• Dookieman12@piefed.socialEnglish
    91·
    2 hours ago

    If you see a snake coiling up and preparing to strike, do you wait until it bites you to stop it?

    If you have a cold, do you wait until you’re in the hospital to take medicine?

    When a man declares his intent to harm you, at that point, any violence against him becomes justified on the basis of self-defense. When a group of people declare their intent to harm all others, at what point does violence against that group become justified on the same basis?

    • LillyPip@lemmy.caEnglish
      5·
      1 hour ago

      So, fun and slightly unrelated story:

      In the late 80s, when I was a teen, we were driving through the Arizona desert to Mexico and there was this big stretch where there was just nothing. No radio, no rest stops, literally nothing. And I had to pee really bad.

      So we pulled over for me to do my business. It was an open desert with nothing to hide behind, so I went a bit from the road and found the biggest bush I could. It was dead and not full enough for much privacy, but far enough that I thought it gave enough cover. So I squatted and pulled down my shorts, and heard a really loud rattle. I didn’t even think. Just scrambled back towards the car, butt naked to the sky, scraping my knees in the dirt. Not even sure when or how I pulled up my shorts.

      I’d nearly pissed on a rattlesnake. The adults reassured me that they rattle instead of bite, so I wasn’t in real danger. They thought it was hilarious. I did not.

      Sometimes you don’t think, you just do what you can do.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 hours ago

      If you see a snake coiling up and preparing to strike, do you wait until it bites you to stop it?

      Generally speaking, snakes only attack when they feel threatened.

      But humans attack purely for the joy of killing.

      If I see a snake coiled up to attack, I back away and we both live another day. I don’t reach in to stab it, get bit in response, and die from the poison a few hours later.