Posted on 12/20/2012 10:08:48 PM PST by neverdem
No other issue connects with the Left on such an emotional level, or provokes the most wildly out-of-control behavior, as gun control. It’s been off the national radar screen for a long time, not least because liberals know it’s a killer during presidential elections, so we’re seeing a great deal of pent-up frustration erupting now.
Exhibit A is Piers Morgan of CNN, who appears to have gone utterly mad since the Newtown shooting. He claimed it was possible to buy AR-15 assault rifles in supermarkets, ignoring repeated requests from more rational commentators to name the remarkable supermarket he’s been shopping at. On Tuesday, he went berserk on the air and got into a shouting match with guest Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America:
Some of this can be dismissed as grandstanding for ratings, but it’s not just Morgan. Author Joyce Carol Oates wished NRA members would get shot, so they might finally give up their damnable Second Amendment rights… and insisted she wasn’t speaking “ironically.” She also mused that a lot of “gun accidents” might not be so accidental after all, broadly accusing thousands of Americans who disagree with her of being murderers.
University of Rhode Island history teacher Erik Loomis launched into a profane tirade that accused the National Rifle Association of being a “terrorist organization” and called for the CEO’s “head on a stick,” although he did later try to claim he was speaking ironically, after being rebuked by his university.
It’s one thing to be passionately committed to a political position, but these people have gone feral. Partly this is due to the small window of opportunity afforded by tragedy. Gun-control zealots know they’ve only got a few days of grief to exploit, before most Americans begin once more thinking rationally about the Constitution and self-defense. Many of the legislative nostrums prescribed by the gun-control crowd have only tenuous connections to the event itself; it’s not long before voters start wondering why there’s a big push to ban “assault weapons” because they look scary, and note that possession of such a weapon is not essential to the awful business of carrying out a shooting spree.
But much of what we see pouring from the Left in the gun-control debate is a pure expression of their id. This is a hot-button issue for them. Actually, it’s wired into all of their hot buttons.
There’s arrogant contempt for rural “gun culture” – a phrase that most certainly does not refer to the gun culture of urban street gangs when a liberal uses it.
There is a dash of leftist power politics involved, since they regard groups like the NRA as vital organs of the Right, a source of both money and political muscle for conservatives. That’s one reason so many liberals reflexively wish violence and death upon members and officers of the NRA. Those people are the enemy, 365 days a year; the aftermath of a high-profile shooting affords an opportunity to attack them with particular vigor.
Philosophically, the Second Amendment is a hated repudiation of everything collectivists believe about the proper relationship between citizens and the all-powerful State. The concept of private firearms as a bulwark against tyranny insults them, because they believe nobody should think about maternal, coercive leftist government that way, not even in the abstract.
The more immediate and practical use of legal firearms for self-defense is also an insult to the State – an accusation that benevolent government cannot adequately protect its citizens. You’re supposed to let the agents of the State defend you from criminals, not take matters into your own hands. Frankly, you little people are just too damned stupid to be entrusted with deadly force. You can’t live any aspect of your lives without maternal government assistance, so how can you be trusted to defend your own life?
Personal responsibility is the antithesis of the nanny state, and gun ownership is among the most powerful expressions of such responsibility. Gun owners often see it that way themselves – it has hardly escaped the notice of liberals that Gadsden flags tend to erupt from large gatherings of gun enthusiasts. Right now, the news is filled with reports of gun sales skyrocketing, due to apprehension over the possibility of new gun control legislation. Liberals read headlines like that and seethe. It reeks of anarchy to them.
The Left views government as the primary agency of moral action. It “solves” problems by passing laws. Agitating for problem-solving laws is an easy way to express moral supremacy, and in this case, for liberals who don’t personally own guns – or who, like most of the high-level politicians and opinion makers, enjoy armed security protection – it’s completely cost-free. It’s a nice, simple equation: call for banning some types of gun, or all of them, and you’re “good.” Everyone else is callous and evil. People who try to introduce actual facts into the discussion are vilified with gusto, because they dare to introduce icy logic into an emotional, moral crusade… they want to talk, when it’s clearly time for action! It’s an attitude that curdles quickly into the kind of blind hatred that liberals normally congratulate themselves for opposing, because it’s so shallow.
