Hoplophobia

[stickmaker]

At one of the last RiverCons, several years ago, I had an interesting encounter with someone who actively promoted irrationality in regard to a knife.

I was on an elevator crowded with non-fen women and children; part of a softball tournament, IIRC. One of the kids had pushed every single button, making for a long ride. I don’t recall him being punished, or the child's mother even protesting this. Anyway, I was taking a bread knife to the con suite to cut the sourdough bread I had dropped off there earlier. I didn't want anyone - me included - to bump into it, so I was holding it up, flat against my chest. One of the women glared at me and snarlingly chastised me for having a knife out in the open like that, where it could frighten someone, and "Why don't you hide it?"

I realized she wouldn't accept that I was holding it up to avoid hurting anyone. So I calmly said, in a slightly sinister voice, "Then it would be a _concealed_ weapon." She did her best to move away from me in the sardinized situation.

Comments

[boss-hoss.livejournal.com]

It's unfortunate the incident made you feel bad. Sheeple like that need to be taken down a few pegs whenever possible. What is sad is she will likely never have a clue how immature she was reguarding the knife nor in fostering a future dangerous thug with her "He's well-behaved! Its everyone else at fault!" attitude...