calimary
calimary's JournalThe DUer asked - "How, specifically?" As in - What Can We DO (to force changes in gun laws)?
The answer goes back to Perception Management. Managing public opinion so it can be harnessed for genuine change, for the benefit of the greater good. The time is NOW to act. To do something ("DU something!"
. To turn a terrible national tragedy into something positive for the greater good - of the entire country. Yes, even for the gun nuts. The time is NOW to build an historic and eternal legacy for all those souls lost in that Connecticut school massacre on Friday. NOW is the time to ensure that those beloved victims did NOT die a senseless death. Their loss will not be in vain if we do this in their memory. For the good of ALL of us.
NOW is the time to storm Congress - AND YOUR REPS' REGIONAL OFFICES - with emails, tweets, Facebook posts, cards, letters, phone calls - WHATEVER KIND OF COMMUNICATION YOU CAN COME UP WITH. Get. The. Word. OUT. THERE.
NOW is the time to do likewise with your Senators. BOTH of them. I don't care which party. As Michael Moore and others here have pointed out - the NRA and gun apologists are on the defensive at this moment, and you're not hearing squat outta them. They're temporarily in hiding. All those voices speaking up now and mewling that "now is not the time," including that jackass White House Press Secretary, couldn't be more wrong.
NOW is the time to do likewise with the White House, and storm the switchboard and the mail room and the email and website contact points.
NOW is the time to storm the newspapers - print and online - and news magazines and online outlets with comments urging change.
NOW is the time to try to call in or tweet or text on talk shows.
NOW is the time to post on the MSNBC website, the individual shows, their Twitter pages and their Facebook pages.
NOW is the time to overrun and outshout the NRA and all gun-apologists, and push against them HARD. We may never have another opportunity to make a dent in this problem! Hell, we regulate CHURCHES before we even begin to touch gun "rights."
NOW is the time to put them on the defensive. And hit 'em HARD, RUTHLESSLY, AND WITHOUT MERCY. For example, anyone who speaks up about how their precious fucking gun rights can't be compromised, then it should be put straight into their faces the following framing: "SO. You're saying that YOUR right to have unfettered, unrestricted, free-and-easy access to your precious guns is MORE important than those innocent children's lives and keeping them safe." "SO. Your right to have free and unlimited access to murder devices overrides the right of our kids to go to school in the morning and be safe and assured they're gonna be alive by the end of the school day." (SERIOUSLY. Go draconian! Go outlandish! Go to extremes!) "So basically, if you're insisting that we can't possibly toughen gun restrictions, then, YOU'RE SAYING YOU'RE OKAY WITH THIS. YOU'RE SAYING THAT THESE MASSACRES ARE OKAY AND NO BIG DEAL. That IS what you're saying when you're clinging to your gun 'rights'. You're saying that it's NO BIG DEAL IF THESE MASSACRES KEEP HAPPENING. So what is it, then, just 'the cost of doing business? Is THAT it????" SERIOUSLY. Put them on the defensive. Make them have to defend this shit. Make them have to explain how their precious gun worship is more sacrosanct than those children's lives - demand that they explain themselves to some of those grieving mothers and fathers!!!
NOW. The time is NOW. If we wait - yet again, for the umpteenth time after umpteen gun massacres and murders - until emotions quiet down and the mourning period is past (yeah? When is THAT???) - then you start getting eaten by ants.
Then the naysayers come out and start chipping away at the resolve that had built up to make definitive changes.
Then the "yeah, but" crowd steps up and takes over and sucks all the oxygen out of the public discussion.
Then the folks with all the "well, you really can't... blah-blah-blah fill in the blank here" concerns, like this woman I know who kept coming up with this "devil's advocate" shit about how you can't do this or you can't do that or this won't be possible or that will be unworkable start rearing their ugly heads. Then you're drowning in talking points and counter-arguments and hand-wringing that's designed to shoot down and defeat any zeal toward addressing this stuff and getting something done, once and for all.
