Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Ridiculous response to tatp bomb question

Aperturescience27 - 29-4-2012 at 15:15

Someone on Yahoo Answers asked the question,
"When you build a tatp bomb after boiling the peroxide do i then mix in up with the flour?"
To which someone replied,
"Do you not realise how offensive that question is to most of the population who live in fear of terrorist attacks and dream of a world of peace and harmony? Even more so, to families reading this whose lives and world have been shattered through bombs, etc? If you have any type of moral deceny you would withdraw this question immediately."

I figured you guys would get a laugh out of this. Here's the link: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=2007011812394...

Why do you suppose people get offended by this? 9/11 victims don't get offended by people who build model planes.

AndersHoveland - 29-4-2012 at 16:22

Let us just say that the UK has a very different culture— a culture of political progressivism that is not very tolerant of individual liberties when they are seen as potentially threatening to the social objectives of the group. But people everywhere have a tendancy to think that people everywhere else think the same way that they do.

Quote:

"Do you not realise how offensive that question is to most of the population who live in fear of terrorist attacks and dream of a world of peace and harmony?"

I think this basically summarises what general public attitudes are like in the UK. The sad thing is that most of them are unable to see the ridiculousness of that online comment.

In a country that that does not even trust its own citizens with stun guns, much less real guns, one really cannot be surprised that they hold so much close-minded prejudice against explosives.

[Edited on 30-4-2012 by AndersHoveland]

Aperturescience27 - 29-4-2012 at 21:02

Whereas in the US we have an odd mix of obsession with and contempt for individual liberties. You can walk into a store with a concealed weapon, but you can't: marry someone of the same sex, distill ethanol without a permit, go through an airport without getting felt up by TSA agents, stage a peaceful protest, use the internet or do anything else without the government watching your every move (hello government!), and the list goes on.

Mister Junk Pile - 3-5-2012 at 00:07

"stage a peaceful protest"

What the hell? I never thought I'd stand up for the police or govt. this much but: I'm willing to bet that 90% of protests that are broken up by police contained people who were assaulting the police or vandalizing property.

AndersHoveland - 3-5-2012 at 00:40

Quote: Originally posted by Mister Junk Pile  
I'm willing to bet that 90% of protests that are broken up by police contained people who were assaulting the police or vandalizing property.


In many other countries, the police forces often sneak undercover agents within the crowd that act disorderly, to give the police an excuse to attack. Or the police intentionally use threatening actions, such as sending calvary charging into the protesters, or forcing their way in organised formations through the crowd to surround them on all sides, anything to provoke some of the protesters to violence.

[Edited on 3-5-2012 by AndersHoveland]

Aperturescience27 - 3-5-2012 at 14:16

Quote: Originally posted by Mister Junk Pile  
"stage a peaceful protest"

What the hell? I never thought I'd stand up for the police or govt. this much but: I'm willing to bet that 90% of protests that are broken up by police contained people who were assaulting the police or vandalizing property.


The protests might "contain" people who use the protest as an excuse to assault the police or vandalize property, but just about any protest attracts a few people who just want to break things. This doesn't justify arresting the rest of the protesters. In fact, government mistreatment of peaceful protesters has become a meme: http://peppersprayingcop.tumblr.com/

MagicJigPipe - 3-5-2012 at 20:17

Anders, I should've mentioned that I was primarily referring to the United States. I'm sure these things do happen and I am totally against them when they do. However, I think it's easy to take just one side of the issue. I think that being a cop faced with a massive crowd that could potentially be violent is somewhat intimidating. I think I would be afraid. Especially if they're chanting violent things or throwing rocks and setting things on fire.

And although it might not be but just a few people who are doing these things, how are they supposed to handle a situation like that? Just walk right into the crowd and slowly and carefully pick out the people who are behaving badly? I can't imagine it's anywhere near that easy and to suggest that it is, I think, is a monumental error.

Yes, I believe that police/govt. abuse their power in this way far too often, but I also believe that a lot of the cries of injustice are hyperbole, miscalculation, extreme bias or even downright dishonesty. We should always be skeptical of both sides.

Aperturescience27 - 5-5-2012 at 14:10

Quote: Originally posted by MagicJigPipe  
Anders, I should've mentioned that I was primarily referring to the United States. I'm sure these things do happen and I am totally against them when they do. However, I think it's easy to take just one side of the issue. I think that being a cop faced with a massive crowd that could potentially be violent is somewhat intimidating. I think I would be afraid. Especially if they're chanting violent things or throwing rocks and setting things on fire.


I understand that, in those situations, the police have to break up the protest, but I was talking about the times when they do abuse their power. I wasn't suggesting that police should never break up a protest, just that, in some cases, they do it when they don't need to, and arrest people who aren't being violent or destructive, and that's terrible and goes against the principles on which the country was founded.