An ad for a sword website

[Captain Capie]

Has anyone seen that on here? I did but now i cant find it. if anyone could tell me the web adress that would be great. thanks

[Vagrant0]

Surf the site for awhile, eventually you'll get the ad back... Click some of the other ads while you're at it, Dark0ne could probably use the money after the server move. However I suppose one should ask... Why do you need a sword? Either it's a $200+ dollar dust collector, an emergency room visit waiting to happen, or if you've lied about your age, something we'll probably end up seeing on the news. Despite what you think, and how cool a sword may look, it is a tool designed for killing people. I don't know you, I don't pretend to know you, but you may want to sit down somewhere and think rationally (hoping you can) about what you intend to do with it, and if that really helps your position in life.

[ninja_lord666]

Surf the site for awhile, eventually you'll get the ad back... Click some of the other ads while you're at it, Dark0ne could probably use the money after the server move. However I suppose one should ask... Why do you need a sword? Either it's a $200+ dollar dust collector, an emergency room visit waiting to happen, or if you've lied about your age, something we'll probably end up seeing on the news. Despite what you think, and how cool a sword may look, it is a tool designed for killing people. I don't know you, I don't pretend to know you, but you may want to sit down somewhere and think rationally (hoping you can) about what you intend to do with it, and if that really helps your position in life.

Some people don't buy things only for practical purposes. Some people like walking into a home with expensive, useless, 'dust collectors.' Not everyone imagines their home to have empty walls and only the stuff they need. Some people want decorations and nick-nacks to decorate with.

[Rhydderch Hael]

... Why do you need a sword? Either it's a $200+ dollar dust collector, an emergency room visit waiting to happen, or if you've lied about your age, something we'll probably end up seeing on the news. Despite what you think, and how cool a sword may look, it is a tool designed for killing people. I don't know you, I don't pretend to know you, but you may want to sit down somewhere and think rationally (hoping you can) about what you intend to do with it, and if that really helps your position in life.

Why pursue any form of martial art, or seek competition in sports for that matter? There's nothing practical about the physical power such pursuits will bring you, is there?

 

Is there? :glare:

 

Perhaps the reason a lot of folks pursue such courses isn't to gain new means to manipulate the world, but to use such courses as a means to manipulate themselves— to explore, understand, and grow.

 

You can safely say that not everyone who seeks a sword is looking for spiritual growth. Then again, I can safely say that not everyone who seeks a sword is getting a useless curio, nor that the only gainful means to justify its purchase is to maim and kill.

[Vagrant0]

Why pursue any form of martial art, or seek competition in sports for that matter? There's nothing practical about the physical power such pursuits will bring you, is there?

 

Is there? :glare:

That is not the question. Such refinements to oneself are not bought online with a creditcard. Those that train in those arts use blunted or practice weapons. I do not contend your view, but rather assume that as he is asking on a gaming site, he is not necessarily one who practices that way. People who train in the arts usually have their own suppliers for practice equipment. Even if my assumptions are incorrect, my suggestion to considder his need for such an object still stands. Even those who are trained do not need the real (or in this case mass produced show pieces) to attain spiritual growth. Impressing his friends, or scaring the crap out of those that cross him however...

 

Regardless his reasons, he should really pause and think over the decision. They are a weapon that can cause harm to others or oneself even if that was not the intention, even if they are trained.

[Rhydderch Hael]

I do not contest your reading into the situation above.

 

However, your initial post conveyed the sense that you'd nailed down pretty tight your ideas of what just exactly a sword is good for. The world, modern as it may be, is a little too diverse to justify that statement as an absolute.

[Vagrant0]

I do not contest your reading into the situation above.

 

However, your initial post conveyed the sense that you'd nailed down pretty tight your ideas of what just exactly a sword is good for. The world, modern as it may be, is a little too diverse to justify that statement as an absolute.

As evident by Ninja Lord's comment, when most people think of buying a sword, they think something cool to look at, for their friends to look at. Given the environment we are in, it is a fairly safe assumption that most people, unless they bother to go into it, are just looking for something to hang on their wall, put on a shelf, and occasionally pull out to wow their friends. These incidents occasionally end badly, especially when children (or adults who have lost their senses) or drugs (alcohol included) are present. So it is right to suggest that some more time thinking things over is needed as they may end up injuring themselves or others.

 

If they want something to just look at, I suggest a painting, they hold their value a bit better, and can't be as easily used against you in a fit of rage.

[Rhydderch Hael]

There's a difference between words of caution and a deriding generalization using assumptions drawn from the very little information given by the querent. You gave no indication that you sought to understand his position, but rather to point out the folly of his.

 

Of course, caution and restraint in handling those earliest pangs of interest are very important in guiding how they develop, but I would not tread further until I get more information from the initial poster. So far we have had none, which is why I've spent time discussing the possible merits of martial art rather than actually talking about swords.

 

It's easy for one who has been conditioned by sensationalistic and negatively oriented news media to imagine that anyone partaking in swordsmanship is bound to end up in a tragic news story punctuated by the words "fit of rage". Comes in part from the uncanny nature of taking an interest in swords while living in an age where the good graces of human ingenuity allow you to perforate a man from a quarter-mile out: you have to be nuts if your preferred method of mayhem is so inefficient and in-your-face...

 

...which draws us to the second element: the misconception that the obvious reason anyone would actively seek such a deadly art is for the tantalizingly violent power it gives them over others— "to impress their friends"— as it would be mildly put.

 

That's one reason. It's a bad reason. But it's not the only reason possible. Swordsmanship can be an avenue of discipline that is most happily indirect in its applications. You can learn many sublime things from such crass actions: becoming aware your actions' consequences, for one; appreciating the true and full value of human life, once you learn how horrifyingly quick it can be taken away; and very importantly, how to seek and maintain disciplined, intentioned control of a situation.

 

When I mention controlling a situation, I'm not talking about operating merely through physical force: recognizing and striving for the initiative in one's own situation (be it a life-and-death struggle or a decision on a job, love, or any future paths in your life) can help you avoid succumbing to the most reckless, destructive of passions: desperation.

 

The fellow who "snaps" in a fit of rage often does so as a desperate response to a situation he feels he has no control over. In the words of the fictional detective Daryl Zero: "...forget the misnomer 'crime of passion'. All crime is passionate. It is passion that motivates the criminal from the static inertia of morality..." A man who is inexperienced or incapable of handling his life when it spirals out of his control seeks that desperate spark of motivation in order to push him into action— unfortunately, there is very little restraint nor objectivity in desperate actions and they likely will end up doing more harm than help.

 

There are many ways one can learn these important life lessons (granted, sometimes they are never learned. Look at the sensationalist rubble of the evening news). But while you advocate some of the alternative means, I hope you can recognize the "many ways" in the previous statement and apply that to the possibility there are merits in this one specific path.

 

 

********************

 

Everyone starts from somewhere. With swords, the genesis of interest can come in many guises. Might come from academic fencing backgrounds, if someone became interested in the martial applications of what is otherwise just a sport in their eyes (frankly, I don't see the point of leading with the sword-arm: no leverage!). Someone might have gone to a Renaissance Faire or seen a Living History project and took an interest in the activities. Then again, maybe they watched one too many episodes of Highlander and want to know how they can hide a full-length katana from public view (my guess: Hammerspace!). Maybe, in their perusal of research material on life in the Early Middle Ages as a college project, someone decided to read further into the construction methods of the swords in the era (so sayeth the fellow whose forum name is that of a minor figure in Arthurian legend...)

[Ginji]

... :huh:

 

Just buy a wooden one.

[ninja_lord666]

... :huh:

 

Just buy a wooden one.

A wooden sword doesn't have the same appeal as the real thing. Plus, you could still beat someone to death with a wooden sword. If you have the will, you could kill anyone with anything. On the other hand, however, if you have no ambition to kill, you could hold a nuclear warhead in your hands and not hurt anyone.