I went to the club to work out on Monday and ran in to my ol' buddies Reverend Ed and Doctor Sean. They couldn't wait to start screaming at me about liberals and how they are going to destroy our country. They repeated, verbatim, many of the same arguments I see in comments on here. In fact, Reverend Ed used the same style as well as theme that my regulars here deploy (e.g. a weasel question framed in such a way that the only response is a "win" for them).
For example, Ed asked me, "Where in the Constitution does it say anything about abortion?" When I informed him that I don't answer weasel questions, he huffed and puffed and said that I couldn't answer because that would mean I would be proved wrong and Roe v Wade should be overturned. I then explained to him that if he really wanted to reduced abortions in this country, he'd stop talking about the evils of fornication and and start educating people on family planning and making more emotionally intelligent decisions with their lives. In essence, work together to reduce unwanted pregnancies and take away the demand.
Sadly, he did not agree and I realized, like everything else with the Right, they don't want to actually solve problems. They just want to argue about them, "win" said argument, and implement policy in EXACTLY the way they dictate, never wavering or compromising in any way. Of course, this is never going to happen with the abortion issue. That topic, like gay marriage and climate change, has evolved to the point where it is no longer an issue. Guns aren't far behind.
This was evident when I asked each of them about the election and why conservatives lost. "People are stupid" they both replied. "Any reflection on your own party or perhaps some things that you might want to change? Immigration policy, perhaps?"
"Nope. Nothing."
"So, do it again, only harder?" I asked, chuckling to myself of course.
"Yep."
I then asked them if they cared if they lost election after election as it's pretty clear that the country is moving on without them.
"Nope."
As long as they are ideologically pure, continue to see compromise as a weakness, are unmoved by facts, intolerant of dissent, and are undeterred by new information, all is well in wingnut land, I guess. I told them they should find some more old white guys with 2 dollar haircuts to talk about rape some more. That seemed to work out well for them last year:)
Pastor Ed informed me that he would be home schooling his child. I applauded him for taking such a proactive effort in his child's life. He then went on to say that the reasons why he was doing it were: he wants to teach his child Hebrew and Greek so he can know what the Bible really says (out of the bubble translation: so he can win the argument by claiming superiority over those who don't know Greek and Hebrew and thus say that HIS interpretation of the Bible is the RIGHT one); he wants to teach him logic (out of the bubble translation: so he can sound intelligent while lying in order to win the argument and claim superiority); he wants to teach him science (out of the bubble translation: so he can learn how evolution and climate change are myths perpetrated by liberals who are striving to achieve world domination); and, of course, civics, meaning an "accurate" interpretation of the Constitution. I almost laughed out loud at the science remark but politeness go the better of me.
Before Ed left to go home, I noticed how every time I countered what he said, he would go and try to find someone else to back him up. The other patrons at the gym would usually laugh or shrug and say they didn't want to get involved. Like my regulars here, he couldn't stand alone and discuss a particular issue. Bullies always need a gang, I suppose.
After Ed left, the best part of my time there occurred. Doctor Sean's son was hanging out with us off and on as he had the day off as well. After a long mouth foam and stomp off that included many topics, among them how bullshit it was that Martin Luther King day is a national holiday (and people think he's prejudiced...go figure!), how we are going to become like Greece (an oldie but a goodie:)), how China was going to overtake the world, and how Barack Obama is a communist, Doctor Sean's son, a freshmen in high school, turned to me and said,
"I'm sorry."
I smiled and saw in him what I see in my students: the future. More specifically, progress. Sean's son recognized how his old man was not really well in the head, politically speaking, and felt rather embarrassed. Obviously, somewhere along the line, he had some good teachers. Of course, Sean sends all four of his kids to a prestigious private school in the area which, according to him, is really, really liberal. When I asked him why, if he and his wife were so conservative, they send their children there, he shrugged and said, "It's the best school in the Twin Cities."
Hmm...perhaps the only way to cut through that ideological blockage is the perceptual framework of "status." Cool...
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Staking the Vampire?
Is Texas putting a stake in the heart of the vampire that is sucking the life blood out of education? The Texas House, in the state where George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind education program was born, has eliminated all funding for standardized testing in the 2014-2015 draft budget.
Standardized testing in Texas has become a bloodthirsty monster that devours children's lives:
We're out of Iraq, we're getting out of Afghanistan and we're slowly pulling out of the Bush recession. The days of No Child Left Behind appear to be numbered. It may take years, but there's hope that we will eventually undo the "legacy" of eight years of George W. Bush.
Next on the agenda: cutting off the head of the zombie in Bush's Medicare Part D that prohibits the government from negotiating with drug companies: Medicare often pays almost double what the Department of Veterans Affairs does for some drugs, like Lipitor.
Standardized testing in Texas has become a bloodthirsty monster that devours children's lives:
Texas schools and students are strongly impacted by the testing schedule; during the 180-day school year, high school students now spend up to 45 days taking various standardized exams.Yes, you read that right: Texas students spend 25% of their days in school taking standardized tests. Knowing how important these tests are for funding and teacher compensation, it's likely that much of the rest of the school year is spent in preparation for these tests. How do they have time to learn anything real?
