4 ms·
Are knives the devil, because knives can be used to kill people?
by mahouse 11y ago
Are knives the devil, because knives can be used to kill people?
- Gankro 11y agoTheir argument doesn't appear to be "Tor is bad because it can be used for bad stuff" but "Tor is bad because it is overwhelmingly used for bad stuff today". That seems to be a meaningful distinction to me. (I don't really care about the argument/premise itself, I just find your sloppy attempt at a counter-argument to be weak)
- narrator 11y agoSince we're talking about the devil: The biblical standard for acceptable collateral damage is kind of interesting. God in the old testament said he wouldn't smite a city if there are at least 10 righteous people in it. /theologynerd http://biblia.com/bible/nkjv/Gen%2018.20%E2%80%9333 http://biblia.com/bible/nkjv/Gen%2018.20%E2%80%9333
- darkmighty 11y agoWhat was the population of a median city at the time? :P
- hackuser 11y agoThere's a much different notion of God in that passage (and much of the Old Testament) than most have now. The number 10 is arrived at after Abraham persuades God to lower the standard from 50. There are at least a few stories where mortals persuade God to change his/her mind.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- mercer 11y agoOf course, him being God he would've probably known the exact amount of righteous individuals in the city. Not to mention being able to define 'righteous'. That said, I've always been very fond of the passages in the OT where individuals managed to 'change' God's mind, as well as the general human emotions he appeared to have.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- subliminalbrad 11y agoNo, it argues that the Tor hidden services that the author knew about were overwhelmingly used for bad stuff. This is problematic in two ways: the methodology of gathering addresses was pretty suspect, and it glosses over the fact that the VAST majority of Tor traffic is headed to the open Internet, not a hidden service.
- Blackthorn 11y agoIf you're looking for a shoddy metaphor you should probably use swords instead, because the legitimate uses of knives vastly outnumber the killing-people uses of them but swords have it the other way around.
- thatcat 11y agoDuring the time period that Homer lived, they were also used as forks.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- nl 11y agoIf we are doing the whole argument by shoddy analogy thing, then I'll give you: The blade itself incites to deeds of violence. -- Homer, The Odyssey[1] [1] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/368547-the-blade-itself-incites-to-deeds-of-violence http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/368547-the-blade-itself-inci...