Sacrificing thousands of kids on the altar of racist rightwing fantasies

[phantom power]

...why do exurban and rural white men care so much about this issue? Most of them don't actually hunt for sport, and hunting rifles aren't on the radar for gun control, anyway. Fear that hunting will be outlawed cannot explain it. There is a lot of talk among the Tea Party crowd about the "defense of liberty" that undergirds the rationale for the Second Amendment in the first place. But while that sort of talk is satisfying and high-minded for self-styled modern patriots, the reality belies the fantasy: the vast majority of these men don't actually see themselves gunning down police and soldiers in a hypothetical Communist state takeover, and the puny small arms in question wouldn't begin to stand up to the might of America's high-tech standing army. Being an insurgent in Iraq or Afghanistan is a dangerous occupation at best fueled in part by anger at outside invaders, and it's highly unlikely that these passionate gun advocates are hedging against a future as guerrilla warriors shooting American soldiers from duck blinds.

But it doesn't take much time reading through conservative websites to see what actually drives the desperate need to own high-priced killing machines. There is a vast, festering paranoia in conservative circles about the "looters" and "parasites" coming to take their hard-earned material possessions in the supposed coming debt-fueled collapse of society. There is continual worry about some dark-skinned assailant attempting to enter their home and potentially steal their property. Radio shock jocks react to stories about carjacking by demanding that more people carry guns in order to litter the streets with more "dead urban thugs." There are large segments of the population that want nothing more than to eliminate subsidies to the poor and then await the desperate masses who will supposedly come to their doorstep with a lead welcome. Ron Paul and Alex Jones' legions of followers have been told to "defend your supplies from those who refused to prepare" for the supposed riots coming when EBT cards are canceled. It's doesn't take much investigation of conservative media consumer attitudes to discover that these sentiments are shockingly widespread.

It sounds too awful to contemplate, but reality is a cruel mistress. It's painfully obvious what motivates the rabidly pro-gun base: a deep-seated desire to unwind the social contract and cleanse undesirables who are allegedly stealing their tax dollars. These murderous fear-fueled fantasies have no bearing on any events that will actually take place in the real world (except possibly some decades on by climate change induced migrations), but they are strong motivators nonetheless. Unfortunately, both political parties are also motivated to hold onto the voters who carry these nightmarish visions in their heads.

What this functionally means is that we as a nation are openly allowing thousands of our children to die every year so that certain segments of the population can role-play racist murder fantasies. It's not awful to admit that this is true. It's awful that it's happening, and that we as a nation must pay the price for it with the torn and mutilated bodies of our innocence and our future.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/sacrificing-thousands-of-kids-on-altar.html

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Rec

Go to the link - and read the entire article. Read it now.

[intaglio]

2. Rec and waiting

... for the gun lovers to come and try to trash the thread

[The Magistrate]

3. Cold But Fair, Sir

[iemitsu]

4. This is a well-thought-out and articulate argument that isolates

the root of the "gun problem" in America. We are a nation of fearful, ignorant, racist bigots, who feel entitled to have more than we need even when we recognize that others don't have enough to survive. And rather than addressing the basic and cruel inequalities in our society we blame and fear those who are the victims of inequality. We worship the system, institutions, and people who maintain the inequality and condemn those whose lives reveal the ugliness of what we worship.
A nation of weaklings filled with individuals so desperate for stuff that we have forgotten our humanity. And we defend this reality by shutting out and marginalizing any who dare point this out. We are an exceptional people with an exceptional destiny, I suppose, if exceptional means, no one else is quite like us.

[loyalsister]

6. How many wars in this have been about or waged against an "other"

In other words, how many wars have we fought against white people with absolutely no racial component? Of course, there are fewer white people worldwide, but isn't that the starting point?

[Archae]

8. We fought 2 wars against the British, and 2 wars against the Germans.

[loyalsister]

9. I was pointing to wars of aggression not internal defense

Also keep in mind, the atomic bombs were not dropped on Germany. We declared war on American citizens of Japanese descent.
And, aside from those, the thousands of battles against Native American people, a Civil War, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iraq.

[sufrommich]

5. Needs to be said. nt

[COLGATE4]

7. Well put. K&R

[XemaSab]

10. "But what if I NEED to kill someone?"

This is what virtually all non-hunting pro-gun talk boils down to.

[etherealtruth]

28. it sure does

[musical_soul]

11. Well, if there are that many white racists out there wanting to kill black people....

then it sounds like black people need some guns.

[riderinthestorm]

12. This is an excellent article. K&R. Timely, effective, necessary. nt

[MightyMopar]

13. Remember the so-called NRA comic book?

NRA propaganda at it's finest

http://boingboing.net/2006/12/24/fearmongering-graphi.html

[mountain grammy]

14. I completely agree with this. Very sad, very true. We all know these people.

[SpartanDem]

15. I think this is definitely a problem

Last edited Sat Dec 15, 2012, 07:11 PM - Edit history (1)

just read FR and you do seeing that rabid element. These people have controlled the debate on gun laws for far too long. The vast majority of gun owner do not think like this and actually support thing like closing the gun show loophole.

[nxylas]

16. If you had to ask...

...you obviously weren't paying attention to their defense of George Zimmerman.

[TeamPooka]

17. k+r!

[freshwest]

18. Agree.

[mike dub]

19. This sums up my F-I-L to a T

Lives in the rural Deep South, owns many guns. He doesn't hunt. Says the guns are mostly "as protection against thugs (instead mostly using the racial epithet some use around here) who will come out of the nearest small city --to get his stuff-- when the sh*t hits the fan". Gotta love him, but man, he fully believes the bit about undesirables coming to steal his stuff (Property) --and needing to take them out with a rifle that would take a charging bear.

