Two emails came in this morning, forwarded material from people trying to “spread the word.” The topic of both was guns, one rabidly pro andone timidly con. This is perfectly predictable and typical. The pro-gun people are always rabid and excitable, bringing to mind the phrase “itchy trigger finger.” The anti-gunners usually liberal and outwardly mild-mannered.
The pro-gun message praised strident libertarian Alex Jones's “explosive” appearance on the Piers Morgan show and even provided the video. I watched it and the only thing that exploded was Jones himself, who embodies every crackpot right-wing belief and reminds me of the Christian auto mechanic who told me in 1993 that the U.N. was at that moment amassing troops and tanks to roll down America's streets and take everyone's guns away, house by house. But the mechanic at least spoke in a normal tone of voice, which may or may not be scarier than Jones's angry, shouted diatribes.
The email goes on to provideso-called proof that historical dictatorships have consistently disarmed their populations, thus ensuring little or no resistance to the dictator. Hitler of course being the prime example. The message, naturally, is arm yourself, trust no one, lock the door, watch for the government storm troopers and tanks on your street, and start firing.
This is to say nothing of strangers, unfamiliar people in the neighborhood. Shoot first. They might be armed. The sacred mantra here is “protect your family.” Self-protection. We all need protection, don't we? From who? Fanatics with guns, of course. Bad guys, as the NRA says. Who are the bad guys? Pretty much anyone who's “not like me,” that's who. If we think about it, that's a good portion of the whole right wing patriotic/Christian philosophy: Not like me = bad.
Now to the liberals. This one is a petition to entreat legislators to vote for stricter gun laws, in the belief that more severe legal limits on firearms might reduce the number of insane mass killings in malls, theaters, and schools. As if this will prevent anyone who wants a gun from getting one. Ah, liberals. Never mind, let's go to a wine tasting.
Do such people understand that drugs like methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and even marijuana in most states are illegal? So by golly, how do people get them? Because there sure are an awful lot of people using them. Are they the bad guys, as opposed to law-abiding good guys who get their drugs with a doctor's prescription? Haven't we learned yet that legality and morality have nothing in common?
So the liberals hope that “they” (the authorities) will nip around the edges of the gun issue and take a little of the edge off, while the far right (that's all of it now), would prefer to just blow up the white house with the black family in it, and both houses of congress. Oddly, not the pentagon, though. But they can't touch any of it. Why? Because “they,” the authority structure, have more and bigger guns and bombs than all the Idaho bunker people, neo-nazis, gun show groupies and paranoids and patriots of every stripe could ever dream of.
It's a hell of game some choose to play.
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