More cultural exchange because of not flying: plinking and target practice
I don’t know your views on guns, but I value both exploring different cultures and not polluting, which destroys life, liberty, and property. When my friend invites me to go to target practice at his shooting range outside the city, I’m happy to explore a culture as different from Greenwich Village, NYU, and Columbia as most places on earth.
Unlike nearly anyone I know, I find cultures as diverse as any without flying and polluting. Many people I know look the other way at polluting, depleting, and homogenizing other cultures. Flying detracts from the values traveling is supposed to deliver.
This one remains a constitutional right too, and I only took commuter rail to meet my friend. I didn’t have to work months to save up. I didn’t have to do what I was told to earn money to get away from what I had to do to earn the money. This trip cost less money and time while delivering more diversity. I bet the benefit on the values most environmentalists claim that comes without their flying but with shooting guns will drive them apoplectic. They probably want to call me privileged when I’m actually living the opposite. They’ll still call me that anyway, just to defend their senses of self and deny their polluting. I can safely say so because I know almost no one who doesn’t fly, order takeout, consume doof, and otherwise fund pollution, depleting, and advertising and lobbying for more.
In the process of shooting, I learned the term plinking, though I suppose I didn’t plink since I was at a range shooting at targets.
When my friend drove me back to the train station from the range, he stopped at his home for me to see his wonderful family briefly. I showed her the target below and asked her if she thought it was mine or her husband’s.
She pointed to the grouping, said it looked tight, and guessed it was her husband’s. I was flattered since he’s practiced a lot.
That said, I would guess the targets were closer than she assumed.
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