Posted: Jan 28, 2013 8:46 pm
mcgruff wrote:Weaver wrote:Can't think of an intelligent response?
Oh I don't know.
Your ideas are ridiculous. I admit it's not entirely fair to treat them as a joke because they have extremely toxic consequences in society and mostly I do take that very, very seriously.
The thing is though, sometimes satire is the best way to show how ridiculous an idea is. Barky Obama can't really be compared to Mubarak. The US is not Egypt. Not even close. You are scaremongering. It's just reads better the way I said that the first time.
We've been through this before... The defence against tyranny argument is anachronistic horse shit. The imbalances of power in a modern democracy like the US have little in common with those of the feudal monarchies of the late middle ages which the "right to bear arms" was intended to challenge. Democracy, a free press (and other mass media), and the rule of law create a completely different political dynamic in which guns have no place. Indeed, guns are almost handed out like beads and mirrors to keep the natives happy, offering the illusion of liberty to gullible people who are being shafted left right and center by a genuine corruption of power: the capture of democracy by vastly wealthy corporations and individuals.
In short, calm down, put the guns away, and take part in your imperfect but peaceful democracy. It's got potential.
I find it just a little odd how Americans shout to the rooftops about their "exceptionalism" and describe their country as being "the best that ever was" and yet turn right around and compare it to Egypt or Syria as examples of why they need to be armed.
As mucked up as I think things are in America I can't drag myself into thinking evil forces are going to take over its government and create a dictatorship of tyrannical rule against which citizens would have to rise in armed rebellion to defeat. Try as I might I just can't get that picture to come up on my radar. The entire historical thrust of America has been away from that kind of scenario, not towards it.
Not to say the country may not have to endure lousy rule by misguided Congresses or administrations from time to time, certainly that's already been seen and will likely be seen again. But forceful takeover is beyond my imagining and hence I'm hard pressed to support the notion that the citizenry needs to be armed for that contingency. I think it's a spurious argument promoted by the gun industry and its mouthpiece the NRA to sell more and ever more guns.