Thursday, August 23, 2012

With all the recent gun violence there has been a call for stricter gun laws. People on the left side of the aisle are saying we need to ban some, most or even all guns, or at the very minimum make the process of aquiring guns legally more difficult. People on the right side of the aisle say that the gun laws are already strict enough, or even too strict and to continue clamping down would only make it so the criminals are the ones with the guns.

Where's my stance?

Well I'm glad you asked because that's what this blog post is about.

First off, I am neither a hunter nor a gun enthusiast. I do enjoy shooting guns on occasion and was raised in a household where guns were present and well respected, I myself have no real use for guns. My father told me on a number of occasions that you should hunt if you need to, and never go to waste what you kill. That being said, I never really enjoyed hunting. Sure there was a bit of thrill when the quarry was sited and the trigger was pulled, but I only ever accompanied my dad on a few of his hunts and never actually wielded the gun myself. I'm too tenderhearted I guess.

That being said, I am not going to call for the banning of guns, or necessary further restrictions. I do think that mental health professionals should have the means to better alert the system to potential dangerous patients, as the last few (and by few, read most) of the shooters in the last several years were obviously deranged and several of them were in treatment at one point or another for mental issues.

Now that being said I don't take the stance that guns are just a tool and guns don't kill people, people do. That's ridiculous, guns are certainly a tool, but they serve one singular function and that is to kill things. While I don't want to see the government come in and take away individuals gun collections I do know that those gun collections have only one purpose and to say otherwise is completely dishonest.

There is also a disconnect I think, the biggest gun advocates are Christians. I find that odd that those that would be in favor of a deadly weapon would also be followers of a man who devoted his life to peace, never carried a weapon himself and told his followers to turn the other cheek, which quite literally meant if somebody caused you harm forgive them and allow them to continue if they must. On that same note the Christian churches have a history of violence, most notably the crusades that lasted two and a half centuries, so perhaps the disconnect isn't as apparent as I think it is.

As for me. Sure there's a security issue. Guns do give people the sense of protection they need, I personally do not want that. I try and walk the path of peace, sure I may jokingly threaten to punch or kick somebody, but it is mostly just that, a joke. I'd even be willing to throw punches at this stage if need be, but I hope that someday soon even that urge dissipates.

So while I'm not a gun control advocate, I can not be said to be an advocate for guns either.

I'm a gamer.

Boardgames. Tabletop roleplaying games, Computer games. I love games. I love to play games. I love to read about games. I love to read about the HISTORY of games.

Yes. I'm that big of a geek.

I find the history of gaming fasinating. Don't ask me why. Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax coming up with D&D. Nollan Bushnell coming up with Atari. H. G. Wells coming up with Little Wars. This stuff fasinates me, and I will read a blog post of an interview with Larry Elmore, or Jeff Grub and be as enthralled as I would be watching my favorite movie. I've never given much though as to the why's and wherefores of my fascination with all things gaming.

And oh man is there a lot.

There is of course the big three categories (lumping card games in with board games simply because it's simplier that way). But each big category has a ton of nitpicky smaller categories to go with it.

Board games/Card games can be divided into Euro games, Ameri-trash games, further divided into strategy, worker placement, roll and move, push your luck, bidding, family, war, party... the list goes on you can start trimming each of those categories (which might honestly hold some of the other categories mentioned with in). I love strategy games, as well as some Ameri-trash (games with lots of components and some random mechanics) I do like a variety of card games as well, my new favorites are deck builders: card games where you build your deck out of a central pool of cards everybody has access too.

Video games of course have their categories. Roleplaying, first person shooters, platformers, sports games, racing games, fighting games, action games... the list goes on. Person I like roleplaying, platformers some action and strategy with point and click adventures becoming something of a new favorite.

Now RPG's, of course there's sci-fi and fantasy and horror. There's also old west rpgs, spy vs. spy rpgs, bizarre rpgs based off of cartoons (specifically one called Toon). Most use dice as a randomizer though some use cards, others use specialized dice (beyond the funny polyhedral shapes), while a few are dice-less and are elaborate shared stories or even acting exercises depending on the game. I love fantasy, D&D was the old stand by. I play Pathfinder now, which is essentially D&D in a different package. I also love Star Wars. For horror, well I'm a old timer and nothing can beat Call of Cthulhu.