We're out of Iraq, we're getting out of Afghanistan and we're slowly pulling out of the Bush recession. The days of No Child Left Behind appear to be numbered. It may take years, but there's hope that we will eventually undo the "legacy" of eight years of George W. Bush.
Next on the agenda: cutting off the head of the zombie in Bush's Medicare Part D that prohibits the government from negotiating with drug companies: Medicare often pays almost double what the Department of Veterans Affairs does for some drugs, like Lipitor.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Colbert Channels the Boiling Pit of Sewage
The last minute of this hilarious clip from Colbert is truly a gem. The boiling pit of sewage!
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Obama's Inauguration & Class Warfare | ||||
| ||||
Yes, where was the hopelessness, dammit!? If you aren't talking about America's impending doom, then you must be a commie!
Can It Get More Ironic?
Last Saturday, on "Gun Appreciation Day," Nehemiah Griego, a 15-year-old boy, murdered his parents and three siblings. At 1:00 AM he went into his parents' closet and got a .22 rifle, which he used to kill his mother. He shot his nine-year-old brother and his five- and two-year-old sisters in the head. Then he waited until his father Greg came home, whereupon Nehemiah ambushed and killed him.
The house has a sign outside saying: "Protected by Smith & Wesson Security Services."
Nehemiah texted a picture of his dead mother to his 12-year-old girlfriend, loaded up the family van with an arsenal of rifles and shotguns, then spent the day with the girl. He contemplated murdering her parents as well as going to Walmart and shooting the place up and dying in an exchange of gunfire with the police. Somehow he got sidetracked and went to the church where has father was a pastor. After initially saying his family had died in a car accident, 911 was called and he eventually confessed to the murders.
If this had been a weekday this might have been Sandy Hook all over again.
Comments from the right are typical: reader responses on the New York Daily News site blame secular society for the breakdown of the family. The kid's dad was a pastor and a chaplain. Then they start talking about demonic possession. Seriously. Then it's violent video games. Then it's his father's violent past: he was a former gang member with an arrest record a mile long.
Comments from the left aren't much more charitable: this is the predictable outcome for people who glorify guns and violence. We should just let these nuts have their guns and natural selection will take its course as they all kill each other.
Me, I still have questions.
Why are there so many incompetent nitwits who store guns where their kids have easy access to them? Why does a former gang member with a long arrest record have an arsenal of weapons in his closet? Why are so many parents oblivious to fact that they're raising murderous little monsters? Is is really wise to give impulsive teenagers training and access to weapons of mass murder? Why didn't Pastor Griego learn a damned thing from Sandy Hook? How many other Nehemiahs are out there with stupid and complacent parents?
Maybe we should start treating stupid gun owners as a public health hazard, like people infected with turberculosis.
Smart gun owners should get after all the idiots who can't control their own weapons. They should demand action from their own numbers to rein in problems of their own making.
The house has a sign outside saying: "Protected by Smith & Wesson Security Services."
Nehemiah texted a picture of his dead mother to his 12-year-old girlfriend, loaded up the family van with an arsenal of rifles and shotguns, then spent the day with the girl. He contemplated murdering her parents as well as going to Walmart and shooting the place up and dying in an exchange of gunfire with the police. Somehow he got sidetracked and went to the church where has father was a pastor. After initially saying his family had died in a car accident, 911 was called and he eventually confessed to the murders.
If this had been a weekday this might have been Sandy Hook all over again.
Comments from the right are typical: reader responses on the New York Daily News site blame secular society for the breakdown of the family. The kid's dad was a pastor and a chaplain. Then they start talking about demonic possession. Seriously. Then it's violent video games. Then it's his father's violent past: he was a former gang member with an arrest record a mile long.
Comments from the left aren't much more charitable: this is the predictable outcome for people who glorify guns and violence. We should just let these nuts have their guns and natural selection will take its course as they all kill each other.
Me, I still have questions.
Why are there so many incompetent nitwits who store guns where their kids have easy access to them? Why does a former gang member with a long arrest record have an arsenal of weapons in his closet? Why are so many parents oblivious to fact that they're raising murderous little monsters? Is is really wise to give impulsive teenagers training and access to weapons of mass murder? Why didn't Pastor Griego learn a damned thing from Sandy Hook? How many other Nehemiahs are out there with stupid and complacent parents?
Maybe we should start treating stupid gun owners as a public health hazard, like people infected with turberculosis.
Smart gun owners should get after all the idiots who can't control their own weapons. They should demand action from their own numbers to rein in problems of their own making.
Don't Fuck With Hilz
I can't think of a better example of the nature of the GOP these days. They don't want to solve problems. They just want to argue and "win"...something.
It's obvious to me at this point that the reason why the Right is so touchy about this is they want people to forget about that movie trailer. The last thing they need is more bad PR that shows them to be...well...what they are:) Moreover, they simply can't stand the fact that the Obama administration has done a better job on international security than they have. They have been "proved wrong." Heavens! So, it's the classic redirect and lying which result in it somehow being all Obama's fault.
