Can we start a national conversation about why so many white guys with guns are so racist and angry?

[StarfishSaver]

Link to tweet

[Bettie]

1. Anger and poor impulse control

makes them think they need guns to enforce their whims.

[StarfishSaver]

2. It's more than that

Lots of people are angry with poor impulse control. This is something on a different level.

[Bettie]

14. They see themselves losing, not privelege

but exclusivity.

For a long time, straight white men were the ones society focused on to the exclusion of all others.

Now, other people are being focused on and actually being heard. It drives them crazy.

I know that is the case for the right wing white men I'm related to. They just hate that others are being listened to. At. All.

ETA: And they know how they would act if they even felt mildly oppressed and it scares them to think they might be the target of the very things they would do if the positions were reversed.

[jaysunb]

3. Too many cowboy movies. Nt

[StarfishSaver]

5. Black men watch cowboy movies and don't act like that ...

[jaysunb]

25. We were victims along with native Americans and women.

We were not depicted as heroes brave gun toting, whiskey drinking, large and in charge of everyone and everything. That was not our reality.
I always, ALWAYS rooted for the Indians.

[johnp3907]

4. They carry guns BECAUSE they're racist.

And they’re angry because they’re racist. Some say it’s the other way around but I’m not sure about that.

[panader0]

6. I think it's fear more than anger.

[StarfishSaver]

8. Black people live in constant fear in this society and we don't act like that

It can't be simply fear.

[Bettie]

18. But Black people aren't used to always being in charge

of every situation.

White men, especially older ones, are used to being obeyed and deferred to.

That isn't happening as much any more.

[drmeow]

20. Fear + entitlement

As far as they are concerned, they are the top of the heap and NO ONE "below" them better dare tell them what to do or give them any lip. The same thing drives cops.

[cwydro]

37. Wait, black people don't commit violent crime?

They don't use guns? Seriously?

[StarfishSaver]

38. Since I didn't say that, your comment is asinine

But typical. The only thing unusual about it is that it took this long to turn up in this thread.

[jcgoldie]

7. Chicken/egg...

Why are so many angry racists gun nuts? They skeered.

[uponit7771]

9. Fear stoked by limited input sources, mostly MAGA sources now

[StarfishSaver]

11. AND because they can ...

Link to tweet

[uponit7771]

16. +1, ... limited input sources and reduced consequences...

Will Smith is correct racism was always here but it's just being video recorded

[agingdem]

10. why would anyone want to understand their white-hate rage?...what I know is

they hate Blacks, Jews, Muslims, Hispanics, Asians, LGBT, the educated, and liberals...they love Trump, guns, and inbreeding...understand?

[StarfishSaver]

12. Well, folks always are trying to start national conversations to analyze black folk

I figure it's time to start putting white people under the microscope ...

[agingdem]

21. 3 1/2 years of NYT/WP articles on understanding the Trump voter

I don't care why they voted and will vote again for trump...I do think it's time the white trump voters get on their damn knees and beg our forgiveness and then crawl off to their caves for the rest of their miserable lives

[StarfishSaver]

23. What I'm talking about is different than the Trump voter fetishization

That "analysis" is always about what they want and need and how the rest of us don't understand, respect or pay enough attention to them.

I'm talking about conversation that treats their issues as a pathology, not a valid basis for the rest of the world to work around them. I'm talking about a conversation that begins with "What in the HELL is wrong with these people?!"

[agingdem]

24. we know what's wrong with these people...

trump gives voice to their hate...he validates it..

[Progressive Jones]

13. First comes the sense of entitlement, then comes the anger, when the entitlement

is "threatened". Then come the guns, because they aren't smart enough to handle the situation
without shooting.

Believe me. This is exactly how it is. I'm surrounded by these guys in my part of the universe (x-urbs of Chicagp),
and I live in a very purple area where most of the "Reds" are actually Centrist. There are large
numbers of scraggly, old "patriot bikers" and "Camo Cowboys" out here.

[dalton99a]

15. Jamie Atlig, owner of Infusion Lounge

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

https://www.inquirer.com/news/infusion-lounge-owner-jamie-atlig-pulls-gun-social-distancing-20200706.html
The owner of a Philly bar pulled a gun on a passerby who warned about social distancing
by Samantha Melamed, Stephanie Farr and Ellie Rushing, Updated: July 7, 2020- 9:19 AM

[brush]

17. Their top-of-the-totempole position in society is being eroded before their eyes.

Many of those good paying jobs they would always get hired for first, even with lessor credentials than POCs and women have been shipped overseas (by other repugs wouldn't you know), and they blame everyone else and are angry and toting heat.

Things are not going back to how it was before. Too bad. More and more merit is becoming the predominant factor in hiring.

