Terror trumps guns

Pages

Terror trumps guns

Chris Hayes on Violence vs. Terrorism

By alansfmd

Opinion • April 2013 • Views: 8,454

Why do we react so differently to a death by terror vs. a death by a gun?

videocafe.crooksandliars.com

Recent Pages by alansfmd:
Presidential executive actions on immigration Obama's economy bests St. Ronnie's Guns and terrorism, a double-barreled standard Who Really Threw Israel Under the Bus Austerity sucks

Jump to bottom

4 comments

Romantic Heretic Sun, Apr 21, 2013 4:50:45am

My own take on it?

To many people living in it America is not a nation but a religion. It’s an amalgamation of a holy land and a god. I believe most American practice this religion but as with all religions some followers are thoughtful about it, some believe it blindly and some use it as an excuse to be dicks to other human beings.

So terrorism, as Mr. Hayes points out, is a direct attack on that religion. Terrorists are saying specifically to America, “Your religion is wrong.” This, naturally, causes America to lose its shit.

The dozens of deaths every day from firearms is performed by one of the religion’s holy icons. Using a firearm is a form of communion with America. It’s something that displays the user’s faith and maintains America’s holiness.

Like the Aztec’s religion regular infusions of blood are required to keep the universe running.

My $0.02.

Dark_Falcon Sun, Apr 21, 2013 7:20:58am

re: #1 Romantic Heretic

The dozens of deaths every day from firearms is performed by one of the religion’s holy icons. Using a firearm is a form of communion with America. It’s something that displays the user’s faith and maintains America’s holiness.

Like the Aztec’s religion regular infusions of blood are required to keep the universe running.

My $0.02.

I don’t know anyone who takes things that lightly. I’d also point out that these terrorists did have guns, and they used them to kill a cop.

What I think is that Islamist terrorist trigger a reaction that is divisive, but much less so than a shocking mass shooting by suicidal nut. Liberals and Conservatives disagree on most things, but they both agree that the type of society that Islamists want to impose on the world is not one in which they want to live. A man from Boston, Mass and a man from Birmingham, AL may define “freedom” differently in a number of ways, but it remains something they both value and something they both know Radical Islam seeks to destroy.

Aligarr Mon, Apr 22, 2013 3:16:25am

All we are talking about is a difference in motive . Terrorists at least in the sense of the experience we have since 9/11 are motivated by religion . The crazies that shoot up McDonalds and Schools where we scratch our heads about possible motives .
In reality the results are the same - dead innocent people who the killers have not known . I think with the islamic inspired killers , their victims are more random , and the act is more for effect than anythinhg else -that effect being as many of the percieved enemies killed as possible . The “nut ” who shoots up a school is out of psycological defect and pent up anger .
To think of a religion that drives a mass murderer is a scarier thought than a screwball suddenly snaping and wreaking havoc and death .

Renaissance_Man Mon, Apr 22, 2013 3:36:02am

re: #2 Dark_Falcon

I don’t know anyone who takes things that lightly. I’d also point out that these terrorists did have guns, and they used them to kill a cop.

What I think is that Islamist terrorist trigger a reaction that is divisive, but much less so than a shocking mass shooting by suicidal nut. Liberals and Conservatives disagree on most things, but they both agree that the type of society that Islamists want to impose on the world is not one in which they want to live. A man from Boston, Mass and a man from Birmingham, AL may define “freedom” differently in a number of ways, but it remains something they both value and something they both know Radical Islam seeks to destroy.

Actually, most Americans take things that lightly, yourself included. He’s exactly right - guns are sacred objects, and sacrificing Americans to them is, as far as too many are concerned, just part of the price of living in this country. Gun deaths are absolutelytrivialised; within a few short weeks, they can be ignored as ‘shrill cries about the children’ and brushed off because it’s much more important to keep guns to make America look ‘strong’ and frighten away ‘enemies’.

Terrorists may make Americans feel better about hating them because they’re an outsider. They certainly make you feel better because you can clearly define them as not your team, and thus you can hate them freely and everyone else will join in. It’s definitely easier than taking a good hard look at the toxic, bloody religious practices here in the US.

Auto

This page has been archived.
Comments are closed.

Jump to top

Create a PageThis is the LGF Pages posting bookmarklet. To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). Then browse to a site you want to post, select some text on the page to use for a quote, click the bookmarklet, and the Pages posting window will appear with the title, text, and any embedded video or audio files already filled in, ready to go.
Or... you can just click this button to open the Pages posting window right away.
Last updated: 2023-04-04 11:11 am PDT LGF User's Guide RSS Feeds

Help support Little Green Footballs!