Linking to this post over at Making Light on the topic of guns and gun ownership so that I can come back to it for further consideration
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Within *hours* after the shootings hit the news, someone on my friendspage had posted a professional-looking poster - decorated in blood spatters - making that exact assertion.
I quietly defriended him.
I can be friends with people who have different opinions about guns than I do. I can't be friends with someone who shows such appallingly callous bad taste in the face of such tragedy.
If our society reaches a point where it's really *necessary* to have a gun or to be skilled in combat to survive, then we've utterly failed as a civilization. I don't want to live in an armed camp, and if that's where we're going, I'd like to get off this ride now, please.
Take me with you. I'm in favor of responsible gun ownership. Considering it a requirement is NOT responsible, IMO.
IAWTP. For a really sickening perspective, take a look (actually, I recommend that you don't) at the number of conservative talking heads who are now seriously arguing that it was THE FAULT OF THE STUDENTS -- specifically, the male students -- for not "rushing the gunman".
I take back anything I've ever said about how victim-bashing is primarily a female-oriented (i.e. rape) phenomenon. Apparently the people who call us sluts for being raped are just as ready to call men cowards for being shot.
I've been ignoring almost all the news about the Virginia Tech shooting on purpose. I don't see any good reason to wallow in someone else's grief the way the cable news channels seem to do. It's disgusting. Same with the inevitable screaming by both sides of the gun control debate, sprinkled on top with the complete nutjobs of our society.
People are dead. The guy who did it, he's dead too. It's a sad thing and the families and friends will be grieving long after the media jackals have found new meat to feed their hunger. What gets lost in all the hoopla and the noise is simple human decency and compassion. I heard that the Virginia Tech student government has asked the press to leave the campus. IMHO the university administration should demand it. Let the cameras and the talking heads go back to yakking at each other in their ideological circle jerk so everybody else can go back to living their lives.
Using the extended character codes for < and > (ampersand-l-t-semicolon and ampersand-g-t-semicolon, respectively) will let you to your heart's (dis)content in future.
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I quietly defriended him.
I can be friends with people who have different opinions about guns than I do. I can't be friends with someone who shows such appallingly callous bad taste in the face of such tragedy.
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Take me with you. I'm in favor of responsible gun ownership. Considering it a requirement is NOT responsible, IMO.
Reply
I take back anything I've ever said about how victim-bashing is primarily a female-oriented (i.e. rape) phenomenon. Apparently the people who call us sluts for being raped are just as ready to call men cowards for being shot.
Reply
I've been ignoring almost all the news about the Virginia Tech shooting on purpose. I don't see any good reason to wallow in someone else's grief the way the cable news channels seem to do. It's disgusting. Same with the inevitable screaming by both sides of the gun control debate, sprinkled on top with the complete nutjobs of our society.
People are dead. The guy who did it, he's dead too. It's a sad thing and the families and friends will be grieving long after the media jackals have found new meat to feed their hunger. What gets lost in all the hoopla and the noise is simple human decency and compassion. I heard that the Virginia Tech student government has asked the press to leave the campus. IMHO the university administration should demand it. Let the cameras and the talking heads go back to yakking at each other in their ideological circle jerk so everybody else can go back to living their lives.
Thanks. I'm better now.
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