[RobinA]

19. The Way I Heard

this story, they were both out of line. Black guy riding by on his bike stopped to berate people eating at a restaurant. Guy pulled gun to make black guy go away. One rage addict meets another rage addict. Luckily, trouble did not ensue.

[JonLP24]

22. It seems like he was reminding people to social distance at a bar

From watching the news the virus spreads easily at bars. How is he wrong for trying to prevent the virus from spread? Of course someone would take a "both sides" position.

[StarfishSaver]

27. Seriously?

The black guy tells him to wear a mask and socially distant, the white guy pulls a gun on him and your take is "they were both out of line?"

This would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.

And yet, in another thread tonight, video showing a black guy punching a white guy who had likely called him the n-word got a very different response with the black guy being criticized for hitting the white guy because "violence is never acceptable."

But I'm starting to get the gist of how this works. If a black man responds to a verbal assault with violence, he's just wrong and the white guy is a victim. But if a white guy responds to something someone says that he doesn't like - you know, like "hey, dude put on a mask - by pulling a gun on the black guy, they're "both out of line."

Gotcha. Loud and clear.

[raging moderate]

30. I once called my son's part- Black teenage friend to THANK him for this.

Some nasty bully was calling the Black kids that bad word. My son's friend does not really look Black, so he did not attract attention in the group - until he suddenly stepped forward and DECKED the bully. Unfortunately, he got in trouble at school for it. When I heard, I immediately called him on the phone to THANK him and tell him he was my hero. Because he was. I am a small shy weak woman. They don't care what I think. What I think is this, StarfishSaver: YOU are RIGHT! Standing up to these monsters is the right thing to do. With their history, how dare they object to you?

[betsuni]

26. Because during the Obama years the number of white supremacy groups increased,

racism increased, they collected guns guns guns. They found each other, they found their people, a culture of their own to fill the hole of their cultural poverty. Right-wing media bubble keeping them in a constant state of fearful angry hysteria. Then Trump came along and white supremacy was right out in the open, they had their leader. Mix and serve.

[Jon Fogerty]

28. They are afraid their world is disappearing and this new one will kill them

They grew up with only white people, mostly men, in charge, in the media, and in the money. Now they suddenly see women, LGBT, black, hispanic, and asians invading that space. Their delicate minds are blown when they see a women, gay, or non-white person in the upper echelons of society because they grew up believing in their superiority over them. They need guns to protect themselves from these same people and it's the same reason why they don't believe in police brutality, defunding, and reform because the cops have been protecting them all these years from the blacks and homosexuals.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

29. The racism has always been there; Trump has legitimized it

so now they feel free to express it in public. And these are fearful people; psychologists have found that political conservatism corresponds to stronger fear responses. Guns are important to them because they are so fearful that they can't even go to Wal-Mart without a gun to protect them, though they describe their perceived "need" for guns as an expression of freedom. But they are afraid of change and of losing their privilege to "the other"; it has been said that if you're used to privilege, equality feels like oppression. And fearful people become hateful if they don't think they can control or overcome the people they fear. Trump, one of the most frightened people in the universe, has made them even more fearful (the underlying basis of racism), and therefore more hateful and angry.

[Turbineguy]

31. During the period that led to the rise

of Hitler, the lower middle class was affected most by the economic collapse brought about by the Treaty of Versailes. The same kind of people that serve as trump's voter base.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

32. If you can figure it out, maybe it'll be the same reason...

... that this country has tried to police the world and felt extreme fear about countries like North Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Iran, Iraq, etc.

Saddam Hussein gassed his own people = Concern about black-on-black crime.

I highly doubt the bicyclist would get that reaction in Europe, don't you?

[pfitz59]

33. Emasculation

feelings of inadequacy

[rownesheck]

34. Simply put,

unbridled rage due to inferiority complex and small pee pees.

[edhopper]

35. You have the order wrong

it's why so many racist, angry white guys have guns?

[Dem2]

36. People aren't interested in their stories

People are waving a hand and saying "not interested" in their old school braggadocios mannerisms.

Add in the media saying things like "we'll soon be a majority minority country" and they have a group to blame.

It's more complicated than this, but if you combine all the similar responses in this thread, you get the picture of a group who feel like their "way of life" is being minimized. On the other hand, I'm in the same demographic and have never had thoughts like they do. There's usually a lack of emotional intelligence in the one's I interact with.

[NameAlreadyTaken]

39. They believe they are entitled to America, and

that other people are taking it away from them. It's realy just a territorial thing.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

40. It's their culture. Cruel or absent fathers, lots of drugs and alcohol, violent music.

Their leaders really should do something about it.

[Hotler]

41. Their cranky white wives. nt

[jmg257]

42. National conversation on guns, national conversation on statues, let us chat!

Of course with our current divide only half the people will agree on anything, but ya never know.