Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - "Assault Weapons" Confiscation Turn Violent in Boston

roachboy · 07-07-2004, 07:52 PM

well, this is kinda funny---you had a colonial government reacting to revolt in 1775---lexington and concord--if you had supported the revolt in principle --not because they had guns---then breaking it woudl be a revolt. if not, you would have thought of it this way.
to make a martyr out of the militia types or out of david koresh by analogy means that you support them politically, in the case of the militia types, or religiously, in the case of david koresh. in which case you might argue that what got each of them killed was wrong.

fine.
but to go from that link--which seems to me only a link for people on the extreme right---to an argument for the continued relevance of the 2nd amendment as if the amendment was a platonic principle, is absurd. the fact that it is still operative has to do with its not having been voided by precendent or explicitly overturned by subsequent amendment--that is the fact of the matter, that's all there is to it--and that is a matter of political pressure not being brought to bear in an adequately sustained manner, to overturn it, or political pressure being brought to bear to defeat such attempts---there is nothing transcendent about it--no eternal proof that guns=freedom to be had by it. the equation of 1775 with 2004 on any other level is just arbitrary.

by that logic you would also have to argue for the eternal legitimacy of slavery.

what i find bizarre in more or less real time is the gradual assimilation of militia movement views into the mainstream of the republican worldview.
i remember the shift being repeated ad infinitum by the various am radio talking heads i used to listen to---after my previous fixation on militia radio waned....
how exactly did this happen though, beyond that?
how exactly did people not part of the militia movement in the early 1990s, say, who are now (to my amazement) not necessarily the lunatic fringe of the cultural expression of the republicans (whereas in the early 1990s they would have been) come to make a martyr of the ruby ridge people, for example?
do people see the cultural right being not seperate from these more extreme right positions? or only by a small spectrum?
how is that possible?

07-07-2004, 07:52 PM	#20 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	well, this is kinda funny---you had a colonial government reacting to revolt in 1775---lexington and concord--if you had supported the revolt in principle --not because they had guns---then breaking it woudl be a revolt. if not, you would have thought of it this way. to make a martyr out of the militia types or out of david koresh by analogy means that you support them politically, in the case of the militia types, or religiously, in the case of david koresh. in which case you might argue that what got each of them killed was wrong. fine. but to go from that link--which seems to me only a link for people on the extreme right---to an argument for the continued relevance of the 2nd amendment as if the amendment was a platonic principle, is absurd. the fact that it is still operative has to do with its not having been voided by precendent or explicitly overturned by subsequent amendment--that is the fact of the matter, that's all there is to it--and that is a matter of political pressure not being brought to bear in an adequately sustained manner, to overturn it, or political pressure being brought to bear to defeat such attempts---there is nothing transcendent about it--no eternal proof that guns=freedom to be had by it. the equation of 1775 with 2004 on any other level is just arbitrary. by that logic you would also have to argue for the eternal legitimacy of slavery. what i find bizarre in more or less real time is the gradual assimilation of militia movement views into the mainstream of the republican worldview. i remember the shift being repeated ad infinitum by the various am radio talking heads i used to listen to---after my previous fixation on militia radio waned.... how exactly did this happen though, beyond that? how exactly did people not part of the militia movement in the early 1990s, say, who are now (to my amazement) not necessarily the lunatic fringe of the cultural expression of the republicans (whereas in the early 1990s they would have been) come to make a martyr of the ruby ridge people, for example? do people see the cultural right being not seperate from these more extreme right positions? or only by a small spectrum? how is that possible? __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite