Whatever: The Open Lines Thread

[JayGab]

So KSM will be allowed to visit 🐱

Yeah just spread some peanut butter on dat thang and watch em'go t'town

[Bart Ell]

https://twitter.com/bart_ell/status/1219333668671565824

[GravitySucks]

https://twitter.com/klara_sjo/status/1219307298247540737

[anniem]

https://twitter.com/klara_sjo/status/1219307298247540737

Wups!

[sean92008]

Wups!

That must be a country where leaded paint, gasoline and water pipes still are used.

[Chimp Covfefe]

https://twitter.com/ChimpCovfefe/status/1219392118520713223

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

[GravitySucks]

This holiday and April 4th always bring back a disturbing memory for me. 

I was 13 when MLK Jr was assassinated. I was visiting my father who owned 7 acres in the country about 40 miles west of Chicago.  Out in the middle of nowhere. The house was set back from the road about 400 yards. 

Within an hour of the news that MLK had been assassinated my father was taking out rifles and ammunition and placing them near windows and doors around the house. 

Then he took me out back behind the horse barn and taught me how to shoot an old Springfield 30.06 rifle. He explained that there was a VISTA job corps camp down the road and that there was sure to be a riot with blacks marching down our road to kill any white people they saw. 

This was very foreign to me.  He told me that if he had to start shooting people once they came on to our property I was to do the same.  For 2 or 3 days we “stood guard” watching day and night for any commotion on our country road. I slept on the kitchen floor near the back door.  I am glad no one walked down our road. 

I think this was much more than being prepared.  This appeared to me to be some real paranoia.  I never considered my father to be a racist. He certainly had prejudices like many whites did in the 60’s but I never saw him go out of his way to act like a racist.

This memory still troubles me to this day.  He’s dead so I can’t discuss it with him.  I’m glad I never had to shoot anyone.

[ShayP]

This holiday and April 4th always bring back a disturbing memory for me. 

I was 13 when MLK Jr was assassinated. I was visiting my father who owned 7 acres in the country about 40 miles west of Chicago.  Out in the middle of nowhere. The house was set back from the road about 400 yards. 

Within an hour of the news that MLK had been assassinated my father was taking out rifles and ammunition and placing them near windows and doors around the house. 

Then he took me out back behind the horse barn and taught me how to shoot an old Springfield 30.06 rifle. He explained that there was a VISTA job corps camp down the road and that there was sure to be a riot with blacks marching down our road to kill any white people they saw. 

This was very foreign to me.  He told me that if he had to start shooting people once they came on to our property I was to do the same.  For 2 or 3 days we “stood guard” watching day and night for any commotion on our country road. I slept on the kitchen floor near the back door.  I am glad no one walked down our road. 

I think this was much more than being prepared.  This appeared to me to be some real paranoia.  I never considered my father to be a racist. He certainly had prejudices like many whites did in the 60’s but I never saw him go out of his way to act like a racist.

This memory still troubles me to this day.  He’s dead so I can’t discuss it with him.  I’m glad I never had to shoot anyone.

Wow. @GravitySucks  I pictured that scenario in my mind.  To have your father instruct you to shoot people.  I can see why it still troubles you.  Honestly, it would me as well.  That situation is something one can't forget; especially at the age you were then. 

[PB]

This was a little before my time, but do keep in mind some context:  the Vietnam and other riots, Malcolm X, Panthers, et. al., cities burning... No one knew what was coming next.  It's a lot easier to look back and judge than it is to maneuver in the moment.  Long afterward there is plenty more information, and time to pick through it.

If you didn't see other examples of your father as a racist, hang onto that.


Not excusing anything, it must have been terrifying for a kid...

[PB]

Look what happened to white farmers and others in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, and what's going on in South Africa today.  Look at the blood people like Al Sharpton have on their hands.  Consideration of the possibility of his concerns was not absurd.

I doubt very much one or two people walking up the road would have been in any danger.

[GravitySucks]

Look what happened to white farmers in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, and what's going on in South Africa today.  Consideration of the possibility of his concerns was not absurd.

