Meaning

[lillibet]

One of the things I like to do is to try to figure out why people who think completely differently than I do might do that. If it seems crazy to me, I still try to recognize that these are not generally insane people--they have access to the same facts that I do, they live in the same world I do, it just makes sense to them in some entirely different way.

Last night, watching Jon Stewart illuminate our failure to even talk about gun control, I was watching the talking heads he threw up on the screen and marvelling at their...well, it sure looks like insanity from here. And that cued my brain to start thinking about them.

Some of them are certainly cynically using people's fear to gain fame and money for themselves. There are always people, on every side, who are doing that. But many of these people seem to genuinely believe that we are inches away from tyranny and the only thing preventing it is their gun ownership.

(Side note: It's interesting to note that I do see increased invasion and control by our government, but the things that concern me don't seem to concern them, and vice versa. And I don't come to the conclusion that my owning an assault rifle--or even a handgun--will help the situation in any way.)

What makes them believe this? Yes, yes, talking heads loudly yelling paranoid untruths. But I hear those people and I don't believe them.

Is this a way of giving meaning to their lives? If they are the last line of defense of the great experiment in liberty that is the U.S. of A. does that make them important in a way that nothing else in their lives satisfies?

What do you think?

Comments

[gmpe.livejournal.com]

Talking heads aside, there are folks of sound mind and good spirit on both sides of the debate that isn't happening on guns and their place in our society. Thanks to social media, I get to see people's take on it from individuals who walk in very different circles. I won't try to repeat their arguments; I decided I will leave myself out of those conversations online for my sale. I have found, however, that in places like Boston, where one voice dominates so loudly, the people I consider sane on the other side remain silent because to do otherwise often provokes an unwelcome response.

I salute you for making such a conscious effort to put yourself in the mind of others. I wish more would. Of course on the issues I've been able to do that best, I find myself torn in both directions and appreciating why some issues seem to leave us at a political impasse.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Of course on the issues I've been able to do that best, I find myself torn in both directions and appreciating why some issues seem to leave us at a political impasse.

Yeah--being a bleeding heart liberal makes it easy sometimes.

Situations where I think there's right on both sides are so easy for me that I don't struggle--if the other side makes sense, I just disagree, then it doesn't ping the "figure out how they're not crazy" circuit. And now I'm trying to think of an issue where that's the case and having trouble, which makes me feel intransigent and closed-minded...uh oh. Oh, wait! Casinos! I'm against them, but I can understand how someone might find the arguments for them compelling. Whew!

[cz_unit]

Complicated. I ditched comments on sites because I noted that a lot of people seem to just want to waste time arguing a point, and others seem to be using the politeness of public discourse to promote an agenda.

Now my life is much more quiet and I am able to make what I consider to be more rational decisions. That said, think back to elbows and the people who would just bitch and rant every point not because it was productive but because it would show that they were RIGHT or something. Now multiply that by 100,000,000.

And there you go. That's part of it.

The other part is those who make money off this sort of thing. Check out "Trust me, I'm lying" for an excellent discussion by the marketing director for American Apparel on how to use social media to manipulate people for profit. Free press is worth a lot, and advertising, even negative sells a *lot* of ammo clips, guns, and ammunition.

Another issue is the human response to fear. Our critical thinking shuts down (no time for that when a tiger is chomping on you) and you run on easily predictable instinct. Which to an economic predator means "yummy, tasty, and fresh". So by staying in a heightened state of "alert" one becomes a valuable economic engine to someone who can direct appropriately.

I'm beginning to think it's possible to maintain high alert in people for years, decades. YOU'LL LOSE YOUR JOB AND TERRORISTS WILL EAT YOU! Think about how valuable that is to an employer and to a company selling fake security.

Liberals can be taken the same way. Save the seal, save the schmoo, save puppies, and gays, and god knows what else. Note as I said gays a little pop up blocker activated in your brain. But that's about "justice". Note how it's working right now....

Invert that feeling and you have a gun nut.

I'll stop writing. Interesting.

[jillbertini.livejournal.com]

Do you know about George Lakoff's work on framing? A lot of what you said speaks to that. One book I read (that was quite short and a little repetitious) was Don't Think of an Elephant. A lot of it just comes down to framing. And whatever supports our frame comes in, and what doesn't we reject.

[cz_unit]

No, I haven't. But I have read studies showing that the more you try to correct a person's errant views the more they believe the errant view. Regardless of facts, demonstrations, etc they become more and more attached to the errant view.

Fun stuff.

C

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

I agree with you in so many ways that it's hard to express it fully. :D

I also have trouble with the concerns of those very fearful of any further gun regulation or enforcement of what we have. The best I've been able to do is to think there must be both displacement and all-or-nothing thinking going on.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I think, in general, we lean to physical violence when we are out of (or perceive ourselves to be out of) all other functional options.

I think you might have a fruitful vein of inquiry if you pursue the question of "How does one come to believe that non-violent avenues of civic engagement are or are not open to them?"

I'd be interested to read your noodling on that question as a stand alone, though I imagine it would feed neatly into this one.

[muffyjo]

There is no sound-byte we can all get behind. And muddy answers are muddy. So we do nothing. We let the loudest talking people talk. So that's what we hear and then, eventually, we believe it or believe that everyone around us believes it so we keep our thoughts to ourselves because being the smallest who in whoville, we don't think our "yop" is really going to make any difference at all.