Rush Limbaugh "Straight Shooter" billboard for Tucson's 790 KNST radio
Rush Limbaugh "Straight Shooter" billboard for Tucson's 790 KNST radio,
originally uploaded by stevesobczuk. Since the Tucson incident, there's been a bit of a back-and-forth even here on my blog about gun metaphors. My good friend from elementary school apparently sees very little harm in them. I, on the other hand, think they're appalling.
To me, gun metaphors signify a lot of negativity; underlying them is a thirst for violence or killing or power. Guns and violence have been the final arbiter of power for ages, and I think we're on the brink as a species of actually getting past that, finally, via discourse, rule of law, cohesion, intelligent conversation. Of course, that's not the case for the majority of people, especially in Africa and the Middle East who are subject to daily violence, but I digress.
For the record, I am libertarian on the issue of gun control. I think that it is a cost to our society to have guns, but since they are out there, people should have equal access to them. The framers of our Constitution agreed with this. I will disagree with the more recent Second Amendment interpretations, though. This is complicated, my stance. But it goes a little something like this:
The people should have a right and/or duty to overthrow a corrupt governance. I would definitely prefer that is done through civil discourse. But, in the case where only the government has guns and the populace does not, that up-ends the power dynamic, so the governing can quash civil disobediance by way of violence and the populace has no recourse. In the perfect MLK/Gandhi/Jesus world, non-violence always wins over violence. History says otherwise. To wit, all three of those men were assassinated or sacrificed for political aims.
So, with that, I would like to say that I agree with Clear Channel's decision to pull this reprehensible, gun-toting, gun-loving, gun-worshipping ad from their billboard in Tucson and applaud them for doing so. The glorification of bullet holes is just not my style, it is tasteless, and I find it dispicable, and not just because 6 people were killed recently in Arizona (don't forget that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, Americans, and Afghanis have been killed by guns recently as well...). Should people have the right to put it up? Definitely. Do I have to like it? Nyet.
So, I am going to be more mindful of gun metaphors and try to eliminate (not a gun metaphor) them from my psyche. They're simply awful, and maybe I'm an 'idiot' for thinking so, or a liberal do-gooder, but I just don't see glorification of violence as an endearing trait. It's not cool, it's not macho... it is just pathetic. Sorry.