It's a multi-pronged approach. I say we rub their noses in it. REPEATEDLY and RELENTLESSLY. Put them on defense. Force them to defend their attitude that their fucking guns are more important than keeping our children safe in their own schools! Force the cheapskate tax haters and avoiders to explain why they must keep taxes low and continue cutting mental health programs and the funding thereof. This is really broad-based. There are MANY MANY aspects to this issue, and many directions from which to come at it, and many different solutions to the multiple aspects of it. And we have to look to them all.
But most important? TIMING. SEIZING THE TIME WHEN IT COMES. SEIZING the opportunity. Put this tragedy to use - so that we actually might have a chance to prevent them from happening again. I have yet to meet or hear or read the comments of ANY mom or dad of a murdered child who DOESN'T say some version of "I want to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again - to ANY other mother and father!" Let's ALL take up that mantle and wear it like body armor.
And if we don't gain any ground on one part of it, then go find a weak spot in another aspect of it and tackle THAT. I REFUSE to believe that all doors are closed, all windows are barred, all gates are locked, and all minds are shut regarding conquering this issue.
Basically, WE have to become like the radical right-to-lifers, or the ALEC people, or the network of schemers hellbent on ANY way to destroy unions or the right to vote. Notice how many different ways they've gone about their objectives? Notice how many different ways they find to attack and undermine? WE HAVE TO START DOING THAT, TOO!!!
I keep thinking back to the sensei at our neighborhood karate school. He was a champion kickboxer and sparring ace, and he constantly told us - "keep 'em busy. Keep 'em busy." Never stop jabbing. Never stop looking for an opening. Never let up. Keep 'em busy. He even told us about one fighter he knew who injured his arm in a match. All he could do was jab. His opponent was uninjured and could throw kicks and punches of all kinds. But this guy wouldn't give up. If all he could do is jab, he just kept on jabbing. Never let up. Kept 'em coming. Kept 'em coming. Unrelenting. He rained jabs down upon the opponent. They just kept coming and coming one on top of the other, as fast as possible. And he actually won the match.
That's the approach we have to take. Because we're up against an opponent with UNBELIEVABLE capability to throw kicks and punches of all kinds.
It's LONG past time.
(From original thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022006557 )
All the more reason to crack down.
NOBODY needs "many guns." "Many guns"? WTF???? Seriously. What civilian needs "many guns"? Just WHY does one need "many guns"? For what purpose? Unless it's an outward sign of an inner instability? The days of Davy Crockett and the OK Corral are OVER. Okay? The purpose of guns is killing, and inflicting damage. That's what they're designed for. Primarily and exclusively. An enemy or an innocent victim regardless, it's STILL killing. You know, that thing that the so-called "right-to-lifers" are always insisting is criminally and sinfully and apocalyptically wrong? In case anyone on their side is still confused, cars are not that. Even knives are not that. As in - NOT designed primarily and exclusively for killing, and inflicting damage.
SO much more succinct than I was able to manage!
That is it in the proverbial nutshell!
In EVERY way possible.
NOW is the time to storm Congress - AND YOUR REPS' REGIONAL OFFICES - with emails, tweets, Facebook posts, cards, letters, phone calls - WHATEVER KIND OF COMMUNICATION YOU CAN COME UP WITH. Get. The. Word. OUT. THERE.
NOW is the time to do likewise with your Senators. BOTH of them. I don't care which party. As Michael Moore and others here have pointed out - the NRA and gun apologists are on the defensive at this moment, and you're not hearing squat outta them. They're temporarily in hiding. All those voices speaking up now and mewling that "now is not the time," including that jackass White House Press Secretary, couldn't be more wrong.
NOW is the time to do likewise with the White House, and storm the switchboard and the mail room and the email and website contact points.
NOW is the time to storm the newspapers - print and online - and news magazines and online outlets with comments urging change.
NOW is the time to try to call in or tweet or text on talk shows.
NOW is the time to post on the MSNBC website, the individual shows, their Twitter pages and their Facebook pages.
