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| Sick burn! |
It should be clear by now to the more intelligent among you that memes just promote weak analysis and ultimately poor ideas.
Take this meme for example. Yes, it really highlights how dumb liberals are -- hur-de-hur!
No, not really. You just feel that way because you are already on the "muh guns" team.
No, not really. You just feel that way because you are already on the "muh guns" team.
Like most memes, it's a trite oversimplification of an issue that just plays to the Red Team vs Blue Team dynamic and "emopolitikal" polarisation that has undermined our political culture in the West, but especially in America.
The fact is the Ukraine is in the process of being invaded by a rather large army, so people being armed to the teeth makes sense even to the most rabid anti-gun nut. Also it's unfair on Democrats. Apart from a few low-hanging-fruit loonies, the most that Dems are pushing for are a few restrictions on guns that they are unlikely to get anyway. I guess they are mainly doing that to look good to their voter base.
The fact is the Ukraine is in the process of being invaded by a rather large army, so people being armed to the teeth makes sense even to the most rabid anti-gun nut. Also it's unfair on Democrats. Apart from a few low-hanging-fruit loonies, the most that Dems are pushing for are a few restrictions on guns that they are unlikely to get anyway. I guess they are mainly doing that to look good to their voter base.
Nothing substantial is likely to get done on this matter -- and many others -- because both sides are increasingly enslaved to "echo chamber" and "purity spiral" thinking. A lot of this is undoubtedly thanks to our crappy meme culture, although there is always the possibility that one side might overwhelm the other eventually through sheer demographics: either Dems importing more voters or Conservatives pumping out more sprogs -- or simply through the country becoming more enclaved into majority Blue and Red areas.
The fact is there are good reasons to be against guns and bad reasons.
There are also good reasons to be for guns and bad reasons.
But what seems to be happening now is that people are for and against various things increasingly for the wrong reasons. This too is the result of our crappy meme culture.
The most important thing to bear in mind is not having the right ideas/beliefs/opinions, but to have them for the right reasons. Unless your reasons are good, you are going to go off the rails at some point and start having the wrong ideas/beliefs/opinions.
Being for guns because it "triggers" the liberals or because you hate Ukraine is deeply moronic, but that is literally what the meme is promoting. Likewise being against guns because some mentally fucked-up teenager might use them to blow away a classroom of kids, or because you think gun owners need them as penis substitutes is equally dim.
Instead both sides should be for or against whatever they are for or against for the right reasons.
For example, Conservatives should realise that allowing nutcases/ disturbed teenagers to get their hands on guns plays into the hands of their opponents. Who knows, the next outrage may kick off a blanket ban. Conservatives, therefore, to ensure the existence of a healthy gun culture should support sensible measures to limit gun ownership to the more sane and mature members of society.
There are a number of measures that could achieve this from age limits (say 25 and above) to Luke Ford's recent suggestion that gun owners get a set number of people to vouch for them.
For example, Conservatives should realise that allowing nutcases/ disturbed teenagers to get their hands on guns plays into the hands of their opponents. Who knows, the next outrage may kick off a blanket ban. Conservatives, therefore, to ensure the existence of a healthy gun culture should support sensible measures to limit gun ownership to the more sane and mature members of society.
There are a number of measures that could achieve this from age limits (say 25 and above) to Luke Ford's recent suggestion that gun owners get a set number of people to vouch for them.
Likewise, leftists wishing to ban guns need to look at the very real reasons why people in America feel they need high-powered weaponry.
Maybe it has something to do with (a) the incompetence and anarcho-tyrannical cowardice shown by the law enforcement staff at the scene of the latest massacre, (b) the anarchy and crime that other Leftist-supported ideas and causes, like BLM, leads to, and (c) the fear that people harbour against an establishment that seems occasionally willing to trample on their fundamental freedoms.
If Leftists really want to achieve more gun control, maybe these are the issues they should be dealing with first. After all you're not ever going to ban guns in America unless you fundamentally change it first.
Now, back to the sensible, mature, high-level, intellectual debate...
Maybe it has something to do with (a) the incompetence and anarcho-tyrannical cowardice shown by the law enforcement staff at the scene of the latest massacre, (b) the anarchy and crime that other Leftist-supported ideas and causes, like BLM, leads to, and (c) the fear that people harbour against an establishment that seems occasionally willing to trample on their fundamental freedoms.
If Leftists really want to achieve more gun control, maybe these are the issues they should be dealing with first. After all you're not ever going to ban guns in America unless you fundamentally change it first.
Now, back to the sensible, mature, high-level, intellectual debate...
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