Earlier today, we got the news that a gunman entered a nightclub and opened fire, killing and wounding dozens of people. For the families and friends and co-workers of the victims, and for the wounded, life will go on, albeit with the shadow of this event hanging over their heads for a long, long time. During their moment of tragedy, our want and our need to do something - anything - kicks in. The visceral reaction we feel upon hearing such news is an inevitable part of human nature, because part of our community, our country, our tribe (whatever you want to call it) was struck, and we want action. The problem is that some people are just way too stupid to let go of their ideology for one second and just repeating some shit they heard somewhere that seemed to make sense.
Maybe it's a coincidence, but I saw this cartoon the other day (I don't know who made it) and thought it was kind of funny:
Political correctness is killing us. Every time there is an act of terrorism, people start the 'gun debate' and it's absolutely comical outside of the extreme circumstances we see ourselves in, because as the tragedy fades away, we can be assured that, during the next one, the same stuff is going to come up. Every time. But we live in a post-gun world. Pandora's legs have been opened, and her STDs on society are going to go away but pop up and be really itchy for awhile every once in awhile.
But before I go further, let me just say this: it is in the realm of human nature to commit acts of violence given the right circumstances. Anyone can kill. We haven't evolved past the point where we can honestly assess ourselves and say, "I would never kill someone, ever." It will take us eons before we're conscious enough to just be at peace with everything and absorb sunlight for nutrients. Right now, we're the chicken, and the gun is our egg. Trying to change human nature overnight, or 'get rid of all the guns', or 'ban violent video games' is not going to happen. Anyone who tries to make it happen is lying to themselves.
Why? Because one of the reasons we kill is because of greed. I kind of lump greed and power together into the same category, because I kind of just see them both as a lust for control over other people. If you have money, you can make people do things. You can dare a woman to pump gasoline naked while you video tape it for 300 dollars. That's basically power. But that's kind of a side-tangent. The point is, these slogans like "Ban violent video games", or "Ban assault weapons" are invented by people who want more power. They're not concerned with actually solving problems. They just want more power. Don't get me wrong - the gun lobby people want power, too - and both pro-gun and anti-gun people are using fear as a means of getting it. It's really sick, but tragedies like these are GOOD for the pro-gun people, because pro-gun people get scared and buy guns, and it's good for anti-gun people because they get to get on their "I'm all about banning guns, give me your votes, you stupid sheep" parade float.
The thing is, in the US, gun ownership is part of our culture. Our second amendment, often misquoted, reads:
"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
And listen, I own zero guns, unless you count super-soakers. I'm not a big gun-person. I have no desire to shoot another human being. I might buy a knife, though. Then I can just have my knife with me to keep me safe. However, that aside, the 2nd Amendment says that gun-owners are NECESSARY for the security of a free state, not the THREAT. I mean, what if someone blew that gunman away and stopped him from killing so many people? I mean, I only want three things: background check (so you're not a crinamal), gun owner safety course (so you can take care of your weapon properly and shoot the intended target and not yourself in the leg), and a license, so you can prove you are who you say you are. I really think learning to shoot and be safe is REALLY important, too. It took one police officer to stop Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi from killing a lot of people, so it's not unfathomable that a 'civilian' could do the same thing with the proper training.
As far as the whole Islam thing goes - we're in a cultural conflict, no doubt about it. I think the fear that liberals have is that we're headed for some genocidal conflict. I think there are a lot of insane people who are like, "LET'S JUST DO IT ALREADY" and want to murder all the Muslims, but we can't do that. I've debated many extreme Conservatives, white nationalists, and possibly just people trolling me, who have said some crazy-violent things that have alarmed me, and perhaps rightfully so. There is no historical precedent for a mass deportation or cultural feud that has led to anything other than suffering a colossal scale to innocent people who had nothing to do with anything.
The religion itself, however, is reprehensible. I do not care much for 'tolerance' of different beliefs, and I will say that this religion is legitimately harmful, and deserves the same treatment as Christianity in politics by liberals. Christianity has no place in the realm of a sane and free society's government, and neither does Islam. I have nothing against a Christian president, or senator, or governor, but please, I don't ever want to hear them say that they are doing a harmful thing but justifying it by way of divine direction. Islam is more conservative, more hateful towards gay rights, more disrespectful towards women, and more subservient to 'the will of God' than Christianity. Liberals should be saying that this religion is nonsense and that it must follow the laws of the land it inhabits.
For example, Christians hate abortion. There was a doctor, George Tiller, who was shot in the head and killed by an anti-abortion activist. I don't remember the anti-abortion guy's name, and I should probably Google® search it, but his name isn't important. The thing that's important is that guy was a dick. Everybody knew he was a dick. No liberals were going, "Let's just be tolerant of Christian views" and shit, because they knew what he (the gunman in that incident) did was despicable. I mean, aborting babies is pretty sick, too, let's be honest, and we could go into a whole thing, but it's legal for women to make that choice. As fucked-up as it is, it's legal for women to make that choice, but there are cases where the mom is on crack, and she knows she can't have this baby, because its life is going to be absolutely horrible. If you go, "Well, can't do it because Jesus." then cool beans, it's a free country. But if you're a policy-maker, you better have a goddamn better reason than your religion for making a decision like that. So if some Islamic people get elected to positions of power, and want to implement some Sharia stuff into the law-books because it's in the Qu'ran, no. Just no.
If you're like "What does this have to do with the shooting?", I'm saying it kind of has something to do with it. Kind of. That's the operative phrase here. Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world right now, and it's not because we in the West aren't fucking hard enough; it's just that a lot of nations that have been in poverty are emerging from decades of cultural stagnation, and many of those nations are majority Muslim, like Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, etc. These are 100 million+ population countries where they're going from streets made of mud to high-rise apartments in the last generation. More wealth in these countries means more people are going to have opportunities to buy plane tickets and live in other places, and they're going to look for opportunities to live in Europe, and the United States. Most of them are okay folks with really bushy eyebrows, but as long as they keep the eyebrows trimmed (Here I go being racist as fuck again) and follow the laws of the land, we'll be fine. If we do things like Sweden or Germany where we just turn a blind eye to people getting assfucked because it's not 'politically correct' to arrest the immigrants, then we're also going to get assfucked, and I believe there is well enough assfuckery in the United States as there is. This whole out-of-control political correctness thing has people going, "I feel bad for all the Muslims who are going to be afraid because of this shooting." YOU KNOW WHO I FEEL BAD FOR? THE GAY AND LESBIAN COMMUNITY WHO ARE AFRAID BECAUSE OF THIS SHOOTING, YOU FUCKING RETARD.
I dunno, just a lot on my mind, I guess. It's an election year, so all the politicians are doing their thing, and people are parroting that shit, so I'm saying what I feel. I'm not 'using a tragedy to push an agenda', cuz I don't have an agenda! I don't make any money off this shit. I'm not working for anyone's political campaign. I don't even like anyone running. Not even Gary Johnson.
tl;dr: fuck you, read it anyway.
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