NOW is the time to overrun and outshout the NRA and all gun-apologists, and push against them HARD. We may never have another opportunity to make a dent in this problem! Hell, we regulate CHURCHES before we even begin to touch gun "rights."
NOW is the time to put them on the defensive. And hit 'em HARD, RUTHLESSLY, AND WITHOUT MERCY. For example, anyone who speaks up about how their precious fucking gun rights can't be compromised, then it should be put straight into their faces the following framing: "SO. You're saying that YOUR right to have unfettered, unrestricted, free-and-easy access to your precious guns is MORE important than those innocent children's lives and keeping them safe." "SO. Your right to have free and unlimited access to murder devices overrides the right of our kids to go to school in the morning and be safe and assured they're gonna be alive by the end of the school day." (SERIOUSLY. Go draconian! Go outlandish! Go to extremes!) "So basically, if you're insisting that we can't possibly toughen gun restrictions, then, YOU'RE SAYING YOU'RE OKAY WITH THIS. YOU'RE SAYING THAT THESE MASSACRES ARE OKAY AND NO BIG DEAL. That IS what you're saying when you're clinging to your gun 'rights'. You're saying that it's NO BIG DEAL IF THESE MASSACRES KEEP HAPPENING. So what is it, then, just 'the cost of doing business? Is THAT it????" SERIOUSLY. Put them on the defensive. Make them have to defend this shit. Make them have to explain how their precious gun worship is more sacrosanct than those children's lives - demand that they explain themselves to some of those grieving mothers and fathers!!!
NOW. The time is NOW. If we wait - yet again, for the umpteenth time after umpteen gun massacres and murders - until emotions quiet down and the mourning period is past (yeah? When is THAT???) - then you start getting eaten by ants.
Then the naysayers come out and start chipping away at the resolve that had built up to make definitive changes.
Then the "yeah, but" crowd steps up and takes over and sucks all the oxygen out of the public discussion.
Then the folks with all the "well, you really can't... blah-blah-blah fill in the blank here" concerns, like this woman I know who kept coming up with this "devil's advocate" shit about how you can't do this or you can't do that or this won't be possible or that will be unworkable start rearing their ugly heads. Then you're drowning in talking points and counter-arguments and hand-wringing that's designed to shoot down and defeat any zeal toward addressing this stuff and getting something done, once and for all.
It's a multi-pronged approach. I say we rub their noses in it. REPEATEDLY and RELENTLESSLY. Put them on defense. Force them to defend their attitude that their fucking guns are more important than keeping our children safe in their own schools! Force the cheapskate tax haters and avoiders to explain why they must keep taxes low and continue cutting mental health programs and the funding thereof. This is really broad-based. There are MANY MANY aspects to this issue, and many directions from which to come at it, and many different solutions to the multiple aspects of it. And we have to look to them all.
But most important? TIMING. SEIZING THE TIME WHEN IT COMES. SEIZING the opportunity. Put this tragedy to use - so that we actually might have a chance to prevent them from happening again. I have yet to meet or hear or read the comments of ANY mom or dad of a murdered child who DOESN'T say some version of "I want to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again - to ANY other mother and father!" Let's ALL take up that mantle and wear it like body armor.
And if we don't gain any ground on one part of it, then go find a weak spot in another aspect of it and tackle THAT. I REFUSE to believe that all doors are closed, all windows are barred, all gates are locked, and all minds are shut regarding conquering this issue.
Basically, WE have to become like the radical right-to-lifers, or the ALEC people, or the network of schemers hellbent on ANY way to destroy unions or the right to vote. Notice how many different ways they've gone about their objectives? Notice how many different ways they find to attack and undermine? WE HAVE TO START DOING THAT, TOO!!!
