It's about guns.
We have some laws concerning weapons and firearms in this country that are janky as hell. Some say we're not enforcing the laws we have; to which I say then we need to be doing something other than what we're doing. Some say our laws aren't strict enough; to which I say we need to be doing something other than what we're doing. Some say that having laws concerning weapons and firearms is treading on our Second Amendment rights; to which I say deal. With rights come responsibilities, and some of these crazy-ass people wailing about their rights really should check themselves.
Now, I'm afraid of guns. I'm also afraid of cold water, dead things, and militant republicans, but I do not like guns. I understand that I have the right to keep and bear arms, and I think that's a beautiful thing. However, I like to drink and have a bad temper, and my temper does not need a loaded firearm. That's just me. I have the right to choose not to be armed, and I like having that right, too. Just because we can do something does not mean it is a good idea, and there are folks whose arguments (usually ARGUMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) that I've read and heard about that make me wish more people thought critically about maybe not being armed. ARE THESE REALLY THE PEOPLE WE WANT HAVING ACCESS TO WEAPONS?? THE ALL-CAPS PEOPLE?? Are they pissed, or do they just type loud?? They can be scarier than an unarmed black child.
Seriously, folks. Just because you can does not mean you must, and just because some people want there to be open, forthright discussion regarding who, when, and why individuals carry does not mean that you'll no longer be able to bring a loaded pink gun to the country club like Whitney on Big, Rich Texas. I know I would do something stupid like drop my loaded gun and have it hit some innocent person who is just buying groceries. I'd be the dipshit you read about that blows a hole in the bottom of her purse and shoots a friend's kneecap off. So, I don't carry firearms. I'm just sayin' that sometimes I wish more people would examine why they exercise their rights rather than just doing so because they can. We also have freedom of speech; doesn't mean we should not consider the ramifications of the things we say. Ya dig??
Now, I'm not a constitutional scholar, but wasn't the thing written so that we could change it in the future?? Isn't that why we have amendments in the first place?? I'm not trying to go off on a didactic tangent like I know something everyone else doesn't, but come on. Let's get real: there are people who are simply not responsible enough to legally keep and bear arms. As the great Judy Tenuta once said, “wear sleeveless gowns.” If you're too irresponsible to operate a motor vehicle you lose your license. If you're too irresponsible to take care of your kids they get taken away from you. Maybe I'm cray-cray, but should the same not be true for firearms??
Especially military-style ones, but perhaps that's another subject for another time. What's the problem with telling people no?? I understand that some people don't like the word no, and that saying no can be very taboo, but it's necessary sometimes whether some zealot is SCREAMING ABOUT IT or not.
Our rights have become too fucked with in this country. We've got the religious right claiming that their rights are being infringed upon by being told that kids at school might not be allowed to call other kids fags or dykes or sluts or to kill themselves, because evidently that's what God is telling kids to do at school these days. Or birth control. We've got religious business owners whinging in one breath about how having an insurance policy available to employees that includes access to birth control kicks their freedom of religion in the groin while yelling about Sharia law in the United States in the next. Y'know what sounds a lot like Sharia law?? Anti-choice politics. We've got these militant stand-your-ground motherfuckers that are so standing their ground that they're willing to threaten to shoot someone who is being rude in Little Cesar's. We've got women being arrested when a man beats her. Pregnant women being arrested for miscarrying. My grandma used to say that your rights end where the next person's nose begins, but that does not appear to be the case anymore. And that's a huge problem.
We're violent, we're opinionated, and we're opinionated to the point of violence, and that is how American society is seen in this world. Seriously, I have friends in Canada, Australia and the UK and they've asked me to “explain this shit.” And that's a direct quote. It's embarrassing!!
So, while I respect the Second Amendment, I don't get the whole gun thing. I know this is just my opinion, which is fine, but what is the deal?? Some of these people are so intense about it. Are they bored?? What's going on that they are so exuberant over not just their rights but their inanimate objects that were designed to kill?? I mean, YELLING ON THE INTERNET people. They're a large part of why guns scare me: guns don't scare me nearly as much as these people with guns scare me.
It's about race.
Honestly, I don't feel like I can lend a whole lot to the topic. I hear people saying that if we stopped talking about racism that there would be no more racism, but really all that solves is white people having to think about racism. We have the privilege of not dealing with it every day. And I do see discrimination when I look around at all manner of people. Sometimes it's about me, being a low-income single mom, but most often it's being directed at someone else. That doesn't make it easy for me to watch. George Zimmerman discriminated against Trayvon Martin because of his race. He was a young, black kid so he must be a thug. I see stuff like this and it makes me fucking sick. I'll never be a young, African-American man, so I can't speak to that experience, and I know that somewhere in our souls we've all felt the sting of some form of discrimination (racism, classism, sexism, etc). It sucks, and yet we keep on doing it to each other. Some people are so butthurt that the president is a black man who dares address the subject of race ever to the point that they think he hates white people. Without a map to follow that logic, I'm lost. We're too into ourselves sometimes, and we don't see what's happening around us. Again, I think that's why we do things like hoard weapons, worry that someone is going to get us, and become so overtly wary of others that we openly practice discrimination in many, many forms.
There's also this genus of (usually white conservative) people that argue about why Trayvon Martin is more important than other victims of violence. And he's not. Some people become the Face Guy for a cause, or an issue. Guy Fawkes wasn't the nicest person ever, and he's the Face Guy (pun intended) for Anonymous. Of course Baby Santiago is important. Of course Oscar Grant is important. Hadiya Pendleton is important. Matthew Sheperd is important. Malala Yusefzai is important. They become a symbol of how innocent people can be, and are repeatedly, victimized by violent, irresponsible, hateful people. They're hardly the only ones. Maybe I missed a memo, but I am not aware of anyone that cares more about Trayvon Martin than Jordan Russell. We're just more aware of one. We applaud Malala for being brave, for being a hero, because she is, but she's hardly the only young woman to be victimized by the Taliban. Violence is violence is violence, and it's everywhere. It doesn't have a race, or a gender, or a nationality, or a religion, though sometimes the people that we see as representations of said violence are women, minorities, foreigners, gay or lesbian, etc.
If President Barack Obama stood at a podium and gave a memorial to every individual that was a victim of violence in the US, he would never do anything else. That would be his job. That's how much violence we have. Not that one person matters more than another. I know that this is a difficult concept for some people.
And we blame “the media,” which is ridonkulous because in this day and age we participate in media. We are media. We imbibe in it every day. We take to social media to bitch about how the media sucks.
Too many people are too violent, and too many of us are standing back making excuses for them. Trayvon smoked a little weed shortly before his death, and posted thuggish photos on social media. So I guess when I drink and wear revealing clothing that I deserve violence, too?? I know there are people that think this way, and it would be most rad if they picked their knuckles up off the ground and used their brain before their mouth, but some folks can't operate more than one body part at a time.
It's about young people.
That's how young people act online. There is a huge generation gap between some kids Trayvon's age and some of their parents, and that's another issue. But it does not make kids who maybe make questionable choices deserving of a violent death. If it did, pretty much all of my friends and I would have been picked off years ago.
I don't know what the solution is. Honestly, Trayvon looked like a kid my daughter would be friends with. And, chances are, he was. Why is that so frightening to some people?? I just don't understand it. I think that too many people are totally insensitive to the fact that a young man was murdered in a culture of senseless violence. My heart breaks for his parents every time I hear some jackwagon like Ted Nugent say that Trayvon got what he deserved. What a horrible thing to say!! I can't even wrap my head around it, but there it is: everywhere. We should be ashamed of ourselves.
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