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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThey'll believe just about anything except the truth
A friend of mine told me yesterday...
"You won't believe what's happening right now in Virginia. Law enforcement is going door-to-door confiscating guns from law-abiding citizens!"
I said that I found that hard to believe. I asked him, "Literally--right now as we are talking to each other, police are knocking on doors and taking people's guns?" He said yes. "The Democrats passed a law down there, and people can't have guns anymore!"
Someone had sent him some podcast of some alarmist who was railing against the PROPOSED gun reform laws.
First of all, the laws haven't been passed yet.
Second of all, every single one of the measures in the PROPOSED law has been held up (at one time or another) by the Supreme Court.
Third of all, none of the measures call for the confiscation of guns.
Fourth--no guns have been confiscated.
The politics of fear in action. And because they feel like they're being victimized, they don't bother to check the veracity of the claims.
lame54
(35,293 posts)Trump did this or that
I still balk and think that having seen what he has done and this newest thing could be - as outrageous as it sounds - true
I still need confirmation before repeating it
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)BuffaloJackalope
(818 posts)maxsolomon
(33,345 posts)and say "show me".
He won't. Because he can't.
https://www.nbc12.com/2020/01/09/no-virginia-governors-budget-doesnt-fund-an-officer-gun-confiscation-squad/
MissMillie
(38,560 posts)But he couldn't show me anything that backed up the alarmist nut-job that was making the outrageous claims. I did how him some very recent news articles that indicated that no law had been passed yet, and that the reform measures involved background checks (oh the horror!!!) and registration of assault weapons (yikes!!!!).
maxsolomon
(33,345 posts)I thought I said that... maybe I didn't
Anyway, he's one of those that thinks Democrats are SO EVIL that if someone tells him the Dems are doing something bad, he just believes it without question.
maxsolomon
(33,345 posts)I guess you have to say "show me a second source".
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,492 posts)................
maxsolomon
(33,345 posts)because the RWNM has relentlessly attacked the legitimacy of professional journalism.
Facts have a well-known liberal bias.
TheRickles
(2,065 posts)MissMillie
(38,560 posts)"registration leads to confiscation."
Fear on top of fear on top of fear. He doesn't even own a gun.
soldierant
(6,884 posts)Has he been to Rome?
"Leading to" is not the same as "going all the way."
(Not that I believe the premise - has the government confiscated your vehicle? Or your licensed dog or cat? But, even accepting the premise, it's flawed.)
usaf-vet
(6,189 posts)maxsolomon
(33,345 posts)Facts have a well-known Liberal bias.
Mike 03
(16,616 posts)mind to comprehend. They will believe anything that supports their underlying assumptions and disregard anything that undermines their confidence that they are right in their devotion to Trump. It's not rational, but it's happening here in the US.
Ahpook
(2,750 posts)I think its very easy or perhaps lazy to just go with the lies. When I started paying attention it practically gave me headaches to think about all of this. It was easier to shrug it off!
Now if I begin to accept what is happening I have to make a choice. Let it go or get off my ass and help do something about it.
I'm sure there are other parts of this equation. Trump and others like him know how to play on their fears and hatreds. I mean can you imagine being so terrified of every waking day your first thought is strapping a pistol on.
It is tragic!
pwb
(11,276 posts).
Cosmocat
(14,565 posts)These people have allowed themselves to be programmed by DECADES of right wing bullshit.
45 just took the whip from the republic party and amped it up to a new and even crazier level.
But, people have been tweaked out like this my entire adult life - going back to the early 90s.
Duppers
(28,125 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,301 posts)to ask them to tell me about all the anti-gun laws Obama signed.
MissMillie
(38,560 posts)I'll remember that one.
paulkienitz
(1,296 posts)This guy seems to have a constant predisposition to see people as moved from outside by others, rather than ever acting independently. He ascribes everything to hidden forces rather than to personal impulse or choice. In short, he's in some sense paranoid. Before I started noticing this pattern of cognitive error (starting around 2011), he used to be a progressive. Now he's invested in believing Trumpian fantasies, and also has no sympathy for victims of brutality such as the kids in cages (which may have been true all along)... yet he remains anti-war.
JohnnyRingo
(18,636 posts)hahahaha Talk about the world's most dangerous job.
Some people should just get laughter in their face as a response.
3Hotdogs
(12,390 posts)because he knew the bastid was a cop, there to take his guns, "over my dead body."
Raster
(20,998 posts)... oh wait, often one and the same.
paleotn
(17,931 posts)I gave up some time ago on those who believe and perpetuate such bullshit. I block them, unfriend them and don't associate with them anymore. Life is too short to suffer such morons. Just my $ 0.02 worth.
Paladin
(28,264 posts)packman
(16,296 posts)Last edited Wed Jan 15, 2020, 12:24 PM - Edit history (1)
fear for their jobs, fear their security will be taken by others, fear their health will fail, fear that someone will take a bit of their lives away, etc. And that is what the Repukes are damn good at articulating and exploiting.
Aussie105
(5,401 posts)We have taken guns out of the hands of civilians. Voluntarily. We thought it was a good idea.
Only weapons you will see are on police, Army and special weapons response teams. And locked up at gun clubs.
No 'open carry', no 'concealed carry' here, if you see some civilian with a gun out on the street, it's a Bad Guy. Makes life so much easier.
Normanart
(279 posts)When fear is your go-to emotion, rational thought is the enemy.
Whiskeytide
(4,461 posts)... both need smarter friends.