Unfortunately for Ron Johnson, he found out the hard way what happens when you fuck with Hilz.
It's obvious to me at this point that the reason why the Right is so touchy about this is they want people to forget about that movie trailer. The last thing they need is more bad PR that shows them to be...well...what they are:) Moreover, they simply can't stand the fact that the Obama administration has done a better job on international security than they have. They have been "proved wrong." Heavens! So, it's the classic redirect and lying which result in it somehow being all Obama's fault.
Unfortunately for Ron Johnson, he found out the hard way what happens when you fuck with Hilz.
Compare and Contrast
I find the different reactions to tragedies like Columbine and Sandy Hook to be fascinating and, well, quite revealing. On the one hand we have the Sandy Hook Promise which talks of supporting families and making communities safer through education. We also have Rachel's Challenge which took the writings of the first victim of Columbine and turned them into a nation wide movement based on love and hope.
On the other hand, we have this:
Men armed with rifles walk through Portland to 'educate'
and this:
The guy in the photo above went into a JC Penny's with his gun to go shopping and prove a point, I guess.
I imagine the world that the people behind the Sandy Hook Promise and Rachel's Challenge are trying to live in. Then I imagine the world that the ass hats in Portland and Riverdale want to live in. It seems pretty clear to me which one is the better choice.
That would be the one that does not look like the NBC television show Revolution.
What the fuck is wrong with these people? Rather than carry around their guns on a chest thumping parade, they should be...you know...out maybe helping people?
I think about how this culture created a person like Eric Harris, who walked up to Rachel Scott as she was eating her lunch outside Columbine, and shot her multiple times in the head, toros, arm, and legs and then I take in all the ugliness from the gun community, the idiots above being prime examples, that we've seen in the last few weeks since Sandy Hook (some of it here in comments) and I'm led to an inescapable conclusion.
They created this problem and they should never EVER be put in charge of anything.
On the other hand, we have this:
Men armed with rifles walk through Portland to 'educate'
and this:
The guy in the photo above went into a JC Penny's with his gun to go shopping and prove a point, I guess.
I imagine the world that the people behind the Sandy Hook Promise and Rachel's Challenge are trying to live in. Then I imagine the world that the ass hats in Portland and Riverdale want to live in. It seems pretty clear to me which one is the better choice.
That would be the one that does not look like the NBC television show Revolution.
What the fuck is wrong with these people? Rather than carry around their guns on a chest thumping parade, they should be...you know...out maybe helping people?
I think about how this culture created a person like Eric Harris, who walked up to Rachel Scott as she was eating her lunch outside Columbine, and shot her multiple times in the head, toros, arm, and legs and then I take in all the ugliness from the gun community, the idiots above being prime examples, that we've seen in the last few weeks since Sandy Hook (some of it here in comments) and I'm led to an inescapable conclusion.
They created this problem and they should never EVER be put in charge of anything.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Incompetents and Crazies
Last week an armed security guard hired in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shootings forgot his gun in the bathroom of a Kindergarten through eighth grade charter school in Michigan. The gun was unloaded, and was quickly found. The guy was a retired weapons instructor.
Not long ago I was wondering if it really made sense to hire armed geezers with slow reflexes, lousy vision and bad hearing to protect our schools. I now have to add "forgetful" to the list of belittling descriptors.
Yeah, I know. Accidents happen. No harm, no foul. But a lot of accidents seem to happen with guns. Last Saturday was "Gun Appreciation Day," and five people were accidentally shot at gun shows in three different states. That same day a guy in a Texas Walmart shot himself when a gun in his pocket went off, a six-year-old Ohio girl shot herself in the face with her dad's gun, a 14-year-old Georgia boy shot his brother with his mom's gun, and on and on and on.
At this point gun advocates point out that a lot of people die in car accidents as well. It's true. We've got a stretch of freeway near our house that's constantly clogged with traffic and there are always accidents. But if the NRA ran the Department of Transportation their solution would be raise the speed limit and put more cars with bigger engines on the freeway.
The fact is, we have taken significant steps to make cars safer over the years. We require licensing of all drivers and all cars. We require seat belts, air bags and crumple zones in new cars. We put up stoplights, reconstruct intersections to make them safer, erect collapsible barriers on the roads to lessen the impact when accidents do occur.
The result is that per-capita traffic deaths have been declining for years, but gun deaths have been going up, though they've stabilized somewhat in recent years because of a general decline in violence. Gun suicides have continued to climb, however.
The simple truth is, the more people that have guns, the more accidents there will be. To prevent that we need to use technology to make guns less accident prone and to prevent them from being fired if dropped or when kids get hold of them. We also have to keep loaded weapons out of places where they just don't belong, like Walmart, bars, schools, colleges and churches.
And we have to keep them out of the hands of people who just shouldn't have them. People like Christian Philip Oberender.
Oberender murdered his mother with a shotgun in 1995, when he was 14. He got out a while back, and he was just arrested for amassing an illegal arsenal of weapons, including an AK-47, a Desert Eagle and a Thompson submachine gun.