I don't play games as much as I'd like. Part of it is finding people to play with. Though I do have a handful of games that I can play solitaire which is pretty awesome. I do run a pseudo-bimonthly Pathfinder game which is a good deal of fun at times. I do futz around with video games as well. I lack motivation though. How the hell does one lack motivation to play games? Well.. I don't have an answer but as dumb as it is it is true.

That being said. Games will probably come up frequently on this new revitalized blog. I have a lot I can review. I have suggestions to throw out for those with questions and I want suggestions from those who also enjoy playing games, any kind of game. I do tend towards older games when it comes to video games, but other than that....
Game on.

Labels:

Monday, August 20, 2012

Three levels of 'belief'

It's an amazing train wreck to watch somebodies beliefs fall apart. Not just be challenged. I personally feel everybody needs to have their beliefs challenged constantly, and if they exist in society in any capacity they will have those beliefs challenge. However when someones beliefs fall apart, especially if it happens suddenly, they usually go off the deep end a bit. Usually this takes the form of rebellion against the social mores that they have rejected. This is seen in teens and young adults all the time. But it's usually something that they "grow" out of, the reason honestly is that usually the beliefs that were challenged were not at a deep enough level to "stick".

In my perspective there are several tiers of belief. The first tier, or primary beliefs are those that aren't usually questioned. You don't think about them. These aren't religious beliefs but the acceptances, typically by inductive reasoning, of constants in your life. Your parents are your parents, the sun will rise in the morning, you are who you are. There are a multitude of primary beliefs many are common to each other simply because it's stuff we don't question typically. Now some of you may be saying "a lot of these things are factual" well, perhaps, but there is a distinct difference between how we treat them: when examining things that are "factual" (the sun rises in the east for example) we don't question the why or how, it's just accepted as being a fact. There isn't a great reason why the sun does this, we just accept it as part of our world. Now some individuals do dig into the reason why, they want to know the reason why things are and usually fall into one of two camps: scientists or philosophers. 

It's rare that primary beliefs are shaken. It usually happens in one of two ways, either some major discovery that changes the perspective humanity itself occurs, or something deeply personal happens to shake your perspective. The humanity changing even would be akin to the revelation that the Earth was not in fact the center of the solar system. This belief is considered foolish today but 500 years ago was widely accepted as being a fact. A personal revelation is more akin to discovering you are adopted, or even more extreme losing a loved one suddenly. 

Above primary beliefs are secondary beliefs, the best example I can give are these are religious beliefs. They explain in some ways the primary beliefs that a person has, while giving reasons for the level above them, tertiary beliefs. Tertiary beliefs are things that can change, and will change several times through out an individuals life. These are things that we may adhere too for several years at a time, have a large bearing on who we are during that time, but fluid and able to change, typically in a gradual fashion (e.g. favorite bands, sports team, books). 

Tertiary beliefs can become secondary beliefs, and through a tremendous amount of effort secondary beliefs can become primary beliefs. Religious beliefs I would categorize typically as secondary beliefs. This isn't to say that they aren't important, secondary beliefs have the potential to completely shake somebody to their core, and can effect both primary and tertiary beliefs, but because they can change, especially in one's youth so easily they do not start out as primary beliefs. Only through years of acceptances do they ever truly reach this level. 

Now for the train wreck I mentioned above, with teenagers and young adults their beliefs being shaken are usually tertiary. They have a crisis, which is generally short lived, and then move on. That isn't always the case. Having your secondary and primary beliefs challenged at this age is amazingly traumatic, but is something people can recover from. Older adults though, have primary beliefs rejected, or secondary beliefs wholly challenged can leave them a wreck for years. 

I don't enjoy watching the train wreck. Having your beliefs shaken to the core can lead one down some bizarre roads that they would never walk down otherwise. It can lead to the joining of mass movements, it can lead to self isolation, it can lead to radicalism. I watch friends going through life changes and I wonder what beliefs they have had to change in order to cope with their new situation. If I could be an uncaring outside observer it would make it easier. I'm not. So I really don't like seeing friends or family go through this, typically their changes cause changes in my tertiary beliefs. 

This is a topic, like bias (in fact I feel it ties very closely to bias) that I have given a considerably amount of thought about. I've been exploring these ideas now for a decade (while bias is a new line of thought I'm chasing) and will probably continue to do so for years to come. This is not adequate to explain everything I've thought about the subject or how I came to the conclusions I've reached, but I guess it's a start and like bias it's something that I'll likely revisit many times in the future. 

Labels: ,