The Second Amendment wasn’t always a party dividing issue, it was a solemnly held responsibility of American culture. Being a helpless subject to violence from others is a violation of personal liberty.
It became yet another convenient “two party issue” once neoliberalism’s effects on the human psyche manifested into shootings, and the GOP and NRA decided to make “gun culture” into an obsessive “loud toys for boys” fetish. This might have been around the time Gingrich was pushing to radicalize the Republicans to be as comically, ridiculously opposite of the Democrats as far as possible, doesn’t matter why, only that they were loudly opposed and won at all costs. That man is an absolute monster clearly going for a top score for when he finally makes it to Hell.
The other side of the aisle decided to go the complete opposite direction to create more “brand contrast”, so they decided to fear-monger and miseducate about firearms as much as possible so their most dedicated voter base became smug, hoplophobic disarmament absolutists, and pushed for wild ban bills and government registration lists and all sorts of other nonsense everybody knew wouldn’t pass…but it differentiated them from “Those other guys.”
(Seen starkly in the meaningless term “assault weapon”, or that many people believe you can just walk into any gun store and buy a fully automatic weapon, and CNN’s now-infamous “This gun is fully-semi-automatic” clip.)
This was convenient for the parties because it was yet another hot button “single issue voter” issue, which helped capture voters who wouldn’t even think about voting for the other party depending on how they now felt about guns. (See also: healthcare, unions, abortion, LGBT rights…)
It was great fun for those playing the game of politics (read: Not the vast overwhelming majority of us.), but as usual, it’s warped into an artificially polarized tribalism that’s wreaked chaos on general society.
So now we have a disproportionate amount of potential violence on the side of the big red bullies who are now so deeply entrenched in gun fetishization, prepping based on conspiracy theories, and toxic individualism…
And the official stance of liberals is “Um…a harsh reprimand, loud crying, some disorganized picketing, and honest discussion about our feelings?”
Still, there are leftists who quietly take their responsibility seriously, (see: Socialist Rifle Association), but can we be organized enough to make an autocrat and his violence-obsessed pawns think twice? That leaves room for worry.
I would encourage people to at least have basic training in how to defend themselves and know whom you can trust, because things are both wildly unpredictable and repeating very dark history at the exact same time…
The Second Amendment wasn’t always a party dividing issue, it was a solemnly held responsibility of American culture. Being a helpless subject to violence from others is a violation of personal liberty.
It became yet another convenient “two party issue” once neoliberalism’s effects on the human psyche manifested into shootings, and the GOP and NRA decided to make “gun culture” into an obsessive “loud toys for boys” fetish. This might have been around the time Gingrich was pushing to radicalize the Republicans to be as comically, ridiculously opposite of the Democrats as far as possible, doesn’t matter why, only that they were loudly opposed and won at all costs. That man is an absolute monster clearly going for a top score for when he finally makes it to Hell.
The other side of the aisle decided to go the complete opposite direction to create more “brand contrast”, so they decided to fear-monger and miseducate about firearms as much as possible so their most dedicated voter base became smug, hoplophobic disarmament absolutists, and pushed for wild ban bills and government registration lists and all sorts of other nonsense everybody knew wouldn’t pass…but it differentiated them from “Those other guys.”
(Seen starkly in the meaningless term “assault weapon”, or that many people believe you can just walk into any gun store and buy a fully automatic weapon, and CNN’s now-infamous “This gun is fully-semi-automatic” clip.)
This was convenient for the parties because it was yet another hot button “single issue voter” issue, which helped capture voters who wouldn’t even think about voting for the other party depending on how they now felt about guns. (See also: healthcare, unions, abortion, LGBT rights…)
It was great fun for those playing the game of politics (read: Not the vast overwhelming majority of us.), but as usual, it’s warped into an artificially polarized tribalism that’s wreaked chaos on general society.
So now we have a disproportionate amount of potential violence on the side of the big red bullies who are now so deeply entrenched in gun fetishization, prepping based on conspiracy theories, and toxic individualism…
And the official stance of liberals is “Um…a harsh reprimand, loud crying, some disorganized picketing, and honest discussion about our feelings?”
Still, there are leftists who quietly take their responsibility seriously, (see: Socialist Rifle Association), but can we be organized enough to make an autocrat and his violence-obsessed pawns think twice? That leaves room for worry.
I would encourage people to at least have basic training in how to defend themselves and know whom you can trust, because things are both wildly unpredictable and repeating very dark history at the exact same time…