----------------------------------------------------------- New Message on Irish Fencing Forum
----------------------------------------------------------- From: DexterSin Message 68 in Discussion Well! That sparked off a fair response, didn't it? It's a shame that none of you appear to have actually read what I posted. What I actually said was (and I've isolated it here so that you can read it without all the other confusing words around it): "you are not responsible for your opponent's health and safety on the piste, and are therefore not morally culpable if you 'skewer' them, SO LONG AS YOU DID NOT SET OUT TO CAUSE THEM INJURY". (Sorry for shouting, by the way, but it seems to be the only way that I can get through to you). HamsandwichKeith seems not to have read this at all - he quoted me as saying "I'll hurt whoever I want to, and I don't care". At no time have I expressed this opinion, but that fact does not seem to matter to any of you. You all seem to prefer to make the facts up as you go along. My original point concerned the issue of responsibility for the safety of one's opponent. People appear to think that they are their brother's keeper, but the fact remains that your safety is primarily your concern; it is also the concern of the tournament organisers and the president of the bout. I don't care whether you think that this is "rubbish", Awesome_Marcos1; I've never seen anyone at a competition going around handing out free 800N gear just so that everyone can be as safe as possible (if this was the case, I wouldn't spend any money on my equipment). Of course I do not condone psychopathic individuals going around trying to break blades on people just to see a bit of blood flow, and I am not one of these individuals - apart from the fact that the court appearances wouldn't be worth the bother, I'd need to be a lot richer than I am to afford the cost in blades. My point was simply that if beginners enter a competition crammed with 'elite' fencers, and fail to wear all of the necessary safety gear, then they alone are responsible for any incident where they are impaled on a broken blade, ASSUMING that their opponent does not actually intend to break a blade in order to stab them. As I said, fencing is a combat sport, and there is a risk of serious injury or death. Even if you don't think that fencing has anything to do with combat, you surely must accept that it is an intrinsically dangerous activity, since blades do break and safety equipment does fail. In response to the ill-considered personal attack launched on me by HamsandwichKeith: A) See my little speech above. I only care about hurting other people up to a point - the point beyond which they are responsible for their own safety. People have to be treated as adults at some stage, HamsandwichKeith, even if you aren't one yet; and part of being an adult is taking responsibility for yourself and your own health. Got skewered because you were wearing tracksuit trousers? That's your own problem, and if injury can be prevented by wearing different equipment, then it is your responsibility to wear that equipment. B) Yes, it is a sport, but there is still an element of danger because you are fencing with metal rods which sooner or later will break. Perhaps you would be more comfortable sticking to the foam versions that Allstar sell. By the way, have you ever seen any of the top Italians (or French, Germans, Russians etc.) fence? The way they act (screaming, gesticulating, running into each other and so on) does not seem to be in keeping with your cosy little schoolboy sports philosophy of 'having fun'. C) Yes, blades do go through 800N gear, hence my use of the word "probably" in my original message. However, having 800N gear does make a difference, otherwise why would the FIE make it mandatory for international competitions? If you have so little faith in its protective powers, why don't you petition the FIE to allow the wearing of street clothes on the piste? According to you, they'd do as much good! D) Did I ever say that I was an elite fencer? You apparently reckon that you are - but I can't think of any recent world champions named Keith (if that is your real name). E) I don't think that I will cancel my membership - I think that I am perfectly correct in my views, and I am entitled to express them in any public forum. You will notice that I am not telling you not to express your opinions, badly thought out, agrammatical, and woolly-minded though they are (in my opinion). You are at liberty to shout your narrow-mindedness and inability to conduct a debate from the rooftops, as far as I am concerned - and I am at liberty to disagree with them and back up my opinions with supporting arguments. Also, in view of the bigoted and intolerant - not to mention violent - response to my messages, I think that it would be wiser for me not to disclose my identity. Otherwise, you might decide to express your opinion of me in an inappropriate manner, and suffer as a result; and as a caring, thoughtful person, I cannot allow that. Your eyes have probably crossed from the effort of reading this monolithic retort, assuming that you have managed to concentrate enough to reach this far. So let me apologise for my verbosity, and put it down to the need to reply to a bunch of people who couldn't hold an argument in a sack. ----------------------------------------------------------- To stop getting this e-mail, or change how often it arrives, go to your E-mail Settings. http://groups.msn.com/IrishFencingForum/_emailsettings.msnw Need help? If you've forgotten your password, please go to Passport Member Services. http://groups.msn.com/_passportredir.msnw?ppmprop=help For other questions or feedback, go to our Contact Us page. http://groups.msn.com/contact If you do not want to receive future e-mail from this MSN group, or if you received this message by mistake, please click the "Remove" link below. On the pre-addressed e-mail message that opens, simply click "Send". Your e-mail address will be deleted from this group's mailing list. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