I doubt very much one or two people walking up the road would have been in any danger.

No they wouldn’t have.  What his actual instructions were amounted to if they stayed on the road to let them keep walking but if they turned towards the house and crossed the ditch he was going to start shooting and I was only supposed to shoot any others that came towards us. . 

I wasn’t naive to the problems in the country.  I lived much closer to the city on the west side. We had just experienced the riots at the Democratic convention the summer before.   A few months later I was mugged in broad daylight walking down a main thoroughfare after having to take my HS placement exams at a school that was 90% minority.  Luckily for me a cop car came around the corner just as things started to get serious.

The next time I handled a gun was when I moved to Texas when I was 16.  We needed meat and my father told me to take a rifle and go shoot a deer.  He told me to just shoot like be taught me.  I had a buck in my sights several times for about 15 minutes before I could pull the trigger.  And then I sat there and cried before I could go over and tag the deer.  As upset as I got when I killed that first deer, I can only imagine how messed up I would have been if I killed someone at 13.   

[sean92008]

No they wouldn’t have.  What his actual instructions were amounted to if they stayed on the road to let them keep walking but if they turned towards the house and crossed the ditch he was going to start shooting and I was only supposed to shoot any others that came towards us. . 

I wasn’t naive to the problems in the country.  I lived much closer to the city on the west side. We had just experienced the riots at the Democratic convention the summer before.   A few months later I was mugged in broad daylight walking down a main thoroughfare after having to take my HS placement exams at a school that was 90% minority.  Luckily for me a cop car came around the corner just as things started to get serious.

The next time I handled a gun was when I moved to Texas when I was 16.  We needed meat and my father told me to take a rifle and go shoot a deer.  He told me to just shoot like be taught me.  I had a buck in my sights several times for about 15 minutes before I could pull the trigger.  And then I sat there and cried before I could go over and tag the deer.  As upset as I got when I killed that first deer, I can only imagine how messed up I would have been if I killed someone at 13.

Nothing turns on "Alpha Male Mode" like protecting kids.

I've had a lot of good Samaritan situations come up and I'd not be afraid to say/do something.  When someone was looking in my back window when I had little kids in the house, I visualized killing him.  I was pulled off by neighbors...

[PB]

... I was mugged in broad daylight walking down a main thoroughfare after having to take my HS placement exams at a school that was 90% minority.  Luckily for me a cop car came around the corner just as things started to get serious...

I've wondered how I'd react if I were mugged.  First off, I believe someone out looking for trouble gets what they get if they find it.  Fuck 'em.

My first concern would be my own safety.  The mugger's safety would be of zero concern.  If I wasn't able to get away, but then got the upper hand, well, I'd make sure they stayed down.

[PB]

...  We needed meat and my father told me to take a rifle and go shoot a deer.  He told me to just shoot like be taught me.  I had a buck in my sights several times for about 15 minutes before I could pull the trigger.  And then I sat there and cried before I could go over and tag the deer.  As upset as I got when I killed that first deer, I can only imagine how messed up I would have been if I killed someone at 13.

I hated hunting and fishing.  I think I killed one dove and one fish before refusing to go again.

My dad would bring home fish and game birds.  He would take a week-long hunting trip with his buddies once a year, but never brought one home.  I thought he was the world's worst hunter until I realized he went for the backpacking (before there was backpacking) and didn't want to kill any deer either.

Full disclosure, I did catch some salmon once when I first moved to SF.  I wanted to try ocean fishing.  I was so seasick that day, I caught my limit right away - before the boat even stopped - and no one else ever caught any.  I was stuck out there throwing up for hours.  Lesson learned

[PolkaDot]

My wife is in AZ living it up!  And I'm here living it not as up but pretty good nonetheless.

https://www.arizonabiltmore.com/?WT_mc_id=zlada0ww1wa2psh3bng4advcty5dkt6multibr7_153663321_1004635&msclkid=d8bbc6c92ae01e1b781c98ec1ca0815f&gclid=CIiJ8NK1kecCFc2rZQoduzsAYg&gclsrc=ds

Looks like upscale prison.