Well, a while ago I started the thread Big Brother. Now, I've always considered the NRA a bunch of nutters. But considering the way the USA government is going, is the NRA right? Do they really need all those guns "just in case"? Is the USA government becoming Big Brother, and if so, is it these nutballs who will save America?
Guns won't help, Adam. If we go shoot up the gov't, they'll drop h-bombs on our cities, use "stun-guns", or whatever it takes to get us to stop. It's pointless, they have technology far more advanced than what we have access to. So unless we enlisted the help of a disgruntled nation (say, Iraq), I doubt we'd really get anywhere.
Insane Hillbillies? Hmmm... my NRA sticker is displayed right next to my "Peace Is Patriotic" sticker on the back window of my pickup truck. I have been a member since 1983. Putting aside the obvious openings for humorous slams, I would not think many people would consider me a hillbilly or a nutball. Peace. __________________ Youth is the first victim of war - the first fruit of peace. It takes 20 years or more of peace to make a man; it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him. -- King Boudewijn I, King of Belgium (1934-1993)
THE TOP 15 N.R.A. SLOGANS Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! 15. Do What We Say and No One Gets Hurt! 14. 1997 Recipient of the Disgruntled Postal Worker Seal Of Approval 13. Today's NRA — Still Gun-Ho on America (and now 60% sane!) 12. Second Amendment, College Boy — Read It and Weep 11. Helping to Reduce the Surplus Population, One Innocent Bystander at a Time 10. Why Don't Y'all Go Bother the Knife People for a While, Huh?! 9. The NRA: Relieving Feelings of Inadequacy for 125 Years 8. Fer Chrissakes! Watch Where Yer Pointin' That Thing! 7. Every Waiting Period's Gotta End Sometime, You Pussy-Whipped Liberal Pantywaists 6. When You Absolutely, Positively Have to Kill Someone 5. The NRA: Buying Legislators Today So YOU Can Buy Automatic Weapons Tomorrow 4. Guns! The *Affordable* Phallic Substitute 3. A Couple Thousand Yokels in Pickup Trucks Can't Be Wrong 2. Uzi Does It! 1. Who Do You Want to Shoot Today?
Re: Re: Insane Hillbillies? Knew that was comin', ya bastard! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! __________________ Youth is the first victim of war - the first fruit of peace. It takes 20 years or more of peace to make a man; it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him. -- King Boudewijn I, King of Belgium (1934-1993)
Goofyfish A couple of years ago the NRA ran a TV commercial showing foreign nations as nasty evil places ruloed by totalitarian governments, and said Americans should keep their guns to avoid living in fear like that. One of the places they mentioned/showed as such a horrible foreign nation was Australia. They showed walled houses and iron gates. Of course, they neglected to mention that those houses were in Brighton or one of the other very wealthy suburbs, where people build walls not for protection but for extreme privacy. Heston did the narration for that advertisement. Sorry, but that NRA propaganda was pure bollocks and totally nuts. However... Is the NRA actually now an important defence against the possibility of the US government becoming Big Brother?
...and your opinion of their conservation and outreach activities? __________________ Youth is the first victim of war - the first fruit of peace. It takes 20 years or more of peace to make a man; it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him. -- King Boudewijn I, King of Belgium (1934-1993)
Good work. But then even Hitler did some good things. I'm guessing that, like many organisations, there's good and bad. But are they an important defence against Big Brother?
So, what you're really asking is, "is it these nutballs who will save America?" or, will NRA members lead the fight for "principled resistance to civil tyranny"? __________________ Youth is the first victim of war - the first fruit of peace. It takes 20 years or more of peace to make a man; it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him. -- King Boudewijn I, King of Belgium (1934-1993)
I can see it now, Goofyfish with an M16 and a WW2 helmet, in a bunker in his back yard, shooting at the Homeland Security "Neighbourhood Protection" team in their spiffy black uniforms which look remarkably like Gestapo outfits, and shouting "... But you'll never take our freedoooommmm!!!"
