[Vision2020] guns and intimidation

[Ron Force]

I thought this piece was thought-provoking, and gives a clue why reasoning isn't effective. I still remember the emotion from my youth.

“Nobody really believes it’s about maintaining a militia. It’s about having possession of a tool that makes a person feel powerful nearly to the point of exaltation. …I am not saying that people who love guns inordinately are unstable; I am saying that a gun is the most powerful device there is to accessorize the ego.”
It’s true. Everyone, men especially, needs ego-accessories, and they are most often irrationally chosen. Middle-aged stockbrokers in New York collect Stratocasters and Telecasters they’ll never play; Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld own more cars than they can drive. Wine cellars fill up with wine that will never be drunk. The propaganda for guns and the identification of gun violence with masculinity is so overpoweringly strong in our culture that it is indeed hard to ask those who already feel disempowered to resist their allure. If we asked all those middle-aged bankers to put away their Strats—an activity that their next-door neighbors would bless—they would be indignant. It’s not about music; it’s about me, they would say, and my right to own a thing that makes me happy. And so with guns.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/04/the-cultural-fight-for-guns.html#ixzz2PtZ38JrI

 
Ron Force
Moscow Idaho USA


________________________________
 From: Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>
To: "rhayes at frontier.com" <rhayes at frontier.com>; "vision2020 at moscow.com" <vision2020 at moscow.com> 
Sent: Monday, April 8, 2013 8:54 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] guns and intimidation
 

 "a guy stood at the door of the Co-Op with a pistol on his hip doing his open carry thing. His arms were crossed in obvious defiance, and the look on his face was not pleasant."
 
I wonder what he was so insecure about that he has to swing a gun around on his hips. Maybe it was something that made him have an unpleasant look on his face. Poor fellow. I hope you complimented him on the size and looks of his gun and that it made a fine replacement. 
 
Donovan J. Arnold 

From: "rhayes at frontier.com" <rhayes at frontier.com>
To: "vision2020 at moscow.com" <vision2020 at moscow.com> 
Sent: Friday, April 5, 2013 1:09 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] guns and intimidation


Last year at a Tuesday Grower's Market a guy stood at the door of the Co-Op with a pistol on his hip doing his open carry thing. His arms were crossed in obvious defiance, and the look on his face was not pleasant. To get in to the store, I had to make my way around him, and I can tell you honestly that I was intimidated, just as I am sure he intended me to be. Given how much gun violence there is in this country, anytime I see someone with a gun in public I immediately become vigilant and nervous. 
Is this the sort of world you want? 
By the way, since 1980 over 1,057,000 people in the U.S. have been killed by gun violence. 
What I, and the majority of Americans are suggesting is a conversation on how best do we address this carnage. More guns is not the answer. 
It will take courage to bring a meaningful and positive change to our culture of violence and machismo. And courage is not found in our trigger fingers, but in our hearts and minds.     

 



   
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=======================================================
List services made available by First Step Internet,
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
              http://www.fsr.net
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================
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