Good idea Sir Nikolas. As you read on that thread, I do agree with that course of action.
Rob:
I'm not debating it. I'm just telling you why some of us are so willing to talk about our tools. When you lose your herd of goats to a bear or a rabid dog, you don't stop and check to see who is president. I'm from the United States. Plural States. Each one is different and in a state the size of Pennsylvania you have a variety of regional customs. The central region is very underdeveloped. And that stretches in a chain from around New York down to Georgia and feathers out in a few areas. Many of us from there grew up on farms or in small towns. You didn't talk politics and you didn't talk religion. Your average person from those areas is usually very independent and apathetic toward the greater world and nation. Culture is different than politics. Culture can inform politics, but culture alone is not political. I admit, once I actually learned there was a larger world out there, I came to look at it as politics, but going back home after my mom died and meeting a lot of my old friends, we may disagree politically, but culturally we are the same people. When I get criticized for speaking differently, or get looked down on and accused of being stupid because I grew up on a farm, it's those kinds of things that remind me that even though I may now be more influenced by European ideas and concepts, I'm still a backwoods Pennsylvanian hillbilly. Steampunk is a subculture. Gun laws are politics. Going fishing in the middle of the night with a couple of good friends, throwing on Steve Earle, drinking cheap beer, and talking about muddin' that's regional culture. Talking about the overthrow of the bourgeoise and reading extensively on the influence of the Revolutions of 1848, that is personal politics and individual interests.
Mr. Oakes ... in the phrasing of the younger set, and relative to where I live (middle of the North American outback)
"Word" ... or, you simply could not have said it better.
I will do my best to curb all mention of tools required for forest living for the sake of our friends across the pond. There is no point in even discussing the whys and such of tool ownership ... here, there or anywhere (except an appropriate forum). In the vein of MarkF's post ... said tools are very very legal here, and looked upon in a light that many may not understand, meaning that folks living in my, and similar conditions may well miss the whole point of self-censorship. We simply see 'that stuff' as a tool ... like a hammer.
Furthermore, if my own frank mentions or descriptions of 'tools' has added fuel to the drama, I most humbly apologize.
* zips lip *