The NRA today, and other interest groups like NOW(National Organization for Women), NAACP, and ADL, have abandoned their principles and honor. They are nothing but tools for politicians and political parties now, and are more talk than action. The SAME adminstration that is putting the Big Brother laws in place (Bush administration), gets almost full support from the NRA. I haven't heard Chuck Heston blasting Bush and Ashcroft, for taking away many of our civil liberties, but he'll go on and on about stopping "gun locks" to prevent accidental kid shootings.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! So the answer to your question Adam, is no. The NRA may even be a tool to the very Big Brother we wish to avoid. They have been very quiet on the policies of our president...
Cause or Effect? Perhaps because Americans profess outrage when a child is shot, tsk, tsk, tsk. These same Americans moo complacently as King George creates further victims, in the form of lost liberties. Governments and organizations respond where the public eye focuses. Ah, yes. The Fish - governmental automaton. Puh-leeez. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! __________________ Youth is the first victim of war - the first fruit of peace. It takes 20 years or more of peace to make a man; it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him. -- King Boudewijn I, King of Belgium (1934-1993)
Re: Cause or Effect? True fish, sad but true...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! The Media has us so trained to bark and sit on command, that America was transfixed last night on "American Idol". For those not in the US, this show was a competition to pick the next "Pop Star". I thought we were sick and tired of them, why are we creating more... We're more concerned about the TV show "West Wing", than our ACTUAL goverment. It's no wonder that the Media can pick and choose what we should be concerned about, we have become mindless robots. Adam gave a good example of how easy it is to fool people when he talked about the NRA TV commercial showing foreign nations as nasty evil places ruled by totalitarian governments.
Don't automatically speak for all of us, otherwise you become a hypocrite. Well generally the newspapers or magazines that aren't at least considered informative enough (meaning that they've been filitered significantly more than other media recources) amongst other reasons just don't become popular. We aren't mindless robots, we just have the relevance interpretations done for us. This puts us in the position of the baby chick being fed by its mother, who has already chewed the chick's food. The chick wants food, so the mother gives it to her, and if the chick doesn't like the food for one reason or another, the mother gets a different type. We do have some control over the media as a whole but individually there is really nothing you can do except recognize the propoganda from what's really happening.
The U.S. corporate government must have certain worries about the armed population and the possibility, however remote, of insurrection. They may have a lot of fancy weapons and forts but their actual manpower in the various services, military and civilian, would only amount to seven million or less inside the U.S. borders. If there are guns in thirty or forty million households, that is something to worry about if you are the one taking away people's liberty. A lot of the people that are in the services would also join in such an insurrection, if ever there was one, because otherwise they would be fighting against their own people. Getting all guns out of society is not the best solution for reducing violence with guns. Having a morally responsible leadership that projects honor so that it morphs down through society and an educational system that instills moral values in children from kindergarten until they graduate is what is needed. There will always be hunters and a need for hunters, but once society is operating according to moral standards, there shouldn't be much need for machine-guns and grenades.
Deciding what our morals are and what they aren't is the problem with teaching them in schools anyway. Generally, kids tend to learn the basic good from the bad, I would assume that based on their environments at home and in their neighborhood they learn the more complex issues related to weapons and their lucrative uses.
Take it easy Pollux, when I say "we", I'm reffering to the majority.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I must say I disagree. We get our perception from the news. They tell us who is bad and who is good. They tell us what is right and what is wrong. The can sabotage a Presidential canidate if they want(McCain), and put one in office if they please(GW Bush). The Media tells us that Iraq is our friend in the 80's and then can tell us that they're evil in the 90's. The Media can seperate us based on mythical concepts like "race". Hell, they can split us into any group they please... They can scare us with constant terrorist threats and take away our freedoms. Does everyone listen to the Media, thankfully NO. But the number who don't is getting smaller and smaller everyday. Listen to talk radio and hear the propaganda being spread, people are actually buying that crap...
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020510-718352.htm my understanding is militia - cops, national guard, coastguard (govt orgs) "Finally and most telling of all as regards the "intent" of the Founders, there is abundant, highly specific written evidence that they sought to guarantee the average person's right to keep and bear arms as a means of keeping the government itself in check" fine, lets go up against tanks and bazookas nra is in the business of selling weapons yes? no?
