[T]he right wing continues to escalate its fear-mongering that President Obama will take away Americans' Second Amendment rights. In a New York Times op-ed this weekend, Charles Blow reported that such rhetoric "has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms."....
I understand differences of opinion. I get that people may not necessarily think like I do (and, generally speaking, this is probably a good thing). But is it too much to expect people to at least THINK? Or have we as a nation largely allowed our ability to reason to take a back seat to our well-developed capacity for reaction and rage? What is it that allows some to live in a world defined by their blind, abject fear of what they simply refuse to acknowledge and/or understand?
Barack Obama is not about to take away anyone's guns. Speaking for myself, I happen to think that some form of strict gun control would be a good thing. The reality, though, is that gun control is a politically unpalatable goal- until something horrible happens to convince the scared, the sheep-like, and the reactionary that something needs to be done. Despite what folks at gunshows in East Bumfuck might live in mortal fear of, there's still this little thing called the Second Amendment, which still, if I remember correctly, protects the right of Americans to bear arms. Of course, if you're one of the troglodytes who defines the right to bear arms as carrying AK-47s or other sorts of automatic or semi-automatic weapons, you might just want to get a grip on reality. Defending one's home and family is one thing; having enough firepower to stage a remake of "Platoon" is quite another.
If your life is defined by fear and hatred, you should have the right to kill what you perceive as a threat, no?
Instead of trying to figure out how they might contribute to making this world a better place for everyone, the wingnuts of the Far Right devote themselves to stoking the fear and hatred of an "enemy" that exists only in their fevered, hyperactive imaginations. This isn't to say that there aren't enemies and people out their who would do us harm given the chance. Being vigilant is good thing. But living in abject, bowel-draining fear of a bogeyman that doesn't exist? If there's anything sillier and more pointless, I cant begin to imagine what it might be.
Of course, there's the reality that fear sells. An entire industry has been created by those who've sought to exploit 9.11 for their own personal and financial gain (et tu, Glenn Beck??). Fear allows those who traffic in it to feel as if they truly understand the "threat" they face- and it also provides them the justification for hating what they refuse to understand. It allows provides a license to hate those who are held responsible for that "threat".
Fear also justifies not taking concrete steps to make the world a better place. When you're worried about protecting yourself from a perceived yet ill-defined threat, and you see bogeymans behind every rock and tree, there's not much energy left for anything else. You can justify walling yourself off from the rest of the world and hating those who think, act, and/or believe differently...because they mean to harm you and destroy your way of life and everything you hold dear. Fear means never having to deal with the world as it actually is, because you can always find someone to blame for what you perceive as the sorry state of the world.
Worst of all, fear can turn you into an ignorant, hateful moron who thinks a Kentucky gun show is a place where the best and brightest gather.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
