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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   1800 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 1, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Why do Redditors compulsively refer to weapons of war designed to maim and kill people as “toys”?

I think it's a more general pattern of referring to (some) adult male-coded things that way. "Toy" wouldn't be out of place referring to motorcycles, power tools, or construction equipment either. Loosely, I think it implies "nice to have" in a way that maybe isn't really necessary.

I'm not sure I'd use it for weapons in a hot war, though. Maybe for (morally-justified?) exercises of technical superiority: the F-22 is a very shiny toy that has but one (unmanned) aerial combat victory to its credit, right up until it isn't. Quasi-disposable drones operated from safe and secure Nevada are maybe toys. A battle rifle handed to a grunt in a trench with live fire overhead is not a thing to joke about.

That’s the thing if they were talking about their Gucci AR that they only ever took to the range I could see it, but when you’re talking about an artillery system in a currently ongoing war that is definitely going to kill people, it feels so ghoulish.

War is ghoulish endeavor. There was a saying that only losing generals have glorious victories, because they are the ones that haven't seen what battlefield aftermath is after winning.

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