a free country, you see, and among the many freedoms people enjoy is the freedom to be a complete idiot. I dunno, maybe she’s part of the crowd that feels All Guns Are Bad. Maybe she feels we should be able to reason with the poor, oppressed terrorists who have “issues” :rolleyes: Maybe she’s clueless. Maybe all of the above. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Beagle_ > crypto-fascist regime That’s a great buzzterm among the loony left conspiracy set. Every time I hear the term “Crypto-Fascist” I can’t help but think of the “Timeslides” episode of _Red Dwarf_. Which makes me want to giggle. Which really ticks off the people who use crypto-fascist in a serious manner. I’m just trouble all around, I guess. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Alessan_ > As an Israeli, I don’t know whether or not I should feel insulted. I imagine it’s somewhat similar to how I feel when there’s some horrific mass-shooting in, say, New Zealand where one lunatic massacres a couple dozen people and all the folks on the TV say things like “Well, I’d expect something like that to happen in America but not _here_…” A sort of hurt befuddlement - you don’t _really_ think the whole country is like that, do you? - followed by the realization that provincialism is everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/58 "2003-12-24T14:06:31Z")
Traveling through Europe in the mid-late '80s, I always remembered the Caribineri in Italy. Two guys on patrol carrying MP5’s on chest harnesses and a definite look of “don’t fuck with us”. IIRC, this was also around the time of the height of the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigade) shenanigans. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/59 "2003-12-24T14:19:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*Fortunately for me, only Muslims get sent to Guantanemo. \*\* None of the Muslims I know were sent to Guantanamo. There’s quite a large population of them around here. We’re talking about fewer than a thousand people, almost all of them captured oversees fighting against our forces, as compared to six million Muslims living free in the United States. I think accusations of fascism are pretty far-fetched. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636/60 "2003-12-24T14:21:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Broomstick \* > \*\*I imagine it’s somewhat similar to how I feel when there’s some horrific mass-shooting in, say, New Zealand where one lunatic massacres a couple dozen people and all the folks on the TV say things like “Well, I’d expect something like that to happen in America but not _here_…” A sort of hurt befuddlement - you don’t _really_ think the whole country is like that, do you? - followed by the realization that provincialism is everywhere. \*\* While I agree that statements like that aren’t the nicest thing to say about your country, can’t you at least understand the sentiment behind it, though? Mass shootings reported in the media here in Europe (and I’d imagine in NZ and OZ as well) tend to happen in the US in 90% of all cases, if I were to hazard a guess. In countries where gun ownership is restricted to the police, the army, and people who shoot for fun at a range, a snapping person killing a dozen coworkers _is_ “an American kind of thing”, for better or worse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-woman-who-said-why-do-you-have-a-machine-gun-this-isnt-israel/220636.md?page=4)