I keep thinking back to the sensei at our neighborhood karate school. He was a champion kickboxer and sparring ace, and he constantly told us - "keep 'em busy. Keep 'em busy." Never stop jabbing. Never stop looking for an opening. Never let up. Keep 'em busy. He even told us about one fighter he knew who injured his arm in a match. All he could do was jab. His opponent was uninjured and could throw kicks and punches of all kinds. But this guy wouldn't give up. If all he could do is jab, he just kept on jabbing. Never let up. Kept 'em coming. Kept 'em coming. Unrelenting. He rained jabs down upon the opponent. They just kept coming and coming one on top of the other, as fast as possible. And he actually won the match.
That's the approach we have to take. Because we're up against an opponent with UNBELIEVABLE capability to throw kicks and punches of all kinds.
It's LONG past time.
(on edit - AW CRAP, sorry this was so long...)
Welcome to DU, bakpakr! I heard that, too.
It felt like one from the heart. And it said a mouthful! I can hear the yowlers and baggers and whiners and pearl-clutchers yammering about politicizing the night. He did nothing of the sort. I think we should change the gun laws in the memory of those babies who were gunned down, and their teachers and guardians that suffered that fate too. If we can change and toughen the gun laws, then those innocent dead will not have died in vain. It will bring more meaning to their deaths - and what those deaths catalyzed. Maybe others will live because of what we did in response to their murders.
Me too! I have NEVER been more impressed with my President.
With this or ANY President, for that matter. I have never seen political courage like that in a President. He's got guts and class and smarts. I am SOOOOO pleased about this! Once again, we have a true leader, in every sense of the word! And his remarks tonight were words that needed to be said, tonight, and on the heels of EVERY one of these horrendous gun massacres. I think as a nation we've started to realize that we've had ENOUGH of this shit. I hope this is the straw that finally breaks the gun lobby's back.
GOBAMA!!!!!! You ROCK, Mr. President!!! So proud to have voted for you again!
We should start YESTERDAY!! Strike while the iron is hot. Emotions are with OUR side now.
I'd go for it NOW before the funeral Masses even begin for all those little victims. I'd exploit EVERY bit of the mourning and sadness to get this jump-started. Yes. Exploit. And I'm sorry to have to get crass, but I've never made a secret of the fact that I'm as Machiavellian as the next guy. And if we can use this horror to push for legislation that truly does save lives and does benefit the greater good, why shouldn't we?
There may be no better time than NOW!
I'll bet ANY of those parents who are mourning a murdered CHILD from this massacre would tell anyone who'd listen that if they could do nothing else at this point, they'd want to try to keep OTHER parents from going through this agony. They'd want to move Heaven and Earth, if they could, to make sure that this nightmare never befalls any other mom or dad in America. Every parent I've ever seen in recent memory, who's had to live through this kind of ordeal where their beloved innocent child becomes a murder victim, from John Walsh onward, has said a version of the same thing. Especially when they embrace activism. What they want more than anything, if they can never get their precious baby back, then they want to do whatever they can to prevent this from happening to ANY other parent, and KEEP THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN.
How have we been doing so far? Not very good, judging from the track record we see. TWO multiple shootings in the same week - the first one in a mall early in the week, and Friday, Newtown, Connecticut. And, then, the day after the Connecticut school massacre, a woman is shot to death outside the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas.
WTF???????
And don't forget what Howard Dean said during the 2004 campaign, and has continued to preach: the only way you lose is if you don't try. So what if it's a high mountain to climb? Things change. Attitudes can and do change also. Look how much talk and coverage and attention there now is, regarding the whole notion of significant change that manifested itself in this last election. Look how fast public opinion is tilting toward acceptance of marriage equality. There's a majority now, which is a change just from a few years ago. I forget how many years but I do remember it was under five. That's an AMAZING shift in the attitude of the collective and it's being so noted in the media. That used to be a high mountain, too - widely regarded as pretty unsurmountable. Religiosos were against it, emphatically and extremely. Now? I recently saw some poll numbers on "Hardball" (or some such program) that showed young church-goers comprised the highest percentage of support for marriage equality.
So why can't we seize this opportunity when public opinion is running strongly in favor of SOME kind of stepped-up gun control? SOMETHING!
