About to stir the pot/Online College Course/Guns
I'm taking an online college course through a college here in Missouri. I'm baby-stepping my way to degree completion. I'm taking a marketing course right now and part of the course involves participating in online discussion forums. The forum for the course has two weekly posting requirements following topics chosen by the instructor. The course that I am taking right now is Marketing 310.
Now...to my point...
I am about to stir the pot bigtime. I will be respectful and, as far as I can tell, the instructor has taken a stance in favor of conservative free-market economies.
One of the students posted the following:
quote:Negative impacts of marketing would be the advertisements of harmful products or messages. Like for instance I think that the slogan "war on terror" is marketed by government and media, for mass confusion. I think it is to slightly distort americans "tape recorders", like hearing underwater. When they know they had fear in americans, they knew we were vulnerable to believe and do anything. Moreover, products marketed for certain races or groups of people in certain areas, can have a tremendous negative impact. For example, in ghettos across america, which are filled with the majority hispanic and african american, there are gun and liquor stores on every corner. In suburban areas, instead you have starbucks, etc.
This infuriates me because I know that the part about gun stores in "ghettos across america" is certainly untrue. Aside from the fact that the author's posting does not follow the instructor's guidelines about discussing a specific product and there are no references to substantiate the claims (per instructor requirements), I have NEVER seen a gun store in a "ghetto" or in any low-income area of any city where I have lived. In the last 10 years I have lived in Minneapolis (city not suburb), Iowa, Washington, New York and now Missouri. I research gun stores within at least a 50 mile radius of wherever I live and I have NEVER found a gun store in a "ghetto". Most so-called "ghettos" (which I would term "low income neighborhoods" myself") tend to sway more liberally on the political scale and tend to be represented by more liberal elected representatives of that population. Hence, zoning laws tend to screen out business engaged in the act of selling firearms.
I am trying to research the issue myself but I would be interested in getting everyone's take on this. It has me a bit steamed to say the least.
Now...to my point...
I am about to stir the pot bigtime. I will be respectful and, as far as I can tell, the instructor has taken a stance in favor of conservative free-market economies.
One of the students posted the following:
quote:Negative impacts of marketing would be the advertisements of harmful products or messages. Like for instance I think that the slogan "war on terror" is marketed by government and media, for mass confusion. I think it is to slightly distort americans "tape recorders", like hearing underwater. When they know they had fear in americans, they knew we were vulnerable to believe and do anything. Moreover, products marketed for certain races or groups of people in certain areas, can have a tremendous negative impact. For example, in ghettos across america, which are filled with the majority hispanic and african american, there are gun and liquor stores on every corner. In suburban areas, instead you have starbucks, etc.
This infuriates me because I know that the part about gun stores in "ghettos across america" is certainly untrue. Aside from the fact that the author's posting does not follow the instructor's guidelines about discussing a specific product and there are no references to substantiate the claims (per instructor requirements), I have NEVER seen a gun store in a "ghetto" or in any low-income area of any city where I have lived. In the last 10 years I have lived in Minneapolis (city not suburb), Iowa, Washington, New York and now Missouri. I research gun stores within at least a 50 mile radius of wherever I live and I have NEVER found a gun store in a "ghetto". Most so-called "ghettos" (which I would term "low income neighborhoods" myself") tend to sway more liberally on the political scale and tend to be represented by more liberal elected representatives of that population. Hence, zoning laws tend to screen out business engaged in the act of selling firearms.
I am trying to research the issue myself but I would be interested in getting everyone's take on this. It has me a bit steamed to say the least.
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Well, here in the Denver area you'd be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of gun stores -- a ton of liquor stores for sure, but nary a gun store in anything remotely resembling a "ghetto."
FWIW, I'm an MBA Marketing student and I'm doing it all 100% on-line, so I'm very familiar with the notion of a virtual classroom.
And, FWIW, I've used guns a lot as topics. Most of my classmates know me and know how I feel. Sometimes I take the professors by a bit of surprise, but I am careful not to come across as a nut or anything of that sort. I do, however, correct errors as they come up.0 -
you might want to mention that many cities in america (d.c , chicago,) have banned guns so it would stand to reason they banned gun shops too. in addition, there are far more stores that sell alcohol in wealthy areas. poor areas have "liqour stores" and wealthy areas have "super markets". wealthy people have money. stores are built where there is money.
just the same old liberal BS that people float around.0 -
Firstly, I'd like to congratulate you on furthering your education. It will become the cornerstone from which you can advance yourself through life.
Secondly, I'd like to address the post of your classmate. They seem to write like they talk, using the same language skills as if having a conversation on the sidewalk with a friend. Very poorly written and it seems to jump with almost no coherent thought.
Thirdly, I'd like to address the "gun store on every block" synaptic misfire your classmate had. I currently live in Columbus, OH and while being a very clean looking city, it does have its share of low income neighborhoods. In those areas, there are no "gun stores" to be found. More than likely, to find a firearms dealer in those areas, one must consider looking for a pawn shop, but they are just that...a pawn shop. Not every pawn shop accepts firearms, in fact many do not. I would like to offer you some hard numbers to support this, however I do not know of any specific study that has been held to offer you those as facts. Liquor stores are found throughout the city and one cannot judge an area by the number of specific types of businesses located in that area.
Finally, I think your classmate needs to: 1) learn how to write, 2) before making general suppositions about anything, settle on a topic and do at least a cursory search for facts that they can offer, and 3) lay off the NO-DOZ...they jump around more than a flea on a trampoline.
To refute their statements, I suggest doing some research about your local area and compare it to another. Hit the BATFE website and the NRA, do a map of your area to show where the "gun stores" and "liquor stores" are located to show that they are not on every corner of the "ghetto", then compare that to Chicago or NYC or even Columbus. Then smack your classmate on the back of the head for being an idiot.0 -
Within the last ten years, there was a gun shop on the corner of lake and Cedar in MPLS--definitely one of the sketchier neighborhoods. they went out of business (I think they were driven out of business by the law but I never knew if the charges were substantiated). Shortly thereafter MPLS zoned the entire city as a no-gunshop zone, with only one remaining gunshop in city limits grandfathered in on Chicago and 46th....which at the time was a half-sketchy neighborhood (ten blocks south: crack city; ten blocks north: half-million dollar homes on the lake), but which also has been gentrifying rapidly. I think they're still in business.
But for the last ten years, if you wanted a GOOD gunshop in MPLS, you had to drive out to one of the 'burbs.
No gun shops in my town, but the next town is only 8 miles away.0
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