Now, this guy is a real wackjob. In a letter to his dead mother he wrote:
I think about killing all the time. Why god do I feel like this? The monster want to hurt people. Guns are too fast. The monster want it to be slow and painful. There is so much pain in my heart and soul. Me want other to feel it.How did he get these weapons? He applied for a gun permit, but swapped his first and middle names on the application. Recent changes in Minnesota law require all gun permits to be automatically granted within seven days. Police just don't have the time to investigate all applications in that amount of time.
It's only random chance that Oberender was caught before he copycatted Sandy Hook, which he'd mentioned on his Facebook page along with a picture of his guns. Sheriff Jim Olson spotted Oberender's name on a shift report. Olson happened to be the detective who caught the Oberender murder case 18 years ago.
The NRA has been working diligently for decades to gut gun licensing laws, making it trivial for criminals, crazies and terrorists to get hold of military grade weapons and making it hard for law enforcement to catch them. Our gun permitting process needs to completely revamped. It needs to be nationwide, and include criminal and mental health history, fingerprints, photos, face recognition and previous gun and ammo purchases. This will allow police to quickly investigate gun permit applications in the time frame dictated by the NRA's desires for instant gratification.
If the NRA is going to insist on a right to buy guns on demand, the rest of us have the right to keep them out of the hands of crazies, criminals and incompetents.
Good Words
I'm not much for presidential inaugurations. They bore me, quiet frankly. I find them to be about as exciting as such things as the Macy's Day parade hence the dearth of comments about yesterday's pomp and (snooze) circumstance.
I did enjoy the president's speech, though, and it's going to be interesting to look back and see if he accomplishes what he has set out to do. I found this quote from my local paper to be a perfect summation.
Simply amazing: an inaugural address that referred to Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall. Justice Sotomayor swearing in the vice president. A gay inaugural poet. The beautiful first family. All these images and more paint the picture of America today, and where it's moving-the path to progress.
Progress, indeed. I talked about this yesterday in reference to Dr. King but we really have come a long way.
And we should be proud.
I did enjoy the president's speech, though, and it's going to be interesting to look back and see if he accomplishes what he has set out to do. I found this quote from my local paper to be a perfect summation.
Simply amazing: an inaugural address that referred to Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall. Justice Sotomayor swearing in the vice president. A gay inaugural poet. The beautiful first family. All these images and more paint the picture of America today, and where it's moving-the path to progress.
Progress, indeed. I talked about this yesterday in reference to Dr. King but we really have come a long way.
And we should be proud.
Monday, January 21, 2013
A Question For Dr. King
Looking at the state of race in our country today, the answer would be yes.
We have come a very long way from his time when he left this Earth almost 45 years ago. In fact, we have achieved beyond what he dreamed of in his lifetime. Talk to mostly anyone under the age of 25 of how there was a time when black people were treated differently and most of them get the gas face. Seeing past color is simply a normal day for them.
We just re-elected a black president. We've had black secretaries of state. There have been and still are black CEOs of major corporations. Black History month has gone from being an one time a year thing to all year long. 82 percent of blacks 25 or older have a high school diploma. 2.9 million blacks are enrolled in college, up from 1.2 million in 1990. That's more than double. Black owned businesses have seen their revenues rise 53 percent in the last decade alone.
In short, our culture has become much more diverse and accepting.
No doubt there is still racism and bigotry in our country. The poverty level among blacks is very high (27.4 percent in 2010) and only 18 percent of blacks have a bachelor's degree or higher. So, if Dr. King were still alive today, his efforts would likely be focused on those numbers.
But if he walked out of a door in 1968 and came through a door in 2013 he would likely be hospitalized for shock. I can only imagine what his joy would be at seeing his dream realized.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Making Our Case For Us
Remember this photo?
Every American does.
It was a moment when we all stood together and began to heal. Everyone rallied behind the president who promised that the people responsible for the attack would be hearing from us soon.
Can you even imagine anyone accusing the president here of being a disgusting human being for using the firefighters as props in an obvious PR campaign?
Yet with this...
...some in the country did just that. A few of my Facebook friends said truly ugly things that left me speechless. It's enormously sad that these same people can't see that both photos are the result of the same type of violence...devastating...senseless...profoundly horrible. More importantly, both photos represent the best in America in the face of brutality and hatred.
Yet because the latter has to do with guns, it's pile on time and fuck you, Mr. President. I wonder how long it will be before these kids start to get harassed by the Right. It's happened before. I agree with what Nikto wrote yesterday. There's something really sick about these people. That's why I have no filters on their comments here.
Their words make our case for us.
Every American does.
It was a moment when we all stood together and began to heal. Everyone rallied behind the president who promised that the people responsible for the attack would be hearing from us soon.
Can you even imagine anyone accusing the president here of being a disgusting human being for using the firefighters as props in an obvious PR campaign?
Yet with this...
...some in the country did just that. A few of my Facebook friends said truly ugly things that left me speechless. It's enormously sad that these same people can't see that both photos are the result of the same type of violence...devastating...senseless...profoundly horrible. More importantly, both photos represent the best in America in the face of brutality and hatred.