[Mr.Bill]

20. The stupid thing is

these suburban commandos will find themselves no match for the "urban thugs" who come to take their stuff.

[Initech]

21. I was reading an article the other day about "Doomsday Perppers" type people.

The more a person really believes in the end times the more fucked up they're likely to be - and most if not all buy into Glenn Beck's bullshit and whatever he sells they get. One guy was like "Yeah I've got my gold. I've got my gun. I've got my food insurance. Bring it on."

Really these people are crazy and psychotic.

[Major Nikon]

22. Demagoguery is what fuels most wingnuttery

The fact that so many are easily swayed by it is very telling.

[John2]

23. Well, I'll

let everybodyelse interpret their information and I will interpret it as I see it. Anybody stocking weapons up for the collapse of the country, would be extreme to me. I don't care what you say. Sure you might be a victim, but you are from your own stupidity. Mr Lanza was twenty years old and home schooled. Wether he is protrayed as mentally disturbed or not, he shot kids at cold blooded range. So I don't know if he ever saw a doctor, but he was disturbed about something and shot those kids, some seven times. I'm not an arm chair doctor though like most people are.

[quakerboy]

24. Ya lost me in the first paragraph

"the vast majority of these men don't actually see themselves gunning down police and soldiers in a hypothetical Communist state takeover"

Wrong, in my experience. My dad has always loved Red Dawn. The original. Granted, Im pretty sure that by the time it came out, he saw himself more in the roll of the father, having taught what he knows and being gunned down for his high moral standing. And I dont think his gun club buddies are so different.

Everyone wants to be special. And some people need a gun to feel that way, apparently. Its kinda like a super power, for the fearful

[MisterP]

25. same goes for public transit and safety nets

[DonCoquixote]

26. UGLY ass truth

The reason so many of these people fear gun control is because America encourages a fantasy, that if worse comes to worse, White Anglo Saxon Protestant males can go ahead and blow away whoever dares limit their rights to whatever they want...yee-haw. It is the threat of violence that was meant to keep everyone else in check, thus the threats of shooting Obama, and the actual shooting of Mexicans. The Government does not want to damage that because the military depends on the idea that you, yes, you, can be turned into a superhero that can shoot those evil brown people who even arm their children with guns! Be....alll that you can be....coz it's not just a job, it's an adventure!

But more than that, the powers that be want Joe rural to think that the big threats to him come from brown people, when the corporate scum are already busy sending his job to China, and figuring out all the ways to screw Joe Rural over for profit. As vile as many of our enemies are (and yes, they are) Wall Street has killed more Americans than Ben ladin ever could.

[Skip Intro]

27. What a load of bullshit.

Some dolt uses a post or two from a few obscure websites to paint gun owners as racists (I was wondering how long it would take to employ that tired line of attack - a day is the answer) and unstable end-of-society types.

DU's eagerness to jump on racist bullshit like the blog quoted in the OP is sad and embarrassing.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

30. Oh, you know very well the OP isn't talking about hunters or skeet shooters

He's talking about the types who stockpile arsenals to "protect" their property from dark-skinned people. You've met such people. I certainly have.

If the shoe fits, wear it.

[Skip Intro]

31. He's taking a few isolated posts on obscure websites

to paint gun owners as racist lunatics.

It's bullshit.

[SpartanDem]

32. It's more than a post or two

it's a common theme on right wing sites. You should also read Freeper Madness which blogs about some of the crazier things people on FR say, this one of the more common things they post about.

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/189713/right-wing-fringe-dwellers-stoking-race-riot-fears-if-obama-loses/


http://vikingkitties.blogspot.com/search?q=race+war

[Skip Intro]

33. Yeah, those sites don't look at all obscure.

I'm sure comments there represent the vast majority of legal gun owners in the US.

[SpartanDem]

34. They certainly represent a decent percentage the conservative bases feelings.

You've seen the polls on birtherism, it's not a stretch to believe many of these people are one in the same. If you have people in the GOP, (their presidential nominee didn't have guts to rebuke Donald Trump) too scared to say the President is absolutely a citizen, they're not gonna be very inclined to cross these people on gun control.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. Not to mention the online comments in local newspapers

They're convinced that mobs of African-Americans are just itching to execute home invasions on their suburb.

[CreekDog]

37. you painted black people as racist in a big OP here at DU

and you only talk about racism against whites.

you make it a point to argue that every instance of racism against black people is false or unproven.

what is your big issue with racism? that your threshold for believing it's against white people is lower than your threshold to believe it's against black people?

and where did your progressivism go?

you used to be a liberal in many respects but the past years, since Obama got elected, it seems like you've taken a hard right turn and pretty much have only criticized Obama and Democrats from the right.

[Skip Intro]

38. Hey stalker. Please share the link to back up that bs accusation.

Last edited Sun Dec 16, 2012, 11:05 PM - Edit history (2)

on edit:

As to the rest of your post, I've been down the never-ending and pointless road of bullshit that passes for a "discussion" with you. I won't be doing that again.

I will say that the way you keep tabs on people is creepy as hell. It implies a sickness. If you behave in real life anywhere near the way you behave here your neighbors should be alerted and you should be treated, voluntarily or otherwise.

[JI7]

29. THey need it against threats like Trayvon Martin

who are armed with skittles and iced tea.

[TransitJohn]

35. Fuckin' A. K&R.

That's it, exactly.