Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Cognitive Assonance*

Maybe I'm a little too concerned with a coherent worldview, but I have to say that one comes across as a complete whackaloon when one follows up on one's call to see bodies littering the streets of a major American city by decrying a culture of violence. The boorish Boortz is part of the problem here- nothing more violent than calling for massacres.

Another thing I just don't understand is the mentality of people who believe that carrying a concealed firearm will allow them to defend themselves from a guy who has a bead on them. Yeah, the guy with a pistol in your face is going to let you get your shootin' iron out of the glove compartment- nice fantasy.

I'm not a starry-eyed naïf, I worked off and on in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the country, the Longwood section of the Bronx. The first time I worked at my client's facility, I spent a few hours on the roof of the building with a video camera, cell phone (before they were common- this was a company phone), and binoculars trying to find the location of some asshole with a pellet gun who was taking potshots at employees during shift changes. Another time, I left the facility after midnight, and walked to the Intervale Avenue subway stop. I had to return the next morning at 8AM, and there was yellow police tape all over a particular corner- some asshole was shot multiple times during a drug deal turned ugly, not ten minutes after I had walked past the corner. I'm no stranger to urban pathologies, but I recognize that they are the result of class inequality, not genetic tendencies. Working in the barrio, I saw many working class people trying to make it against the odds, the number of criminals was small, but they tended to be around while most people were at work. I learned compassion while working in this milieu. Calling for a violent response to a culture of violence is hypocritcal, brutish, and counterproductive.

Of course, Boortz has been a dyed-in-the-wool racist for decades, having once been a speechwriter for the odious segregationist Lester Maddox.

*It's when an asshole reveals cognitive dissonance. It also reflects the repeated "U" sound in the not-a-dogwhistle phrase "urban thug".

9 comments:

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Another thing I just don't understand is the mentality of people who believe that carrying a concealed firearm

yee-haw, motherfucker! Concealed Carry goes to Turdwaffle Walker for a signature today!

So everything will be JUST FINE in Wisconsin once we're reduced our surplus population.

And the ones that don't get shot (as well as some of the ones who do) will be taken out by the cutting of Medicaid and Planned Parenthood funding.

Republican Heaven! Nothing but starving proles and gated Communities!

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

None of the crap these bozos hold forth on has any more grounding than this: pisses off liberals.

See global warming, etc.
~

Substance McGravitas said...

If you kill the violent ones there will be no more violence. Just look at the victories in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

This makes me want to see Neil confronted with some hardcore urban thuggery. I bet that would be one impressive dump he'd take in his drawers.

Hamish Mack said...

It always strikes me as being akin to "Measles? We need more measles!"

M. Bouffant said...

So true. Concealed carry is useless for self-defense. You need that holster right on your leg, as close to Representative Weiner as possible, & some mad quick-draw skillz.

Otherwise your rod is taken from you & joins the thug underground of guns in the possession of law-not-abiding citizens.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Armed or no. Goddamn I hate conservative macho posturing.

Like the Bastard, I have some skillz in being an unarmed menace. I have also done some practicing on how to disarm these assholes.

It may not go the way they imagine.

But liberally. So after I disarm them, dislocate their arm and shatter their knee, I will sit on their head and ask them about their feelings while waiting for the police and ambulance.

Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

Well, Ill admit I'm a huge hypocrite because liberal macho posturing doesn't bother me in the least. Actually, embarrassingly, it is a bit of a turn-on. And I won't even go into Internet Tough Girl shtick I've perfected.

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