My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones in Orlando. There really are no words to adequately comfort the mourning. This is a tragedy with many facets, all of which are heart breaking and alarming.
In addition to the tragic loss of human life, I’m concerned that the continually renewed gun control debate is being used to manipulate the public. “Bleeding heart Liberal gun Control” vs. “Bat shit crazy Conservative gun – nut” has the same flavor of Hillary vs. Trump for President in 2016. Few people wholeheartedly agree with either Hillary or Trump. They are taking sides on the basis of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” or, the lesser of two evils. The lesser of two evils is still an evil, however.
Consider the words of Rahm Emanuel, who served as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and as the Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy for President Bill Clinton, and most recently, as President Obama’s Chief of Staff:
You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.
My common man observational theory is that the current debate over the meaning of the 2nd Amendment was hijacked long ago – from both sides of the debate – to distract the American public from the truth about the 2nd Amendment and our relationship to firearms – as individuals and as a society. Our conversation about guns has been neutered, folks. It’s so harmless. The powers that be can sleep well at night, knowing that the American public has been tricked into arguing over things that do not threaten the power structure. They really don’t care if we are harming each other, and it doesn’t matter what flavor of weapons we use to do it. To the powers that be, human lives are disposable as ants to a hive. Just look at the War machine, for instance.
Here is the text of the 2nd Amendment:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The 2nd Amendment was written on the heels of a violent overthrow of an oppressive government. It authorizes the organization of militias at the state level to resist and overthrow oppresive regimes in the future.
If we can be tricked into thinking it is about personal defense, then the powers that be never have to worry about the American public organizing themselves into militias to overthrow oppression.
For an example of how effective this distraction game has been, look in the comments, below, for people, arguing, about, the placement, of, commas, in sentences. (read that one aloud to yourself. Now you’ve got your Christopher Walken impression down). We’ve been tricked into arguing over grammar rules.
Just as the 2nd Amendment does not address gun ownership for the sake of hunting food, it does not discuss personal defense.
Hunting and gathering food is a human right.
Self defense is a human right.
I don’t think our Forefathers explicitly spelled out every basic human right in the Constitution. If we cannot govern ourselves according to correct principles of decency and kindness, then perhaps it’s time that we talk about a Constitutional Amendment to codify the human right of personal defense.
Until then – let us be vigilant and aware of the artificial arguments that are created to distract us from the sometimes uncomfortable truth.
Ultimately, let us acknowledge that we all want the same thing: to be safe from violence at the movies, at school, at the club, or at church. By staying diligently focused on the common goal and being aware of the tricks used to distract us, I believe we can find innovative solutions to this social problem.
The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off. – Gloria Steinem
