It’s cold outside, and the mercury in my soon-to-be government mandated, fluorescent bulbs is contracting as I speak.
As nasty as the Winter has been here on the East Coast, it has nothing on the chilling storm front that is brewing on the doorstep of personal freedom.
It’s a Unicorn, Holding a Bazooka…
Before the shells cooled on the Tucson pavement, Conservatives and Liberals began to take aim at each other. To hear the media talk, Jared Loughner is either a Communist, Rush Limbaugh’s best friend, or an operative of the Tea Party. Some hypersensitive genius over at CNN had the time to write a dumb, speculative piece that basically asked “What if Jared Loughner was a Muslim?”.
The fact is, he wasn’t even close to having a religion. Loughner was an atheist who dabbled in the occult. He may not have believed in a God, but he wasn’t beyond the hope that someone was listening.
I..I don't see it.
His reading list included Mein Kampf, Marxist literature, Orwell, and Ayn Rand. He believed pretty much every conspiracy theory ever devised. He didn’t listen to the radio or watch the news.
In short, Jared Loughner was ardently seeking something: meaning, fame, a girlfriend. During his quest, he opened his mind to a range of philosophies that are in stark opposition to each other.
Loughner is a Rorschach test: You’ll see whatever you want to see.
For the Limbaughs of the world, he assumes the outline of a crazy Leftist, determined to prove that George Bush was behind 9/11. To Liberals, he’s the poster child for unbridled, right-wing hate speech, and the end result of all intolerance.
You have to see this event for what it is: A massive game of political chess. It’s not about the 12 people who died, or Congresswoman Giffords, at all. The victims in this situation are an afterthought. It’s about pushing your agenda, irrespective of political party, and ultimately ceding the rights of the many, because of the tragedy of a few.
And it is a tragedy. It’s a tragedy that crazy, misguided people do horrible things, of their own volition. That’s what this is: An insane person doing the unthinkable. Guns don’t fire themselves, and nobody held a gun to Jared Loughner and told him to pull the trigger.
He’s the person responsible for what he did. No one, and nothing else…unless you’re pushing an agenda. What, pray tell, might that agenda be?
The Right to Hunt
From the moment I read about the shooting, I knew where the debate would go next: Guns.
The first article I read mentioned that the ammo clip Crazy-Baldy used was not a standard, 9mm Glock clip, but one that allowed extra capacity for ammo. Sure enough, Arizona and other states have renewed the fight to ban high-capacity magazines, and there is an accelerated push for Federal gun control.
Permits now available at Staples.
Most likely, there will be a mental competency test for handgun ownership in some version of the bill. The last time I checked, there was no such restriction placed in the 2nd Amendment, which is not, as some have framed it, “The Right to Hunt”. It’s “The Right to Bear Arms”, irrespective of the weapon’s ultimate purpose.
If You Can’t Say Something Nice, Send a Transcript…
The biggest thing to come out of this whole debate is the perennial idea that we should resurrect the “Fairness Doctrine“, a vile assault on the 1st Amendment.
One of the provisions of the Doctrine-and I am not kidding about this-says that if you make unfavorable remarks about someone on the radio, you have to send them a transcript of the program in which you made the remarks, and allow them equal time to respond, on your program.
Recently, there have been even more flawed suggestions that this apply to broadcast and cable television, as well. Really? So is it a stretch to say this kind of legislation would lead to the regulation of the internet. Maybe a blogger’s license to use my keyboard? Will they censor my use of “refudiate”?
People who know me well, understand that I am no fan of Sarah Palin. However, the idea that a political campaign graphic “targeting” different districts, is fomenting violence is disingenuous. They were rolling out the age old “hate speech” charges, and there wasn’t even any hate, just disagreement.
Cajun. Awesome. Snakeface.
If the Palin graphic is hate speech, then James Carville, along with every other political strategist should be locked up for attempted murder.
I love ‘ole Snakeface, and I want him to be able to give interviews without the supervision of a correctional facilitator.
There is no right not to be offended, as I have to point out to many Christians who want everything censored. The price you pay for living in a society with free speech, and free discourse, is that other people get to say what they want to, as well.
Free speech is the right of everyone, and if you don’t like it, you have the right to say so, but not to silence it. Remember, that knife cuts both ways.
Now Panic, and Freak Out!
Lastly, we come to salvia. That’s all we heard in the media: Salvia, salvia, salvia. Loughner was using sooo much more…including, but not limited to: LSD, shrooms, weed, and various other hallucinogenic pharmaceuticals.
It’s salvia that gets all the ink (digital, or otherwise.) Why? Because Achy-Breaky’s kid took a bong hit of the stuff, and ended up on TMZ,that’s why.
He was for it, before he was against it, and by "it", I mean the mullet.
How long did Hannah Montana’s buzz last? Well, if studies by San Diego State are to be believed, eight whole minutes. Side effects: Issues with coordination and speech. Yeah, this is the greatest threat to humanity since Phish concerts.
It’s the next heroin, people. Start the presses.
The extra press doesn’t hurt the effort. Now, we can add another substance to our country’s failed war on drugs which will insure that more people try the stuff. Never mind that it is non-addictive, and generally has no ill effects on those who use it. Its main danger seems to be the linkage it has with occult and new age ceremonies, and the alteration of perception. Basically, pagans and general practitioners of shamanism will find their ceremonial herb options shrinking.
This infringes on their rights to astrally project themselves, time travel, and take a bath on alternate Thursdays. I humbly petition Congress, for the greater good of society, that they let the shamans wash.
Aren’t You A Bit Flippant…
No, I’m trying to be upbeat. Otherwise, it is all too depressing. Americans are not looking at the big picture…and sadly, are caught up in false Right/Left paradigm.
The issue here are the rights of the many, and the cynical way in which our emotions are being manipulated. The sad thing is, it will eventually work. Freedoms will be eroded, and at the end of the day, we’ll be living in a tragedy of our own making, that isn’t restricted to a parking lot in Arizona.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
Signing off…