In other news: Water is wet.

Calculate the statistics where you live of violent home invasion and the percentage of times a gun owner reacts fast enough to prevent a crime. Compare that percentage to those of accidental injury. Which is higher? What you seem to be making fun of is a pretty rational approach to keeping your family safe. How many people actually bother to run these calculations?

What times would those be

I was referring mostly to the olympic games which related to tribalism/nationalism and warrior training. I have no problems with competition or sports. I also have a 37 year old body which feels much older and has experienced a broken ankle, sprained ankles, dislocated shoulder, slipped disk, torn ab muscle, and broken pedicle bone in my back (all from pole vaulting... I also have two plates and eleven screws in my left arm from a different sport). Few people do sports at a collegiate or professional level to understand the damage it does to the human body. Celebrating that is, to me, a bit primitive and also contributes to the mindlessness of the mass. It's the modern version of bread and circuses. I'm not knocking anyone who enjoys sports. I'm explaining why I no longer do as much as I used to.

shame people for not being vegan animal rights

I tire of false dichotomies. Unless you're a Janist sweeping at your feet to avoid killing a bug, we all mostly recognize how differences in consciousness impact our moral thinking in terms of causing harm to other living beings. Most kill bugs but won't beat a dog. It's not a simplistic black or white issue. The level of consciousness a living being has and their ability to feel pain should influence our actions toward them. You don't have to be a vegan activist to understand morality at this level. BTW, I love me a good steak and eat them often. I would also prefer to enjoy that same meal without harming other conscious beings in order to be more consistent with my ethical philosophy.

You can find his sock puppet über positivity on the trending page!

Sock puppet accounts being rewarded are certainly a problem. The @msgivings account was exposed here. Maybe this one will be also. This is a problem, for sure, but if people are voting for those posts (beyond just the whales), then it means they value the content. I don't feel the need to waste to much energy complaining about what others are getting away with. As people exploit weaknesses in the system, the system can evolve and improve. Right now, Steemit has little actual competition. That will change in the future and it will be forced to evolve and adapt or it will be passed up by other blockchain solutions.