And let’s face it: a blanket pass to scream insults at people you don’t like – justified with a plea that You Care So Very Much and It’s All For the Children – is great fun, and very cathartic. It’s no surprise that a wide range of other issues swiftly creep into these tirades, and soon the gun zealot is, like filmmaker Michael Moore, describing opposition to socialized medicine as the moral equivalent of murder. The Left has a great deal of anger to vent. There’s a lot of pressure built up behind that gun-control valve.
Articles that explain how modern liberals suffer from a mental disorder.
I believe there really may be something to the toxoplasmosis theory of liberalism that gets tossed around from time to time.
I don’t think I’ve heard that theory. Sounds like it might be similar to a phrase my mother used to use. Poor protoplasm. lol
Google “toxoplasmosis liberals”. Basically it is a parasitic organism that lives in the fecal matter of cats, and causes marked behavorial changes in the host that are remarkably similar to what we regard as liberalism. Fascinating, and would explain a lot.
I’ve watched every one of Piers programs since the shooting happened. He screams over everyone like he is truly certifiable crazy. CNN needs to can him as he is totally out of control. Calls the gun people he has on the program vile names and yells over them so no one can hear what they are saying. He is really disgusting.
ROTFLOL I will entertain myself with a look at that some afternoon. One thing is sure; they ain’t right in the head!
Nah, I've got catz and I'm still a hardcore, Goldwater was liberal, kind of conservative.
But I don't let my catz hang out with liberals..... hmmmmm... Maybe that's why they aren't infected.
/johnny
Have you seen the movie Idiocracy? That is what a lot of people like and that is why they re-elected 0bungles. Or to use another analogy; they want a Jersey Shore/Jerry Springer nation.
Joke all you want. It’s a real disease and can cause birth defects severe enough that some countries do prenatal screening for it. And the liberalism angle is just too strange to be a coincidence.
I will, thank you for your permission. God sorta told me to be joyful anyway.
Anything I can personally do to help stem the tide of the disease, besides keep my catz indoors and not play with their poop?
/johnny
It’s got electrolytes.
Is that a professional opinion based on field experience?
Because coming from you, that means something. I can say someone's crazy, but no judge is going to listen to me. You however, are qualified to make an informed, objective analysis.
/johnny
LOL I shouldn’t laugh, it’s becoming the freaking reality at warp speed.
Piers is a complete ass. To give this man a venue from which to spew his prattle is unforgiveable on the part of CNN.
Exhibit A is Piers Morgan of CNN, who appears to have gone utterly mad since the Newtown shooting. He claimed it was possible to buy AR-15 assault rifles in supermarkets, ignoring repeated requests from more rational commentators to name the remarkable supermarket he’s been shopping at.
Wal-mart
Proving once again that liberalism is a form of mental illness.
John Hayward wrote a wonderful article, here.
It’s part of the religion of State. “Oh holy State, protect us”
We like to think otherwise, but our species, Homo sapiens, is not that long out of the trees and the same laws of nature that affect all of God’s creatures apply equally to us. If we were to observe any other species that had been allowed to reproduce without limitations, as have Homo sapiens, we would know immediately what the consequences will be.
Whenever the weak; lazy; and stupid of a species is allowed to reproduce unimpeded by predators that feed off the weak; lazy; and stupid, they soon outnumber the strong, quick, and intelligent. When the weak/lazy/stupid dominates the gene pool, the entire population becomes weak/ lazy/stupid, and then the population collapses.
When this collapse occurs within human populations, it’s referred to as a “Malthusian Collapse,” and it occurs whenever the unproductive weak/lazy/stupid vastly outnumber the productive strong/quick/intelligent of the population as has currently happened in this country.
These collapses have occurred at frequent intervals throughout human history, and Western Civilization is, in my humble opinion, currently on the cusp of one of these collapses.
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