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Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 03 Aug 2019, 8:23pm
by WestwayKid
I was fucking pissed (again) when the news came across the wire. Furious. I put out a Facebook post that said I'd better get my "thoughts and prayers" ready and it drew flack from a couple of friends - those who did not get the satire. They took it as disrespectful of Christians - which is very telling as so many "Christians" think about themselves first. I was not criticizing Christians. I am one - even if I have a ton of inner turmoil about my beliefs. I'm simply beyond done with the lame response we as Americans get from our elected leaders. They have the power to make real change - but they don't. They just talk about how bad they feel and offer thoughts and prayers. FIX the problem. Do anything!! Just fucking try. I'm done with their "kind" words.
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 03 Aug 2019, 8:24pm
by WestwayKid
BitterTom wrote: ↑03 Aug 2019, 4:20pm
Terrible news.
It truly is, my friend - but it's so crazy that for the average American it no longer registers. 5...10...20? It's become just a number...
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 03 Aug 2019, 10:12pm
by 101Walterton
WestwayKid wrote: ↑03 Aug 2019, 8:24pm
BitterTom wrote: ↑03 Aug 2019, 4:20pm
Terrible news.
It truly is, my friend - but it's so crazy that for the average American it no longer registers. 5...10...20? It's become just a number...
Yes that is sad when the number becomes irrelevant. We should all strive to never become desensitised to Acts of violence.
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 04 Aug 2019, 7:32am
by Mimi
Now Dayton, Ohio.
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 04 Aug 2019, 9:15am
by Dr. Medulla
https://splinternews.com/lt-gov-reacts- ... 1836942497
Nazis and Klan members, however, are still welcome as always.
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 04 Aug 2019, 1:47pm
by revbob
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 04 Aug 2019, 2:02pm
by Dr. Medulla
revbob wrote: ↑04 Aug 2019, 1:47pm
Those are called Texans.
White Texans, anyway. The asshole shooter posted some manifesto about belonging to the last white generation. Well, if he's representative, thank fucking beelzebub for that. These people whine so goddamned much about being an endangered species while doing their damnedest to demonstrate justification for their extinction.
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 05 Aug 2019, 9:59am
by WestwayKid
I've been thinking a lot about the news in the past couple of days. I drew some social media flack for my initial response - which was just an expression of disgust directed towards our lack of any constructive progress. It's interesting how different people saw different things in my few short words: an attack on Christians or an attack on gun ownership or an attack on Republicans or whatever and in some ways there was at least some truth in all of that. However, I'm looking beyond that. Are guns the problem? Not in themselves. We need more sensible gun laws - but guns are an instrument of hate. All of this is a manifestation of the systemic inequality, racism, and hate that have propped up our society for centuries. It's all connected and not always in obvious ways. THAT is what we need to go after. That is what we need to disrupt. We need to combat the collective disregard for others and the lack of empathy and the mistrust and I feel it takes more than kind words and thoughts. We need to be actively working to undo the centuries of broken ideas and it feels very overwhelming right now. It's a problem that will take a generation (if not more) to fix - but it has to start now. No more kicking the can down the road.
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 05 Aug 2019, 10:24am
by BostonBeaneater
WestwayKid wrote: ↑05 Aug 2019, 9:59am
I've been thinking a lot about the news in the past couple of days. I drew some social media flack for my initial response - which was just an expression of disgust directed towards our lack of any constructive progress. It's interesting how different people saw different things in my few short words: an attack on Christians or an attack on gun ownership or an attack on Republicans or whatever and in some ways there was at least some truth in all of that. However, I'm looking beyond that. Are guns the problem? Not in themselves. We need more sensible gun laws - but guns are an instrument of hate. All of this is a manifestation of the systemic inequality, racism, and hate that have propped up our society for centuries. It's all connected and not always in obvious ways. THAT is what we need to go after. That is what we need to disrupt. We need to combat the collective disregard for others and the lack of empathy and the mistrust and I feel it takes more than kind words and thoughts. We need to be actively working to undo the centuries of broken ideas and it feels very overwhelming right now. It's a problem that will take a generation (if not more) to fix - but it has to start now. No more kicking the can down the road.
I got some looks for being nonchalant about all this. It's who we are in this country and we're fools to expect anything else. We are reflected buy our culture and our government. We get what we deserve.
