Breaking the LiberalSpell...
John Stossel, author of the must-read book "Give Me a Break" has written a good column this week on gun rights. It points out, in his rather plain-speaking terms, that all forms of gun control have universally failed, and those on the left who still believe that they will work or have worked are deluding themselves. Is this a new argument? Not from the right or gun-rights advocates by any means. Stossel is not ravingly conservative, though. He used to be quite the liberal crusader and could now easily be described as libertarian in his leanings. It's refreshing and nice to see such reminders from prominent media figures that there is more than one side to be presented to an issue as fiery as gun rights.
Perhaps I felt the need to highlight it even more because CBS has decided once again to push their anti-rights agenda in one of their the puff opinion pieces. Dick Meyer, a well-known hater of all things right of Mao, trumpets a sarcasm-laden piece on companies wanting to limit employees from bringing their guns anywhere near their work. Sometimes it is all a matter of perspective. If you couch things as "sensible" and "progressive", two of the left's favorite words, then anyone opposed to such measures or in favor of the measures they ridicule is seen as fringe or extremist. But this is how we play the propoganda game in today's America, isn't it?
Starting in the modern era with Bernard Goldberg in his book, Bias, reporters have increasingly had to justify views they previously held as "common sense" and in the mainstream. Water was wet, the sky was blue and guns were an evil to be abolished from the landscape like cigarettes and non-designer coffee shops. This was one of the cornerstone issues back when I started getting politically active in my college days that made me look at the left and wonder what insanity affected them. I was a gun owner, and I thought a reasonable human being. However, every news article or TV piece portrayed people like me as fanatics or at the extreme fringe. Worse, such people were often portrayed as villains, especially in the TV shows of the time (and through today). Seeing kids die in Waco because Reno wanted to get a religious nut who was heavily armed and then another couple kids die at Ruby Ridge for much the same reason, I began to see an organized campaign on the left against guns. Luckily for people like me, the NRA and a host of newly minted groups like the Second Amendment Foundation came out and fought right back against it.
Their activism, conservative and libertarian activism, convinced me that the left didn't have the market cornered on fair and sensible positions. One by one, their other positions started falling before serious scrutiny, and here we all are today.
I didn't have much of a point to this piece, other than to note to you all to keep questioning those who tell you one thing is right or wrong. Do your own homework. Don't take my word for it, and certainly don't take Brian Williams, Katie Couric's, George Bush's or Bill Clinton's. What we say might point you in a good direction, but none of us is the only voice in the wilderness. There are 280 million Americans and I'm fairly sure most of them have their own opinions. On the issue of the right to keep and bear arms, I just return to the cradle of laws, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Last I checked, it and its historical predecessors stated that the right to self-defense against others and government was fundamental and inalienable. Keep reminding yourself of that when you see the next gun-related opinion dressed up as news on the networks.
John Stossel, author of the must-read book "Give Me a Break" has written a good column this week on gun rights. It points out, in his rather plain-speaking terms, that all forms of gun control have universally failed, and those on the left who still believe that they will work or have worked are deluding themselves. Is this a new argument? Not from the right or gun-rights advocates by any means. Stossel is not ravingly conservative, though. He used to be quite the liberal crusader and could now easily be described as libertarian in his leanings. It's refreshing and nice to see such reminders from prominent media figures that there is more than one side to be presented to an issue as fiery as gun rights.
Perhaps I felt the need to highlight it even more because CBS has decided once again to push their anti-rights agenda in one of their the puff opinion pieces. Dick Meyer, a well-known hater of all things right of Mao, trumpets a sarcasm-laden piece on companies wanting to limit employees from bringing their guns anywhere near their work. Sometimes it is all a matter of perspective. If you couch things as "sensible" and "progressive", two of the left's favorite words, then anyone opposed to such measures or in favor of the measures they ridicule is seen as fringe or extremist. But this is how we play the propoganda game in today's America, isn't it?
Starting in the modern era with Bernard Goldberg in his book, Bias, reporters have increasingly had to justify views they previously held as "common sense" and in the mainstream. Water was wet, the sky was blue and guns were an evil to be abolished from the landscape like cigarettes and non-designer coffee shops. This was one of the cornerstone issues back when I started getting politically active in my college days that made me look at the left and wonder what insanity affected them. I was a gun owner, and I thought a reasonable human being. However, every news article or TV piece portrayed people like me as fanatics or at the extreme fringe. Worse, such people were often portrayed as villains, especially in the TV shows of the time (and through today). Seeing kids die in Waco because Reno wanted to get a religious nut who was heavily armed and then another couple kids die at Ruby Ridge for much the same reason, I began to see an organized campaign on the left against guns. Luckily for people like me, the NRA and a host of newly minted groups like the Second Amendment Foundation came out and fought right back against it.
Their activism, conservative and libertarian activism, convinced me that the left didn't have the market cornered on fair and sensible positions. One by one, their other positions started falling before serious scrutiny, and here we all are today.
I didn't have much of a point to this piece, other than to note to you all to keep questioning those who tell you one thing is right or wrong. Do your own homework. Don't take my word for it, and certainly don't take Brian Williams, Katie Couric's, George Bush's or Bill Clinton's. What we say might point you in a good direction, but none of us is the only voice in the wilderness. There are 280 million Americans and I'm fairly sure most of them have their own opinions. On the issue of the right to keep and bear arms, I just return to the cradle of laws, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Last I checked, it and its historical predecessors stated that the right to self-defense against others and government was fundamental and inalienable. Keep reminding yourself of that when you see the next gun-related opinion dressed up as news on the networks.
posted by Rob Beck | 3:46 PM
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