Yet because the latter has to do with guns, it's pile on time and fuck you, Mr. President. I wonder how long it will be before these kids start to get harassed by the Right. It's happened before. I agree with what Nikto wrote yesterday. There's something really sick about these people. That's why I have no filters on their comments here.
Their words make our case for us.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Do Guns Make People Crazy?
Last Wednesday an 83-year-old Minnesota man went nuts and had a shootout with cops. After coming out blazing with two handguns he was shot by two cops. He was declared dead at a Mayo Clinic in Mankato.
On Friday night a Minnesota man holed up in his townhouse after relatives reported that he was making suicidal comments. The cops checked on him and found him pointing a shotgun at his head. They retreated, sent in robots to check on him, and eventually negotiated a surrender.
In December a Minnesota man shot and wounded his wife. She then barricaded herself in the bathroom, and texted her neighbor for help. The husband shot himself when the cops came to rescue her.
Is everyone in Minnesota going crazy? Or just the men with guns?
The basic theorem of the NRA's logic in gun ownership is that guns don't kill people, people kill people. The corollary to this theorem is that only criminals and crazy people should be prevented from having guns.
But what if the very act of owning a gun makes you crazy?
The Slippery Slope
By definition, if you own a gun you intend to kill someone should the opportunity present itself. You think killing people is okay, and you don't mind doing it. This lack of empathy could be the first sign of psychopathy. The idea that you need to protect yourself from unknown people may be the first sign of paranoia. In any case, by taking this first step down the slippery slope gun owners slowly buy into the idea of murder.
At first guns are only acceptable for self defense: my life is worth another life. Then guns become necessary to protect one's belongings: my stereo is worth a life. Then guns are required to prevent trespassing: my privacy is worth a life. Then guns become desirable fashion accessories wherever I go: I need one to enforce good manners on other people. Then the gun becomes the first response in any situation, including suggestions of reasonable gun laws or the loss of an election.
Gun Addiction
Gun ownership is like drug addiction. It starts out with a gateway gun: a revolver purchased for self defense when a neighbor's home is broken into. Then a shotgun, because it's hard to aim in the dark and you want to make sure you get the bastard. Then a Glock pistol for target practice, with a 20-round clip so you don't have to reload as often. Then a Desert Eagle, because, boy does that bitch have a kick! Then an AR-15 in case society breaks down and you need a rifle that can do everything. Then a semiautomatic AK 47 that can be converted to full auto with a little kit you got off the Internet, because, well, you can never have enough protection after the federal government invades and the Apocalypse is nigh.
It explodes into full-blown paranoia when a terrible tragedy occurs — like Sandy Hook, a black president getting elected, or there's talk of limiting magazine size — and a massive gun- and ammo-buying binge sweeps the country.
The Scientific Basis of Addiction
The major factor in most addictions is the rush of dopamine into the brain. It happens with cocaine, running, gambling, shopping, porn, sex, food, nicotine, caffeine and, yes, as the NRA says, video games. But for the same reason video games are addictive, so too are guns: the thrill of shooting a real live full-auto AK gives the same rush that any first person shooter video game gives. Only a real gun is a thousand times better because it acts on all the senses: the feel of cool smooth metal and a coarse grip, the smell of the powder and oil on hot metal, the warmth of the barrel, the flash of heat on the skin, the powerful recoil as you fight to control the sheer power in your hands. That's when the blood and adrenalin really start pumping and the brain is filled with dopamine.
Movies and video games are just pale imitations on a screen. Being addicted to a video game might kill you if you play for 40 hours straight, but it's no more likely to make you go on a shooting spree than a runner's high.
As with any addiction, the surge of dopamine declines over time and a gun addict needs greater stimulation: more guns, more ammo, bigger caliber, bigger magazines. After a time just thinking of shooting makes the addict happy. He starts cooking up schemes to skip work to get his fix at the range, because it just feels so god-damned good there. He drops all his old friends and hangs out with fellow gun addicts. And then, finally, he starts to think how good it would feel to shoot his boss, or his ex-wife, or the stupid bitch that lives next door or the 13-year-old black kid he's certain stole his guns.
Because of the dopamine surge that they evoke guns become a natural response to any stressful situation. Just like any smoker, cokehead or gambling addict.
Sure, many of these shooters started out crazy and guns come second. The NRA wants to prevent them from getting guns. But how many people start out with guns and then go crazy? Shouldn't we be just as worried about them?
The men involved with the incidents of madness above were probably all mentally stable at one point. But over time they lost it. Did guns warp the pleasure centers of these men's brains, deaden their sense of empathy and cheapen life?
On Friday night a Minnesota man holed up in his townhouse after relatives reported that he was making suicidal comments. The cops checked on him and found him pointing a shotgun at his head. They retreated, sent in robots to check on him, and eventually negotiated a surrender.
In December a Minnesota man shot and wounded his wife. She then barricaded herself in the bathroom, and texted her neighbor for help. The husband shot himself when the cops came to rescue her.
