Dear Media ~ Stop Having Crazy Gun People On Your Shows!

I’m begging you, you gotta stop having the 2nd Amendment/Must Arm Ourselves As Protection From Government Tyranny people on your shows.  Just stop.
Why?  Why, in a country with Freedom of Speech would you not have certain people on your shows?  Because this is not a Freedom of Speech issue, it’s a “not all opinions are equal” issue.  You do it all the time.  You self-police.  You edit.  You no longer ask members of the KKK to come on and give their opinions about race relations in the country.  (You still invite professional gayhaters on your shows and ask them to present their opinions as if they’re valid, but that’s another post altogether.  This time I’d like to stick to the gun issue.)  Every time you invite someone who espouses the view that they need unlimited access to military grade weapons in order to prevent government tyranny you are turning your airwaves over to a crazy person.
But if you’re going to have them on, at least ask them what protecting oneself from government tyranny entails. What it means, exactly.  They say it so easily.  It just rolls right off the tongue.  But I want to hear them expound on the topic.  I want the details so that we’re all clear about what they’re saying.  They’re not talking about civil disobedience.  Civil disobedience requires no guns.  These people are talking about shooting, with high caliber rifles, those they disagree with.  Government officials.  Police.  Judges.  These lunatics are going on your shows and proclaiming that they believe it is their god-given, Constitutional right to kill people who make, decide and enforce laws they just don’t like.
And if that’s not what they’re saying, then someone needs to ask them exactly what the fuck they’re talking about and why they need the guns.
Frankly, these people scare the shit out of me.
They speak of “government tyranny” as if it were black and white, as if we’re all in agreement about what constitutes tyranny; about what laws we might require semi-automatic protection from.
Why have none of your anchors or hosts asked this:  When a citizen takes up arms against the country, who gets to define what’s a patriotic act and what’s traitorous one?  Who gets to classify someone as either a red-blooded Amurkin utilizing his 2nd Amendment rights, or a terrorist?  Who gets charged with that rather important bit of judgement?
Since no one ever bothers to ask, we don’t really know.  But I think we can hazard a guess these lunatics believe the patriots to be those who believe as they do, worship as they do and look as they do.  The terrorists are everyone else.
How would they feel if they learned that a young Barack Obama had stockpiled weapons just in case the government passed some laws he didn’t like?  How about Native Americans?  Talk about government tyranny!  Asian-Americans during WWII?  What if RuPaul, with her face painted, her lashes on, her heels high and her wig higher, tired of waiting for equality to work its way through the system and for the old and hateful to die off naturally, flanked by every pissed off LGBT person in the country and armed to the hilt, just started shooting away, fighting against the tyranny of inequality with high caliber rifles stuffed with clips of 50 rounds and measuring success by the depth of the bodies of those who oppose us?  Can gays be 2nd Amendment patriots?  Jared Lee Loughner, who shot Gabrielle Giffords because he didn’t like her, believed in many of the same conspiracies that some on your shows are citing as reasons for their unfettered gun ownership.  Where does he fall on the hero/terrorist spectrum?  He is certifiably insane.  The only difference between him and the people on your shows is that he did what they’re talking about doing.  How would they feel about Muslim-Americans taking up arms and ammo, calling on their 2nd Amendment rights to protect their 1st Amendment rights?  Or is this argument reserved solely for Christians?
So while you begin what I’m sure will be your breathless coverage of “Gun Appreciation Day,” please consider not covering it at all.  Consider that every person who talks to you about needing to protect themselves not from an intruder in their home, but from the government, should possibly be taken to a psych ward.
In this country, we vote.  When our government behaves in ways we don’t like we pull levers, not triggers.  If a politician consistently votes against what I believe to be in the best interest of myself, my town, my state or my country, I go to the ballot box, I make phone calls, I post signs in my yard, I sign petitions.  I do everything in my power to ensure that they join the ranks of the unemployed.  I don’t shoot them.
Please consider not having crazy people espousing violent ideas on your shows.
Sincerely,
Roger Ian Rosen

 

 

Posted on Jan 9, 2013 by Ian In: All, Current Events/Pop Culture/Politics, Featured Posts, Write the Power
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