Posted on 12/05/2015 6:40:03 AM PST by drop 50 and fire for effect
The Peace of Versailles, Buck v. Bell, the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor,* the Hitler-Stalin Pact, the Ukrainian famine, the internment of Japanese-Americans, the Tuskegee experiments, the Holocaust, McCarthyism, the Marshall Plan, Jim Crow, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Kennedy Assassination, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Kent State, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Watergate, withdrawal from Vietnam, the Killing Fields, the Iran hostage crisis, the Contras, AIDS, gay marriage, the Iran nuclear deal: These are just a few of the things the New York Times chose not to run front page editorials.
But, the “Gun Epidemic†in America? That deserves a front-page editorial. Not only that, it deserves to be bragged about that this is the first time since 1920 they’ve run a front page editorial.
It begins:
It is a moral outrage and national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency.
A few points:
First, you’d think it would be better written, given the pomposity of it all.
Second, you’d think there would be an actual gun epidemic to justify this break from precedent. Gun murders, as Charlie Cooke keeps pointing out, keep going down. That is not to say that the prevalence of spree or mass killings aren’t a serious issue. Such slaughters, separate and apart from the Islamist threat, are extremely troubling and both parties should do more to address them. But given that gun ownership has skyrocketed while gun homicides have gone down, it’s hard to see how the premise of the editorial — never mind its nearly unprecendented placement — can be defended.
Third, while I have no doubt the authors are sincere in their desire to mount a national movement against guns (I also have no doubt they’ll fail), it is impossible to read this as anything other than an attempt to change the subject in the face of all the facts we learned today. These include, off the top of my head:
This was a terrorist attack, the most deadly since 9/11.
The killers were inspired by ISIS, a group the president has insisted is “contained†and only last week said posed no threat to the homeland.
No remotely plausible gun-control reforms would have prevented the Farooks from killing people.
The immigrant screening process let Jihadi murderer, Malik Tafsheen, into the United States despite the fact she gave a fake address. This happened at a moment when the president — and the New York Times – have insisted time and again that concerns about Syrian refugees amount to little more than xenophobia and know-nothingism.
One hour before the FBI confirmed this was a terrorist attack the White House still refused to describe it as one. This fact is particularly salient given that the president has always downplayed, diminished, disregarded, and dismissed concerns about terrorism in America. He simply doesn’t want Americans to sweat terrorism.
But he does want Americans to sweat guns. And so does the New York Times.
So, by all means, this is exactly the moment to break a 95-year precedent and run a front-page editorial making the case for reforms that would not have prevented these murders, have no chance of passing Congress, and detract from the most pressing issues of the moment.
Well done, Gray Lady, well done.
* I added Pearl Harbor after I originally posted this because, well, Pearl Harbor.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/NYT-Epic-Gun-Fail
It is time that sanity rules in our nation, we have been subjected to insanity long enough.
Hmmm. That's the best they could do?
Almost nobody believes that now, except for a few aging hippies.
When an action people think should work does not, instead of rethinking and trying something different, they do the same thing over but this time harder, or louder. A front page editorial is louder and more in-your-face. But it will not work any better because even other liberals aren’t listening.
This is the one thing holding the Left from going full tyranny. There is nothing else. Election, free speech, religion, nothing but guns in the hands of private citizens holds them back. So yes, this is the most important issue since the Progressive movement started in earnest. Take note conservatives, patriots. We are their enemies and they have us marked for death. At some point we need to enact our right to self-defense (in an organized way: lone wolf-ism is murder).
A further comment from this author he posted this morning:
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner
Last night I offered a bit of a rant about the The New York Times’ front page editorial. There’s one thought worth adding, I think. Putting the editorial on the frontpage is actually a sign of weakness — not just of the pro-gun control position, but of The Times itself. One could argue that the Times hasn’t needed to put an editorial on its front page in the past, because its editorials had sufficient heft and influence. During Watergate or World War II, people looked to the editorials — in the proper place — for guidance. Now, the paper in effect needs to wave its arms and shout, “Hello, we write really important editorials! And we really think this one is important!”