Is everyone in Minnesota going crazy? Or just the men with guns?
The basic theorem of the NRA's logic in gun ownership is that guns don't kill people, people kill people. The corollary to this theorem is that only criminals and crazy people should be prevented from having guns.
But what if the very act of owning a gun makes you crazy?
The Slippery Slope
By definition, if you own a gun you intend to kill someone should the opportunity present itself. You think killing people is okay, and you don't mind doing it. This lack of empathy could be the first sign of psychopathy. The idea that you need to protect yourself from unknown people may be the first sign of paranoia. In any case, by taking this first step down the slippery slope gun owners slowly buy into the idea of murder.
At first guns are only acceptable for self defense: my life is worth another life. Then guns become necessary to protect one's belongings: my stereo is worth a life. Then guns are required to prevent trespassing: my privacy is worth a life. Then guns become desirable fashion accessories wherever I go: I need one to enforce good manners on other people. Then the gun becomes the first response in any situation, including suggestions of reasonable gun laws or the loss of an election.
Gun Addiction
Gun ownership is like drug addiction. It starts out with a gateway gun: a revolver purchased for self defense when a neighbor's home is broken into. Then a shotgun, because it's hard to aim in the dark and you want to make sure you get the bastard. Then a Glock pistol for target practice, with a 20-round clip so you don't have to reload as often. Then a Desert Eagle, because, boy does that bitch have a kick! Then an AR-15 in case society breaks down and you need a rifle that can do everything. Then a semiautomatic AK 47 that can be converted to full auto with a little kit you got off the Internet, because, well, you can never have enough protection after the federal government invades and the Apocalypse is nigh.
It explodes into full-blown paranoia when a terrible tragedy occurs — like Sandy Hook, a black president getting elected, or there's talk of limiting magazine size — and a massive gun- and ammo-buying binge sweeps the country.
The Scientific Basis of Addiction
The major factor in most addictions is the rush of dopamine into the brain. It happens with cocaine, running, gambling, shopping, porn, sex, food, nicotine, caffeine and, yes, as the NRA says, video games. But for the same reason video games are addictive, so too are guns: the thrill of shooting a real live full-auto AK gives the same rush that any first person shooter video game gives. Only a real gun is a thousand times better because it acts on all the senses: the feel of cool smooth metal and a coarse grip, the smell of the powder and oil on hot metal, the warmth of the barrel, the flash of heat on the skin, the powerful recoil as you fight to control the sheer power in your hands. That's when the blood and adrenalin really start pumping and the brain is filled with dopamine.
Movies and video games are just pale imitations on a screen. Being addicted to a video game might kill you if you play for 40 hours straight, but it's no more likely to make you go on a shooting spree than a runner's high.
As with any addiction, the surge of dopamine declines over time and a gun addict needs greater stimulation: more guns, more ammo, bigger caliber, bigger magazines. After a time just thinking of shooting makes the addict happy. He starts cooking up schemes to skip work to get his fix at the range, because it just feels so god-damned good there. He drops all his old friends and hangs out with fellow gun addicts. And then, finally, he starts to think how good it would feel to shoot his boss, or his ex-wife, or the stupid bitch that lives next door or the 13-year-old black kid he's certain stole his guns.
Because of the dopamine surge that they evoke guns become a natural response to any stressful situation. Just like any smoker, cokehead or gambling addict.
Sure, many of these shooters started out crazy and guns come second. The NRA wants to prevent them from getting guns. But how many people start out with guns and then go crazy? Shouldn't we be just as worried about them?
The men involved with the incidents of madness above were probably all mentally stable at one point. But over time they lost it. Did guns warp the pleasure centers of these men's brains, deaden their sense of empathy and cheapen life?
The Numbers
Let's take a look at some numbers today. There's been a lot of shrilling from the gun folks about how Americans overwhelmingly support their point of view. That's not true.
A Pew Poll shows the following:
A recent poll from Washington Post-ABC shows similar numbers.
So, what should we take away from this? Well, the first thing is obvious. The majority of Americans back the president. Specifically, an overwhelming amount support background checks for private and gun show sales. An overwhelming amount back the prevention of people with mental illness from purchasing guns. Two thirds support a federal database to track gun sales. Over 50 percent back bans on high ammo clips and assault weapons. That's much higher than I thought it would be. It seems clear to me that the background checks, the mental illness exception, and the database are all going to happen. It's simply going to be a matter of time.
But a key question remains as we go forward. Right now, the NRA has just under 5 million members. There are roughly 300 million people in this country. Are we going to let 1.75 percent of the population dictate how we are going to live in this country with guns? What a load of bullshit. I get shit constantly for the 50.1 percent that supposedly rule our country but 1.75 fucking percent? Are you KIDDING me?
The gun folks like scream long and heard about dictatorships and autocratic rule. Perhaps it's because they hate in others what they fear in themselves. The 2nd amendment doesn't trump every other right. The Constitution also guarantees the right to private property and charges the state with the task of protecting that private property with force, if necessary. If the 2nd amendment is, indeed, unlimited, the government can't protect private property anymore and we have anarchy. Don't I have the right to peaceably assemble or do I have to have a gun now? Don't I have the right to go to church (another place where there have been shootings) and freely worship?