Why can't we do something that would TRULY honor the innocent dead? DO it for them, and in their memory. So their deaths would not remain merely senseless. So they didn't die in vain.
Maybe it should be like bargaining. Pardon the pun again - shoot for the moon. Then maybe you'll
at least be able to reach as high as Earth orbit. Personally, I'd go for being a hard-ass and starting at the most draconian position possible and "allow" them to bargain me down a little bit. To use an altitude metaphor - I sure as hell wouldn't start at the top of an ant-hill. Rather, I might start at the planet Jupiter and ease away, back toward Earth, from a point THAT far away. Then the gun nuts may still feel, psychologically, like they gained something, but WE will have made a MAJOR inroad, at long last.
That's the VERY FIRST POINT we need to - pardon the pun - "target."
That it's useless. No point in even trying. It's just not gonna happen. Sanctity of second amendment.
THAT is the first part of the mindset we need to focus on overcoming. As long as we give in before even trying to fight this, we LOSE before the battle's even begun.
You won't see me being part of that.
We need to REFRAME the issue and aggressively so. Put the gun nuts on the defensive. Start equating wanton unregulated unmanaged gun-access to accessory to mass murder. Accomplices. Enablers. We HAVE TO start reframing it into something UNCOOL. Make it worth shunning, even. Make it unacceptable and unendorsable in polite company. I realize we'll be swimming upstream against the ever-lovin' cowboy mentality that pervades this country. It has to start being placed on a scale, against the right of innocent school children to live through the day's class schedule - versus an individuals's pigheaded "right" to own their own personal individual death panel. Start casting it in a negative, undesirable light. PUT THEM ON THE DEFENSIVE. Put it point blank, as painful as can be - "so your right to be an accessory to, or an enabler of, mass murder trumps a five-year-old's right to live through the average school day??????" Because I tell you, THAT is what it comes down to. 'Cause THAT is what guns do.
And to the lame-ass argument that car wrecks cause more deaths than gun violence. Well the hell with that! CARS were NEVER conceived or designed as instruments for killing. That is not their prime reason for existence. Neither is that true for knives - which can also trim, sculpt, carve, slice bread and cheese and meat and cakes and pies, prepare food. They aren't strictly-speaking assault or attack weapons. They aren't even exclusively weapons. ON THE OTHER HAND, WHAT ELSE IS A GUN FOR? OTHER THAN KILLING??? Okay, so you MIGHT if you're lucky and there isn't panic and total chaos all over the place, you MIGHT be able to get in a good clean shot at the bad guy with the bigger badder fire power than you've got. What are the odds, unless you're in the movies? You're still just as likely to hit an innocent bystander or hurt yourself in the process. And that's still a death, so you still used it to kill. I'll bet most of these gun-lovers also call themselves "pro-life." Well, if you advocate for unlimited access to any gun and any amounts of guns you feel like it's your God-given right to have, then you can't possibly call yourself "pro-life." Loving and giving that high a priority to guns automatically negates that. 'Cause all guns are designed for, quite basically, is killing.
Welcome to DU, LyndaG!
Glad you're here! I remember that day SO fondly. Woke up feeling this HUGE sense of relief, and contentment, and relief, and a sense of great triumph, but calm. And relief. And gratitude and wonder, marveling at the millions of voters who came through like champs, for their own right to vote and for the country they and we all love, and they didn't buy into the lies and the propaganda and they didn't get discouraged because some partisan assholes were trying to make it nearly impossible for them to vote. And did I say I was relieved? I was more or less on bliss-out mode for more than a week!
DAMN it felt GOOD!!! ALWAYS good when you win a hard fight, but MAN, it's hard to top this victory for sheer marvelous sweetness! I personally felt safer and more secure, as a woman and the mother of a daughter of childbearing age.
We need you! Let's keep the majority TRUE BLUE!!!!!!
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Gender: FemaleHome country: USA
Current location: Oregon
Member since: 2001
Number of posts: 81,220