Similarly, while very, very, very few people outside the Times’ offices — and media nerds like me — could care less about what is essentially a P.R. gimmick, the Times thinks this is a Very Big Deal. For the staid grey lady this amounts to shouting “Unleash the Kraken!†It shows you how desperate and frustrated the editors — and liberals generally — are with the fact that this country doesn’t agree with them on guns. It also shows that the “national conversation†most Americans want has more to do with Islamist terrorism and less to do with the alleged “gun show loophole.†This alone doesn’t make The Times’ views or their arguments illegitimate or invalid. But it does illustrate how unpersuasive they are to much of the public.
The same can be said for the disgustingly hypocritical new fad of calling Wayne LaPierre a “terrorist.†This from the same crowd who insisted Sarah Palin had blood on her hands because of some cross-hairs on a congressional district map and that Michelle Bachmann should be put in the dock for her “eliminationist rhetoric.†I have no problem with criticizing LaPierre, but the double standard is just so appalling. I mean, seriously, to Hell with these people.
What’s true for lawyers is also true for newspapers: When you’re shouting and pounding the table, it’s probably because you’re losing the argument.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner
This is the tipping point for me. Just joined the NRA and will purchase my first ever firearm next week.
“the president”
It’s time we stop calling him that. We have no president.
At post 6, there is more comment exactly on your point from the author.
{”This is the one thing holding the Left from going full tyranny. There is nothing else. Election, free speech, religion, nothing but guns in the hands of private citizens holds them back. So yes, this is the most important issue since the Progressive movement started in earnest. Take note conservatives, patriots. We are their enemies and they have us marked for death. At some point we need to enact our right to self-defense (in an organized way: lone wolf-ism is murder).”}
Your words are so true right here and now. We do not have the protection of checks and balances. The Supreme Court is corrupt. The president is a dictator.
Buy guns and ammo and know how to use them.
...Almost nobody believes that now, except for a few aging hippies...
Fringe lunatic liberals including those hippies and Hollywood, led by Barack Hussein Obama.
A lot of college years drug use has contributed to this too.
Sanity has not been around since the Democrats kicked God out of the Nation. During the Democrat National Convention, the Democrat Delegates booed the mention of God three times in succession. Yet self professed Christian after self professed Christian voted for the Democrat candidate on election day.
Welcome to the club, though if you don’t have any recent training or experience, go through an NRA course, learn how to safely use this important tool.
What’s that saying about when your enemy is doing a good job of killing themselves just step back and enjoy the moment and let them complete the task. In this case I suppose piling on is ok, just for the fun of it but it’s not really necessary.
The MSM have totally jumped the shark in their attempt to stay ideologically pure and to protect their savior. Almost no one believes what they say anymore. They are rapidly becoming irrelevant and shrill - “for the times (pun intended) they are a chang’in.” I only pray cable tv can die fast enough so shows like MSNBC and CNN can lose more of their financial backing and go the way of the dinosaurs.
Let’s hear it for the new Breitbart broadcasting network!
The press and the democrat party have been taken over by communists. Joe McCarthy was right.
I agree with you. Obama is no President of the United States of America. End of story!!! Obama is more like Satan, Nero, Caligula & Hitler, combined!!! He has set African-Americans back at least one hundred years. SAD....that these folks have nary a clue as to how bad they have been treated by their “Hope & Change” hero, Muslim Barack Hussein Obama!!! Obama is no hero to them......nor, any other American!!!
I suggest we use * instead of an apostrophy untill
the ‘ problem gets fixed.
Bravo, Jonah.
Front page editorial. The friends of our enemy are front and center, aren’t they?
They are confused from a lack of principles and they are cowards from a loss of morals.
Gun control is a loser issue. Democratic candidates are going to learn the hard way it offends more people than it brings out people who support them.
People against guns aren’t care much about something that is unlikely to ever happen to vote; people who own guns and worry their guns rights might be taken away from them are going to vote in massive numbers.
Gun backers simply have more to lose. And for Democrats that amounts to devastating down ballot losses at a time the party can least afford them. But people in the grip of anti-gun dementia are impervious to reason.
If you want to make the argument we have too many guns in this country, don’t count on getting a lot of votes for it. And the New York Times editorial represents a fringe view in the country.
If this is the hill Democrats are determined to die on, they’re welcome to it.
Welcome, friend.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.