According to the gun people, I don't.
A Pew Poll shows the following:
A recent poll from Washington Post-ABC shows similar numbers.
So, what should we take away from this? Well, the first thing is obvious. The majority of Americans back the president. Specifically, an overwhelming amount support background checks for private and gun show sales. An overwhelming amount back the prevention of people with mental illness from purchasing guns. Two thirds support a federal database to track gun sales. Over 50 percent back bans on high ammo clips and assault weapons. That's much higher than I thought it would be. It seems clear to me that the background checks, the mental illness exception, and the database are all going to happen. It's simply going to be a matter of time.
But a key question remains as we go forward. Right now, the NRA has just under 5 million members. There are roughly 300 million people in this country. Are we going to let 1.75 percent of the population dictate how we are going to live in this country with guns? What a load of bullshit. I get shit constantly for the 50.1 percent that supposedly rule our country but 1.75 fucking percent? Are you KIDDING me?
The gun folks like scream long and heard about dictatorships and autocratic rule. Perhaps it's because they hate in others what they fear in themselves. The 2nd amendment doesn't trump every other right. The Constitution also guarantees the right to private property and charges the state with the task of protecting that private property with force, if necessary. If the 2nd amendment is, indeed, unlimited, the government can't protect private property anymore and we have anarchy. Don't I have the right to peaceably assemble or do I have to have a gun now? Don't I have the right to go to church (another place where there have been shootings) and freely worship?
According to the gun people, I don't.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Finally!
It's been ten years since David Bowie has released any new music and most of us were beginning to think that he packed it in. He just turned 66 so no one would blame him, right? Yet here is...back with a corker of a new track called "Where are We Now?" It's sort of a cross between Young Americans mellow Bowie and the Berlin Era. The new album, entitled The Next Day, will be out March 11th in the UK and March 12th in the USA.
Here's the new single:
Here's the new single:
Reason-able?
An ex-student recently sent me two links from Reason.com which I found interesting. It bears mentioning that I've always had at least a third of the classes I teach be comprised of libertarians. These aren't like the conservatives that post here. In fact, they are mostly like one of my star commenters, juris imprudent.
They don't give a crap about gay people, abortions or any other social issue. They think our military budget should be slashed dramatically along with everything else in the federal budget. They think the United States should not have foreign troops stationed anywhere in the world. This last one has caused many an intense debate in class and usually marks the one time when I get the most opinionated, citing example after example of why it is necessary, at times, to have an American military presence in parts of the world. One such student asked me if if I though he was being naive. Since I don't lie to kids, I said yes. He's the one that now works for the Cato Institute, btw:)
Anyway, another ex-student sent this article to me regarding Jon Stewart's recent piece (which I posted here) on the gun debate and this article from last December on the NRA's massively tone deaf presser. I found both to have some very interesting tidbits. Let's take the last one first as that was the first to be released. First we have the title...
NRA Fights Anti-Gun Hysteria With Pro-Gun Hysteria
No shit. That's really what's going on, isn't it....pro gun hysteria.Reason's analysis of their statement?
Not exactly the voice of calm reason. LaPierre evidently wants people to panic, as long as they stampede in the direction he prefers.
Which would be right out to buy more guns...just like they did. And they like to throw out words like "sheep" and "useful idiots"...
The article then takes an interesting tack...citing how rare these mass shootings are so why is he encouraging people to go out and buy guns? Oh yes, the federal government.
After a very funny comment about LaPierre (" but it is drowned in the flood of foam flying off LaPierre's lips"), the article concludes with this...
Last night I suggested that Piers Morgan's televised faceoff with Larry Pratt "pretty accurately reflects the general tenor of the current gun control debate, with raw emotionalism and invective pitted against skepticism and an attempt at rational argument." The NRA and Wayne LaPierre seem determined to prove me wrong.
It's nice to see an admission of error from the Right.
The other article expands on this amazement at the irrational behavior by the gun people.
So, should we be pursuing new, "common-sense" restrictions on the buying, selling, owning, and operating of guns? I am not a gun person - I've gone shooting exactly twice in my life and didn't enjoy either experience - and I find many of the arguments of gun-rights advocates unconvincing or uninteresting. The notion that a rag-tag band of regular folks armed with semi-automatic weapons and the odd shotgun are a serious hedge against tyranny strikes me as a stretch (and I even saw the remake of Red Dawn!). Hitler and the Nazis didn't take away everyone's guns, as is commonly argued. They expanded gun rights for many groups (though not the Jews). When the whole mutha starts to come down, if the choice is between Jesse Ventura or Janet Napolitano, I'm not sure where to turn.
This is an excellent summation of the libertarian youth of today and how they think. It's a very astute statement that relies on facts and has criticism in it that is highly justified. Who are the real leaders here and why should any young person follow them?
My only criticism of the article comes at the end.
