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Action, Meet Reaction
John Hawkins lays out, clearly and succinctly, the sheer hatred of conservatives that is currently manifesting itself on the left side of the aisle.
There’s no talk of changing their agenda (other than making it more radical), no talk of appealing to people who didn’t vote for them, no wondering what they did wrong.
That’s the problem. They don’t believe they did anything wrong. They believe the real issue is that you’re racist, sexist, subhuman pieces of garbage who need to be punished.
John’s article wraps up with these sobering words: “I wish it wasn’t that way, but that is what the modern Left has become and if we don’t acknowledge that reality, we’re kidding ourselves.”
Sadly, I agree. During the Democratic presidential debates last year, Hillary Clinton proclaimed that she was proud to consider the National Rifle Association as one of her enemies.
A candidate for President of the United States was proud to count millions and millions of her fellow citizens as an enemy.
Think about that for a second.
In that light, it’s only natural that the NRA would respond, and respond they have, with this recruiting commercial featuring Dana Loesch.
https://youtu.be/XtGOQFf9VCE
I had a hard, hard time putting my finger on what I didn’t like about that NRA ad. Yes, everything they say about violence from the radical left is true and correct, but what was bothering me was the fear-mongering that was going on in the ad itself.
Well that, and the “freedom’s clenched fist” tagline at the end, which treads way too close to “jack-booted thugs” territory for my liking.
Fear is a powerful, powerful emotion, and it works well as a motivating force. It works on me: I bought my first AR-15 in the autumn of 2007 because I knew I would eventually want to have one, and I was afraid (there’s that word again) that Obama would re-instate the assault weapons ban and make it more difficult to own one.
However, by its very nature, fear is a defensive mechanism, and not something you use to move forward. Fear is something you use to pull back, to retrench. Since the days of the Clinton-era Assault Weapons Ban, gun owners have had many, many reasons to believe that the government wants to disarm them, and the NRA has been very successful using that fear to motivate its members.
But the tide is turning. We’re winning. The majority of gun owners view their firearms as a necessary tool for the self-defense, just as a fire extinguisher is viewed as a necessary tool for fire prevention. Gun owners now know the confidence of effective self-protection, and fear tactics no longer work well with us.
So how do you tell the NRA’s message, but without the fear? What if the same images were used, but the words were different, perhaps something like this?
I am one of the millions of people who are NRA members, and I carry a firearm with me wherever and whenever I can. I understand that that when I carry a concealed firearm, I give up my “right” to be upset at the actions of others, but Igain the power to save my life and the lives of my loved ones when they and I need it most. That power lets me, and millions of responsible gun owners just like me, weather the storm of political violence that is upon us now, and that confidence will continue to keep us safe and drive us forward once this storm has passed.
Now it’s no longer “We, the NRA, are the Clenched Fist of Freedom”, it’s “We, the NRA, know that there’s hatred and violence out there, and we won’t let it affect us, We are safe, happy and secure, and we want you to be this way as well. Join us. You are not one the people who condone such actions, you believe, as we do, in free speech and the right live free from fear. We are the NRA, and we stand on your side.”
Conservatives are facing an angry mob of leftists, and it is tempting, very tempting, to give into to that anger and fight fire with fire. However, one of the first things you realize as an armed citizen is that Spider-Man was right: With greater power (like a sidearm on your hip) comes greater responsibility in your personal life. This is why serious self-defense instructors teach de-escalation and avoidance rather than violence as the solution to most potentially violent encounters, and it’s a lesson that we need to apply to to the real and potential violence that’s coming from the left right now. Should we give in all the time, in all situations? No, but we should be very, very picky about where we choose to say “Upon this rock, I will make my stand.”
We are not responsible for the actions of others (including the radical left). We are, however, 100 percent responsible for our own reactions.
What will our reaction be?
Published in Guns
THIS. I watched the Leftist scum attack our people, who were peaceful, while the police smirked. Sickening.
Tom, doesn’t protecting your family include protecting them from trash like Antifa?
There is something about Trump and ads like this that are a form of hitting back. When I stand back and consider how manipulative the media has been at twisting the narrative…and my perspective only goes back to Reagan, I’m sure it was at least as bad or worse in the 60s and 70s, it is simply stunning. I often (usually?) find myself very uncomfortable by the way Trump presses his agenda and goes after those he isn’t happy with, and often find resonance with the words of folks at Ricochet and the Never Trump crowd at NR when they attempt to maintain some level of objectivity and moral balance against having a president such as ours. But all along I’ve wondered if there isn’t some kind of moral justification, much the way we consider it right to punch back. I think a lot of the Trump vote was because intellectuals on the Right have generally been among the elite who follow a code of behavior…who are a part of a culture…that is dominated by the Left and has allowed the Left to play a dark and powerful game. They can politely lie and manipulate, but because they are following the rules of the game, the conservatives (educated, white, upper middle class) have little recourse. It is rude to call Hillary a liar until one has proof, but the Left will subtly and relentlessly accuse our guys of it and question their motives all day long. A lot of America is not a part of that culture, and the unwillingness to stand up to the Left looks like cowardice, a fear of being mocked, a form of lying and kowtowing, even though to those on the Right who are in the political game, it is a form of following critically important social norms of behavior. It is basic manners. So the Left media can imply all sorts of awful things about conservatives and let their own get away with murder, but when Trump comes out and calls them on it in direct terms, it comes across as obnoxious, which is compounded by the fact that it often comes in the form of exaggeration, inaccuracy, or is patently untrue. In that context, some of Trump’s “violations” have felt deeply satisfying, like when he called Hillary a liar to her face on national TV. This video is the same…all of this cowardly (often paid for) protesting that is being touted as morally heroic is obnoxious. Millions upon millions of Americans felt just as devastated when Obama was elected, but we accepted it as part of the privilege of being in a democracy (okay, republic). Now that they don’t like the outcome of an election, we are paying millions to keep the streets safe and the media acts like it is some kind of special revolution rather than a temper tantrum. Thanks, NRA, for hitting back.
I like the ad. I don’t advocate aggressive violence, but if these Antifa thugs escalate matters, I want NRA-types to be ready to respond with overwhelming force.
I think that if you’re attacked by hooded pseudo-ninjas, you have a right to respond with two in the chest.
I fully expect a leftist armed assault on a Border Patrol or ICE office, and I am actually surprised that there have been no serious assassination attempts on President Trump, or Mitch McConnell.