THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
(apologies to Keith Olbermann)
Wayne LaPierre
Before I tell you how the NRA and our members are going to Stand And Fight politically and in the courts, let’s acknowledge that all over this country, tens of millions of Americans are already preparing to Stand And Fight to protect their families and homes…. Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Riots. Terrorists. Gangs. Lone criminals. These are perils we are sure to face—not just maybe. It’s not paranoia to buy a gun. It’s survival. It’s responsible behavior, and it’s time we encourage law-abiding Americans to do just that.
You’d think that Wayne LaPierre would possess sufficient common sense and self-awareness to be able to recognize what an utter fool he’s demonstrated himself to be. That someone in a leadership position in a major national organization could be such a callous, clueless, paranoid monster is difficult to imagine. That he brings the crazy time and time again only demonstrates that he clearly doesn’t grasp that he’s become a paranoid exercise in self-parody.
His op-ed in Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller is…well, I’m not quite certain what it is- besides an exercise in a disturbingly dark version of paranoia, fear, and loathing of Those Who Would Destroy America And It’s Good And Decent Patriotic Citizens.
I actually feel sorry for LaPierre. How sad that someone would choose to inhabit such a dark and desperate place, seeing Bad People around every corner, behind every hallucination, and lying in wait to attack and destroy innocent American patriots and their families. It must be tough living with the self-imposed knowledge that evil and catastrophe are but moments away every second of every hour of every day.
[T]he American people clearly see the daunting forces we will undoubtedly face: terrorists, crime, drug gangs, the possibility of Euro-style debt riots, civil unrest or natural disaster. Gun owners are not buying firearms because they anticipate a confrontation with the government. Rather, we anticipate confrontations where the government isn’t there — or simply doesn’t show up in time.
The truly sad thing about LaPierre’s paranoid dementia is that he leads the nation’s largest gun lobby, and he’s using his delusional emotional instability as fuel for some prodigious fear-mongering. If it takes painting a picture that’s as dark and foreboding as it us ridiculously inaccurate and dishonest…well, so be it.
New York City in the wake of Hurricane Sandy was LaPierre’s prime example of just such a disaster: “After Hurricane Sandy, we saw the hellish world that the gun prohibitionists see as their utopia. Looters ran wild in south Brooklyn. There was no food, water or electricity. And if you wanted to walk several miles to get supplies, you better get back before dark, or you might not get home at all.”
The facts, however, indicate the opposite was true. In the five days following Hurricane Sandy, there were no homicides at all in New York City — which is unusual, considering historical data.
If LaPierre is going to traffic in lies and propaganda, would it be too much to ask him to actually put some effort into it? I get that he’s a dishonest paranoid zealot and quite probably suffering from something resembling a borderline personality disorder. What offends me is that his lies and propaganda are just plain stupid, easily disproven and lacking in creativity and originality.
I can handle dishonest. I can handle paranoid. I can (almost) even handle zealotry. What I can’t abide is a dishonest, paranoid monster whose calling card is fear-mongering and propaganda. What I refuse to accept is a public figure who lives in a world where Evil, Nasty, Bad People lurk in the dark, just waiting to attack, rape, and kill honest, patriotic Americans. What I can’t condone is that LaPierre clearly values guns far more than human life.
Wayne LaPierre is more than just a miserable excuse for a human being; the man’s a monster who should be ashamed of himself. That neither he nor his employer understand the concept of shame says everything you need to know about gun nuts and those who represent and speak for them. If you’re mentally ill, you’re not supposed to be allowed to purchase guns. I’d submit that Wayne LaPierre has no business buying and/or owning a gun.