Once you strip away the raw emotionalism of the carnage at Sandy Hook, or the Aurora theater, or Columbine, or Luby's, or whatever, you're left with a series of inconvenient truths for gun-control advocates: Over the past 20 years or so, more guns are in circulation and violent crime is down. So is violent crime that uses guns. Murders are down, too, even as video games and movies and music and everything else are filled with more fantasy violence than ever. For god's sake, even mass shootings are not becoming more common. If ever there was a case to stand pat in terms of public policy, the state of gun control provides it (and that's without even delving into the fact that Supreme Court has recently validated a personal right to own guns in two landmark cases).
This is one of the problems with the youth of today. They lack empathy. We can't "stand pat" after Sandy Hook. I think it's fantastic that the numbers are going down but that doesn't mean we should ignore the qualitative analysis of these crimes. And, even one death, as the president said yesterday, means we're not doing something right. Further, those same landmark cases also said that the 2nd amendment is not unlimited. That means there is room for new policy.
But I take a great deal of heart in these points of view because they have kernels of rational thinking in them. At least that's a start.
They don't give a crap about gay people, abortions or any other social issue. They think our military budget should be slashed dramatically along with everything else in the federal budget. They think the United States should not have foreign troops stationed anywhere in the world. This last one has caused many an intense debate in class and usually marks the one time when I get the most opinionated, citing example after example of why it is necessary, at times, to have an American military presence in parts of the world. One such student asked me if if I though he was being naive. Since I don't lie to kids, I said yes. He's the one that now works for the Cato Institute, btw:)
Anyway, another ex-student sent this article to me regarding Jon Stewart's recent piece (which I posted here) on the gun debate and this article from last December on the NRA's massively tone deaf presser. I found both to have some very interesting tidbits. Let's take the last one first as that was the first to be released. First we have the title...
NRA Fights Anti-Gun Hysteria With Pro-Gun Hysteria
No shit. That's really what's going on, isn't it....pro gun hysteria.Reason's analysis of their statement?
Not exactly the voice of calm reason. LaPierre evidently wants people to panic, as long as they stampede in the direction he prefers.
Which would be right out to buy more guns...just like they did. And they like to throw out words like "sheep" and "useful idiots"...
The article then takes an interesting tack...citing how rare these mass shootings are so why is he encouraging people to go out and buy guns? Oh yes, the federal government.
After a very funny comment about LaPierre (" but it is drowned in the flood of foam flying off LaPierre's lips"), the article concludes with this...
Last night I suggested that Piers Morgan's televised faceoff with Larry Pratt "pretty accurately reflects the general tenor of the current gun control debate, with raw emotionalism and invective pitted against skepticism and an attempt at rational argument." The NRA and Wayne LaPierre seem determined to prove me wrong.
It's nice to see an admission of error from the Right.
The other article expands on this amazement at the irrational behavior by the gun people.
So, should we be pursuing new, "common-sense" restrictions on the buying, selling, owning, and operating of guns? I am not a gun person - I've gone shooting exactly twice in my life and didn't enjoy either experience - and I find many of the arguments of gun-rights advocates unconvincing or uninteresting. The notion that a rag-tag band of regular folks armed with semi-automatic weapons and the odd shotgun are a serious hedge against tyranny strikes me as a stretch (and I even saw the remake of Red Dawn!). Hitler and the Nazis didn't take away everyone's guns, as is commonly argued. They expanded gun rights for many groups (though not the Jews). When the whole mutha starts to come down, if the choice is between Jesse Ventura or Janet Napolitano, I'm not sure where to turn.
This is an excellent summation of the libertarian youth of today and how they think. It's a very astute statement that relies on facts and has criticism in it that is highly justified. Who are the real leaders here and why should any young person follow them?
My only criticism of the article comes at the end.
Once you strip away the raw emotionalism of the carnage at Sandy Hook, or the Aurora theater, or Columbine, or Luby's, or whatever, you're left with a series of inconvenient truths for gun-control advocates: Over the past 20 years or so, more guns are in circulation and violent crime is down. So is violent crime that uses guns. Murders are down, too, even as video games and movies and music and everything else are filled with more fantasy violence than ever. For god's sake, even mass shootings are not becoming more common. If ever there was a case to stand pat in terms of public policy, the state of gun control provides it (and that's without even delving into the fact that Supreme Court has recently validated a personal right to own guns in two landmark cases).
This is one of the problems with the youth of today. They lack empathy. We can't "stand pat" after Sandy Hook. I think it's fantastic that the numbers are going down but that doesn't mean we should ignore the qualitative analysis of these crimes. And, even one death, as the president said yesterday, means we're not doing something right. Further, those same landmark cases also said that the 2nd amendment is not unlimited. That means there is room for new policy.
But I take a great deal of heart in these points of view because they have kernels of rational thinking in them. At least that's a start.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
What They Need To Understand
Check out the reaction from Joe Scarborough and the rest of the commentators in this clip. It's a perfect summation of how far out there the "in the bubble" folks are today . Sick, indeed, Mika...but will they understand and come to terms with their behavior?
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