It’s kind of repulsive to watch all the maneuvering.
Since the gun attack this past weekend in Tucson, politicians and talking heads of all persuasions have been trying to show how far above the fray they are, dancing near the line of decency and occasionally sticking a toe over it, pulling back quickly.
Tonight the President spoke at the memorial rally service and said we should learn from this shocking event to be more civil to one another, and the crowd cheered mourners nodded agreement. Nice try, Mr. President.
Of course, after a few days we’ll stop being more civil. Most of the public figures who have spoken or written publicly about the incident are already spinning their remarks one way or the other: Democrats say the radical right has created an atmosphere in which people think it’s OK to shoot people with whom they don’t agree. Republicans are defensive about being unfairly attacked from the left. Embracing both sides, the gun lobby has restated its opinion that if everybody carried guns this could have been avoided.
The polite masks are already cracking and if history is a guide we will soon be at each others throats again. We will not be able to control our emotions, nor will our politicians be able to control the gun lovers. We will forget this latest bloody rampage, as we have forgotten all the ones that came before it.
And then, once we have settled back into our regular patterns of intolerance, it will happen again.
I’ve never been as partisan-minded in my life as I’ve been this last week. I’m still working my way through it.
Also: Hi Larry!
Hi Blue Girl! Thanks for stopping by. Are you saying you were not partisan when you lived in a red state?
What I meant by that is…
I’ve always been interested in trying to discover what makes people tick. So, I’ve always loved getting into discussions with Republicans to find that out. I’ve always tried to find common ground, to give them the benefit of the doubt. I’ve always been guilty of assuming that what we have in common outweighs our differences.
Ha! What a dope I’ve always been.
I even gave Sarah Palin the benefit of the doubt, doubting she had any idea what “blood libel” really meant.
And then the Washington Times comes out with this:
“Typical of blood libel, the attack against Mrs. Palin is a false charge intended to generate anger made by people with a political agenda. They have made these claims boldly without evidence and without censure or consequence.
This is simply the latest round of an ongoing pogrom against conservative thinkers.”
Pogrom? Seriously? Pogrom?
We have nothing in common and never will. They are not constructive, they are destructive. They’re all nuts. I can’t stand them.
Since the shootings last Saturday, all of my thoughts have been very hateful. It’s not how I want to be. That’s why I wrote that I’m working through it.
Blue Girl – I feel your anger, I really do. I’m angry, too. The American Right seems to be living in a paranoid fantasy world, and the more you criticize them and point out the logical flaws in their thinking, the more they dig in and refuse to listen. Lately they have preempted debate by shouting first and loudest.
But I think these arguments are a sideshow, just us “little people” acting out an illusion of freedom. We only imagine that our sound and fury signifies something. The forces that control our world are not interested in gun laws, abortion, world hunger, health care, gays in the military or the killing of a congresswoman. And what they are not interested in… doesn’t matter.
Looked at from this perspective, I see that we have much more in common with the Tea Party Right than I previously believed. They, of course, want nothing to do with me, but if we could all wake from our dream and realize there is no benefit to fighting each other, that the real power obstructing peace and prosperity in the world is hidden in corporate boardrooms across the globe, then there might be a chance to make some kind of positive difference in the world.
I’m just beginning to see these truths, so this might seem a little disjointed to you, because I’m not expressing it very well. Sorry — I just meant to say I hope you work through it. We’re all in this mess together, and we need you more each day.
No, the problem is we need MORE guns ‘’cause we have enemies and there’s more and more of them sneakin’ each day and its a fact most of them have had military experience. But what happens when real patriots arm themselves? Well, I’ll tell ya, the police say we have too many guns! Isn’t that exactly why South American countries are messed up?
Besides, if God didn’t want us to have guns why did He make so many bad guys? It’s the God-given duty of every red-white-and-blue American to stand up, take aim and protect This Country. Beside, strokin’ a trigger feels real good and the “Pow†sound of a hot gun is like big Chinese firecrackers …and speakin’ of China, no one there owns guns and look what happened – everyone is forced to work in places that make stuff for Wal-Mart.
And all this fuss because someone used a rifle and helicopter to mow down a few moose and wolves. That’s called thinning the herd and it’s safer than diggin’ a tiger trap filled with sharp sticks. Think of the poor children who accidentally wander and fall into disguised tiger traps. Not that ain’t pretty. Helicopters and scoped high powered are clean and efficient, especially if you have a ground crew (or big family) to gut and dress the freshly killed moose. And moose head look real sharp in everyone’s basement “happy roomâ€.
and I have more to say about guns on my blog….
Bill– Your sarcasm sometimes seems the only way to process the insanity. Of course the gun lobby exists because of the vast amounts of money they make from the sale of their hardware, and while the actual mechanism they use is fear, they also provide the “constitutional” rationale as cover.
What could counteract fear? I was thinking of a massive ten-year advertising campaign designed to convince everyone that hot, horny, sexually available babes and studs simply hate guns. Hate ’em.
Wanna get laid big time, all the time? Turn in your weapons. Or, to phrase it another way…
Make love, not war.