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December 16, 2004
Let the real victory be a symbolic one!
Via Bill Quick, I see a wonderful opportunity for wolves who like to dress in sheep's clothing (hmmm.... maybe that's only-in-San Francisco sheep in wolves' clothing....): San Francisco supervisors want voters to approve a sweeping handgun ban that would prohibit almost everyone except law enforcement officers, security guards and military members from possessing firearms in the city.As Bill correctly opines, the "socialist idiots who make up the majority in San Francisco are perfectly capable of passing this monstrosity," even though its illegality is well settled as a matter of state constitutional law. Dianne Feinstein tried a similar hare-brained scheme back in 1982, and it was promptly thrown out by the California Supreme Court. (More modern fallout here.) However, the struggle against San Francisco gun control was what led to a new phenomenon: open left-wing and libertarian defiance of the politically correct agenda, and the birth of openly pro-Second Amendment homosexuals, a phenomenon best known today as gay gun nuts. The point is not whether this unconstitutional ordinance will pass. I think it will. The point is, it is a major propaganda opportunity for gun owners and Second Amendment supporters to show brazen, politically incorrect defiance in the belly of the beast. But most important of all, it presents an opportunity to smash the stereotype of gun owners as ignorant, stupid, trailer park wife-beaters. This is not a new topic for me, but I think it's important enough to return to something I wrote last year about the use of theatrical tactics to win the war against stereotypes. As I explained in a somewhat long post, what worked for pit bulls can be made to work for guns: Twenty or so years ago, the Berkeley City Council considered one of those onerous breed-specific bans which would have outlawed pit bulls. I had been breeding and selling puppies and I knew enough local owners of a more or less theatrical bent that I was able to throw together a small (mostly gay) group to demonstrate with cute pit bulls and cutesy signs saying things like "DON'T KILL MY PUPPY!" and "I ('heart') MY PIT BULL!"I think the Second Amendment is more important than preserving a stereotype, and I'll go one further: the stereotype shouldn't have been there in the first place. But like it or not, we are living in a world ruled by cultural stereotypes, television sound bytes, in which emotional slogans and catchy one-liners substitute for (and even prevent) rational argument. I mean, I can carry on at length in this blog about gun statistics, how they're misused, the intent of the founding fathers that every man be armed, the racist history of gun control, etc., till I'm blue in the face. But we are not dealing with rational arguments or rational people. (If we were, acrimonious debating would be the exception and not the rule.) Rather, we live in a world run mostly by power seekers, power holders, media manipulators, and cultural ideologues. The vast majority of people are made to sit and watch or listen with what little time is left to them when they aren't working. They like underdogs, and they dislike being preached to. And they tire of seeing victimhood glorified by people who ride victim status all the way to power. (Dianne Feinstein is a good example, touched on in the comments here.) If there's one thing professional victims can't stand, it's having their audience -- the ordinary people too busy to dress up and play victim -- see the tables turned on them. Gun owners, stereotyped as stupid and brutal by these professional "victims," have a wonderful opportunity to show that the stereotypes are wrong, and that owning guns does not lower one's IQ! So, it's not whether or not the situation in San Francisco is "hopeless." Pyrrhic victories are always found in "hopeless" situations. Let the gun control people revel in their symbolic victory, while their symbology is destroyed from within.
This has nothing to do with my previous post, as rabbits and hares are not the same animal, although both are Lagomorphs. (A hare harem would be another matter, though.....) UPDATE: Via Glenn Reynolds, I see that Publicola has a long and thoughtful post about this latest Second Amendment threat, in which he suggests starting a resistance movement. (That's exactly how I felt in the Gay Guns days....) I think fighting this thing from within is extremely important, especially to show San Francisco that living under their tyranny exist many who oppose politically correct gay Stalinism -- and not just the usual stereotypical homo-haters. (But please don't get me wrong; I think it would be very helpful the latter would help the cause notwithstanding their distaste for San Francisco.) Eugene Volokh (also via Glenn Reynolds) was quick to spot the national importance of this proposed ordinance and sound the alarm against dismissing it as just another local measure. Wasn't it Franklin who said something about hanging together lest we hang separately? IMPORTANT UPDATE: Anyone who think homosexuals are a mindless, monolithic force for political correctness should read Sean Kinsell's post about the 1.5 to 2 million gays who voted for Bush in direct defiance of their self styled "leaders." One of Sean's gems: "Gay activists and journalists seem to be standing around and asking, 'Why the hell didn't you guys do what you were told?'"There are more free-thinkers in the so-called "gay community" than most people imagine. Sean's blog should be on everyone's reading list. AND ANOTHER It hasn't worked in Chicago, it hasn't worked in DC, it's a total failure in England and Australia. And showing what complete morons they are, the San Francisco tyrants think that somehow it will be different in their town? Lunacy is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.All I can say is that the San Francisco tyrants are lucky the Blogosphere's Original Gay Gun NutŠ lives in Vermont! But be forewarned, ye San Francisco Gay Stalinist tyrants and all other nebulous nutjobs of nitwittery! Jeff's "Weekly Report on Anti-Gun Bias" can now be heard on the radio -- in (gasp!) San Francisco! Tuesdays at 2:20 PM (EST) posted by Eric on 12.16.04 at 07:33 AM
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The Word for the Day is: "The Reformationative President" Last DailySpam! til after the holidays. Enjoy, and Merry Xmass! ;] Heh. Stoller's Law: "No matter how unethical you expect the Republican Party to be, they will not only be worse, but they will ... [Read More] Tracked on December 21, 2004 07:43 PM
Comments
You're just saying that because you don't have children. If you had children, you would never link to an evil blogger like Jeff Soyer. He is a male homosexual gun owner. Everybody knows that the Homosexual Agenda (of which I have a copy right here) says to go out and corrupt as many children as possible. Homosexuals, and sexuals generally, are degenerate deviant perverts. Allow them to marry and they'll soon be marrying your daughter. Gun owners are bloodthirsty lunatics who love to shoot children in playgrounds. That's the NRA Agenda. Gun control laws, sodomy laws (gommorahy laws, too), censorship, are all enacted For The Children. And this blog oppresses wymyn and pyypl of cylyr. It is a Poltically Incorrect tool of the Dead White European Male Zionist Imperialist Conspiracy. Steven Malcolm Anderson (Cato theElder) the Lesbian-worshipping man's-man-admiring myth-based egoist · December 16, 2004 05:24 PM At least we can be sure that the ACLU will pick up on this one and stand squarely on the side of civil liberties. They will, surely. . . .? Mike · December 16, 2004 05:31 PM Steven, didn't you know that if you have a penis in the house, it is ten times more likely to be used against you? The ACLU is guilty of rank hypocrisy because of its selective enforcement of civil liberties. As I keep saying, the organization needs to be infiltrated by Second Amendment advocates. Eric Scheie · December 17, 2004 07:41 AM |
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Count me as a supporter of the form "hare-brained", as in mind the size of a rabbit's. The other form implies an Victorian sofa-upholstered cranium which just doesn't capture the feeling of the idiom.