Originally Posted by drclockwork

I think we have a bit of a miscommunication here. I am, by no means trying to dictate what people can and can not do. Just because *I* feel that it's distasteful to carry a weapon in public and *I* think that it makes Americans look bad, I would never try to infringe on someone else's right to do whatever they wanted. I respect the man for exercising his rights. I don't have to *like* what he does, but it isn't my place to *tell* him what he should or should not do. I am not a fascist.

Having said that, no I don't think it's courageous, nor do I feel that it "goes against the grain" in the least. He has the right to do that, because it's in the Constitution that he can. Exercising one's rights isn't going against the grain. It's very much being part of the grain of our society. I think it's the police state that we live these days that's going against the grain of our society and is sanding our rights down to nothing (to continue with the woodworking metaphor).

Regarding me having courage, I suppose that's completely subjective. Some people say that some of the things I've done have been courageous. Some say that the things I've done in my life are completely stupid. I don't think they are anything in particular though. I've just done the things that needed to be done when it was time to do them. I dunno. Is it brave or stupid to be a founding member of a chapter of the Anti-Racist Action, and unblinkingly stare down the barrel of a KKK member's shotgun pointed at my head when I said that he will NOT be burning a cross on a black family's lawn that day. Is it brave or stupid to march for gay marriage, trans rights, leaving corporate America so I could start my own company and never have to be dependent on anyone else for the living I make, or even starting a family of my own in uncertain socioeconomic times? You can decide that on your own.