Friday, December 21, 2012

I Don't Like the NRA


Ok, I might lose some of you here, but fuck it.  As a general rule, I tend not to engage in the kind of polarizing political arguments that so enflame a certain type of person.  Be it abortion, or prayer in school or whether or not Daryl should die when The Walking Dead returns in February.  But occasionally some nutjob will get himself on TV and say something so stupid in response to something so serious that it just pisses me off.  In this case, it is the NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, giving a press conference (speech) in response to the tragedy at Newtown. 
Here is from his prepared remarks:

“The only way to answer that question is to face up to the truth.
Politicians pass laws for Gun-Free School Zones. They issue press
releases bragging about them. They post signs advertising them.
And in so doing, they tell every insane killer in America that schools
are their safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk.”

Fuck you, Wayne LaPierre.

…”We care about our money, so we protect our banks with
armed guards. American airports, office buildings, power plants,
courthouses — even sports stadiums — are all protected by armed
security….Yet when it comes to the most beloved, innocent and vulnerable
members of the American family — our children — we as a society
leave them utterly defenseless, and the monsters and predators of this
world know it and exploit it.”

Because there weren’t 1,092 robberies, burglaries, and larcenies commited at banks in just the first quarter of 2011, of which over nearly half were committed by firearm, explosive or other dangerous weopon.  And because nearly a dozen people weren’t killed at the Empire State building  earlier this year; or at an office building in Minneapolis also this year, among others.  I could give more examples, but go ahead and google them yourself if you want to be depressed.

“And does anybody
really believe that the next Adam Lanza isn't planning his attack on a
school he's already identified at this very moment?”

Keep on spreading fear, Wayne.  Did I tell you to go fuck yourself yet?

”So now, due to a declining willingness to prosecute dangerous
criminals, violent crime is increasing again for the first time in
19 years!”

Not true, but why start telling the truth now, LaDouche?

”And here's another dirty little truth that the media try their best to
conceal: There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting
shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.
Through vicious, violent video games with names like Bulletstorm,
Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Splatterhouse. And here’s one:
it’s called Kindergarten Killers. It’s been online for 10 years. How come
my research department could find it and all of yours either couldn’t or
didn’t want anyone to know you had found it?”

All right, I’m not gonna defend Kindergarten Killers.  That games is pretty messed up.  But no one plays that game and goes on a shooting rampage who wasn’t already a ticking time bomb anyway.  That’s the REAL dirty little truth.  People like LaDickhead want you to believe that we read something, or play something, or watch something and because of that we’re going to act out some sick fantasy.  They banned Catcher in the Rye for years because some asshole tried to kill Reagan.  Well, Twilight has been out for years, and Stephanie Meyer is still alive, so explain that one. (No, I’m not advocating the murder of Stephanie Meyer.  Although a good scolding might be in order.  And a writers class).   And if violent video games and movies were really to blame, then Japan would be known for roving bands of killers instead of tenacle porn.  Have you seen some of the fucked up shit coming out of Japan?  Eli Roth thinks he’s a badass, but he’s a choir boy compared to violence exhibited in some of their movies.  And their rate of death by gun is less than 500 a year and going down.  We average about ten thousand.

“…Then there’s the blood-soaked slasher films like "American Psycho"
and "Natural Born Killers" that are aired like propaganda loops on
"Splatterdays" and every day, and a thousand music videos that
portray life as a joke and murder as a way of life. And then they have
the nerve to call it "entertainment….A child growing up in America witnesses 16,000 murders and 200,000
acts of violence by the time he or she reaches the ripe old age of 18."

One of the best arguments for violent entertainment=violent actions, is the supposed correlation between the two.  And indeed, it seems that there is one.  However, anyone who actually went to school would know that correlation does not equal causation.  Hell, I can make some correlations right now:  in the years that the Twilight series has been available, I have been increasingly depressed over the decline in American literature.  Correlation?   Yes.  Causation?  Not so much.


You know what?  I can’t keep quoting this whack job.  I’ll summarize the rest.  In a nutshell, he wants to put armed security in every school in America.  He and people like him would like to see everyone with a gun.  Teachers in schools, the principal, even the janitors, all armed to the teeth with the kind of guns that turn elk into a fine red mist.  Because if everyone has a gun, no one will use them.  Or something.  I usually lose the thread of the argument here. 

Look, I’m not anti gun.  I’m all for the second amendment.  I think amendments are great.  We’ve got like, ten of them right?  All I’m saying is that more guns is not the answer.  And that if guns don’t kill people, people kill people, then violent entertainment doesn’t cause violence, violent people do.  It wasn’t that long ago in our nations history that everyone did have a gun.  But you don’t see Black Bart calling out the Sheriff in front of the old saloon anymore.  You know why?  Gun laws. 

You want a personal handgun? Ok, fine.  You want to go hunting?  No problem.  But don’t tell me you’re gonna do it with the kind of guns that Rambo uses, unless the deer have suddenly started to fire back.  And if that starts happening, I'll load up with you.

Fuck you again, LaPierre.

JrX
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