YOUR SILLY BELIEFS KILL PEOPLE IN FERGUSON

If you live in Ferguson, what do you think of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the second amendment now? How about Wayne LaPierre’s declaration that all it takes to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. In Ferguson, no one seems to know who are the good people and who are the bad people. Or, what do you think of the gem of wisdom that says “you are the safest if you have a gun”, which means that if everyone has a gun, e3veryone will be the safest. How about the wisdom of Fox News preaching we should hate our government, as if organization is bad but anarchy, is just fine? I have heard a hundred times in the past few days that “they” should do something about Ferguson without any reference as to who “they” might be.

My point is that if we act mindlessly, that is what we are, mindless. If we are unable to step back and try to see the whole picture, then Ferguson is the result. It should be obvious that if we live in a society of 330,000,000 people, we cannot live alone; it is imperative we must step back. It should also be obvious that society needs organization to survive. We, in America, have one of the best forms of government ever devised by humankind in terms of individual freedom but we also have to realize that freedom has its limits. As someone pointed out, freedom is like money, we can spend it, and once it is gone, it is gone forever, which is an exaggeration when it comes to freedom due to human resiliency but it is not an exaggeration to say it is hard to get back. It takes a war or at least massive civil unrest.

I know many people think they have lost their freedom; they do not want regulations, zero constraints; they want to live as individuals, which is equivalent to saying, “laws apply to you but not to me”. Everyone else must comply with the laws but not me. You hear Glenn Beck say that in one form or anther every day.

We saw it with Clevin Bundy on his ranch. We see that in Ferguson as well. If I am the only one who permitted to have a gun, I will be the safest. The conclusion arising from that kind of thinking is obviously ridiculous; there should be a law preventing 330,000,000 people from having a gun but me. The silliness of that is obvious when we see it stated in isolation.

The right-wing radio talk show hosts know this is ridiculous, so they the concept by saying only “people like us” should have guns. This is still asinine; however, that is exactly what Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have so successfully propagated. They have gathered their listeners into a tight group of people who are always right. The obvious problem is that you cannot have a group that is always right unless there is one that is always wrong. Camaraderie builds group loyalty, which build confrontation. We seem to have a propensity to form these groups. Society inculcated in us this concept of dividing ourselves up into moral groups from infanthood or maybe it is innate. By extension, this reaches into politics; conservatives should always be in charge of government; if not, government is bad and that alone is reason enough to hate government or even a Democratic president. Only conservative know how to lead. Anne Coulter will go so far as to tell you a liberal is mentally deficient. Only people who belong to my church can go to heaven; therefore, you are stupid if you do not belong to my church. It is morally right to kill people if they are the enemy; otherwise, killing a human being is a mortal sin.

In my mind, everyday I see and hear evidence of mindless activity supporting these obviously mistaken conclusions. Ferguson is a classic example of the failure that results from “individual think”. A white man in a uniform can do no wrong and a black teenager can do no right. It is not possible for a police officer to violate the law nor is it possible for a back teenage to be law-abiding citizen.

Couple these notion to the idea that in my fantasy world,  if I publish a picture of myself carrying a gun everyone will see it and respect me; no they won’t; they may fear you but they will not respect you. Then step out into the real world of Ferguson, Mo. with your gun. It seems that it came as a big surprise that someone didn’t “respect” them enough and actually shot at them. Unfortunately, after we sort it all out, the businesses that hooligans looted will still be looted, buildings that were burned will still be in ashes, and the people who were shot died will still be dead—for nothing but ideas we all know are silly.  

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