[Thanatos]

This will sound ridiculous and I am posting this at 1 am so it may not make sense in the morning, but I think I had an epiphany.

...is it possible that guns are stand-in penises in some people's minds? Is this part of why conservatives get so mad about gun control and "gun-grabbing" liberals? Castration fear is sublimated into the argument, making friendly objective debate impossible.

This sort of thing underlies a lot of arguments. If I argue about religion I am trying to take away or replace your god which is a major mental anchoring point. Fear of loss of direction is sublimated into the debate. If I bash your favorite political figure I'm also bashing you because most people support somebody they identify with.

Some people also use an argument as a substitute penis by gaining self-worth by contemplating the power of their argument, and this is why a few people get extremely irate about random debate topics that have little relevance to everyday life. Basically, if you've ever come close to having a coronary about whether or not people walked on the moon you probably have a small penis.