Whoops...

[moominmuppet]

I laid down to take a little nap about 7:30pm. And woke up at 2:30am. Oops. Should go back to bed; I have to be up in about three hours to go escort.

In the process of unpacking the games I ran across two plastic toy scimitars that used to decorate my wall (I think they also used to make *crash* noises when you banged them together, but apparently not anymore). It got me idly wondering about why I don't like having toy guns around, but toy swords don't elicit the same reaction. I wonder if I lived in a society where swords were actually regularly used as weapons, would I feel differently? Would I feel differently about toy guns if I lived in a society where real guns weren't a hot-topic issue?

Comments

[musicalchaos.livejournal.com]

For me a lot of it boils down to the method of killing, and more over the perception there of. With a gun, it seems very... dispassionate, detached from the victim, where as with a sword or some other sort of close combat weapon, it's up close and personal. It's an ugly, bloody mess and you have to see the person you're killing, and frankly while neither is appealing, it seems a much harder thing to get through when you're standing right there and see just what has happened. I don't know, either way it's a horrible situation.

[moominmuppet.livejournal.com]

*nod* Much more personal, much less able to be "accidental". It definitely makes a difference in perception.

[musicalchaos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, as I perceive it, you really have to hate someone, be in an actual life or death situation, or be a card carrying certified psychopath to be able to kill someone up close.

[moominmuppet.livejournal.com]

*nod* Exactly.