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 05 Aug 2019, 10:28am
by Flex
WestwayKid wrote: ↑05 Aug 2019, 9:59am
I've been thinking a lot about the news in the past couple of days. I drew some social media flack for my initial response - which was just an expression of disgust directed towards our lack of any constructive progress. It's interesting how different people saw different things in my few short words: an attack on Christians or an attack on gun ownership or an attack on Republicans or whatever and in some ways there was at least some truth in all of that. However, I'm looking beyond that. Are guns the problem? Not in themselves. We need more sensible gun laws - but guns are an instrument of hate. All of this is a manifestation of the systemic inequality, racism, and hate that have propped up our society for centuries. It's all connected and not always in obvious ways. THAT is what we need to go after. That is what we need to disrupt. We need to combat the collective disregard for others and the lack of empathy and the mistrust and I feel it takes more than kind words and thoughts. We need to be actively working to undo the centuries of broken ideas and it feels very overwhelming right now. It's a problem that will take a generation (if not more) to fix - but it has to start now. No more kicking the can down the road.
I don't disagree with any of this necessarily, we always obviously need to be fighting the battle of ideas and trying to combat hate, alienation, etc.
And I also think that hateful ideology isn't unique to America. It the massive, massive numbers of guns that are unique and it's why we have all this gun violence when other countries that have all the other stuff we have but fewer guns manage to... not have so much fun violence.
It really is the guns.
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 05 Aug 2019, 10:35am
by WestwayKid
Flex wrote: ↑05 Aug 2019, 10:28am
WestwayKid wrote: ↑05 Aug 2019, 9:59am
I've been thinking a lot about the news in the past couple of days. I drew some social media flack for my initial response - which was just an expression of disgust directed towards our lack of any constructive progress. It's interesting how different people saw different things in my few short words: an attack on Christians or an attack on gun ownership or an attack on Republicans or whatever and in some ways there was at least some truth in all of that. However, I'm looking beyond that. Are guns the problem? Not in themselves. We need more sensible gun laws - but guns are an instrument of hate. All of this is a manifestation of the systemic inequality, racism, and hate that have propped up our society for centuries. It's all connected and not always in obvious ways. THAT is what we need to go after. That is what we need to disrupt. We need to combat the collective disregard for others and the lack of empathy and the mistrust and I feel it takes more than kind words and thoughts. We need to be actively working to undo the centuries of broken ideas and it feels very overwhelming right now. It's a problem that will take a generation (if not more) to fix - but it has to start now. No more kicking the can down the road.
I don't disagree with any of this necessarily, we always obviously need to be fighting the battle of ideas and trying to combat hate, alienation, etc.
And I also think that hateful ideology isn't unique to America. It the massive, massive numbers of guns that are unique and it's why we have all this gun violence when other countries that have all the other stuff we have but fewer guns manage to... not have so much fun violence.
It really is the guns.
According to Trump and McCarthy - it's about the video games...
I also don't disagree that it's also very much about guns and in my mind - I'm wrestling with how all of this is connected. I do see an underlying current of hate and intolerance - of valuing some lives less than others - but then I also see a longstanding - and very sick - infatuation with guns and violence.
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 05 Aug 2019, 10:52am
by Dr. Medulla
A dominant culture that validates, if not valourizes, violence as a legitimate means handling disagreement in the civil sphere; a cultural-economic system that both promotes great disparities of wealth and attaches moral significance to where one stands on that basis; and fairly easy access to tools for murdering lots and lots and lots of people. Those are the three legs of the stool. Dismantling any single leg would be an improvement, but the goal should be destroying the stool altogether.
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 05 Aug 2019, 12:05pm
by Marky Dread
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑05 Aug 2019, 10:52am
A dominant culture that validates, if not valourizes, violence as a legitimate means handling disagreement in the civil sphere; a cultural-economic system that both promotes great disparities of wealth and attaches moral significance to where one stands on that basis; and fairly easy access to tools for murdering lots and lots and lots of people. Those are the three legs of the stool. Dismantling any single leg would be an improvement, but the goal should be destroying the stool altogether.
Trump is a stool.
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 05 Aug 2019, 11:33pm
by BostonBeaneater
Marky Dread wrote: ↑05 Aug 2019, 12:05pm
Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑05 Aug 2019, 10:52am
A dominant culture that validates, if not valourizes, violence as a legitimate means handling disagreement in the civil sphere; a cultural-economic system that both promotes great disparities of wealth and attaches moral significance to where one stands on that basis; and fairly easy access to tools for murdering lots and lots and lots of people. Those are the three legs of the stool. Dismantling any single leg would be an improvement, but the goal should be destroying the stool altogether.
Trump is a stool.
Trump is stool.
Re: The Political Gun Thread
Posted: 10 Aug 2019, 10:58am
by Dr. Medulla
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politi ... story.html
*gasp* I just realized that actual human beings can be hurt by the proliferation of guns!