How the Gun Became Integral to the Self-Identity of Millions of Americans

Not a new article, but its pertinent.

Over the past 150 years, American gun owners have gone from viewing their weapons largely as utilitarian farm tools to weapons that provide both a feeling of physical security and a sense of psychological solace. Guns’ importance to their owners now goes much deeper than merely being implements of self-defense.

University of Wisconsin–Madison researcher and assistant professor Nick Buttrick studies the psychological relationship that millions of Americans have with their guns. Buttrick’s research builds on the historical record to show that in the U.S.—the only country with more civilian firearms than people—white Southerners started cultivating the tradition of the home arsenal immediately after the Civil War because of insecurities and racial fears. During the rest of the 19th century, those anxieties metamorphosized into a fetishization of the firearm to the point that, in the present day, gun owners view their weapons as adding meaning and a sense of purpose to their lives.

Buttrick, who gave a talk on his research at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) earlier this month, contends that gun owners see their world as an increasingly tumultuous place and that guns have become a tool for keeping that perceived chaos at bay. Scientific American spoke with Buttrick about the psychological roots of the gun culture that has contributed to the more than 100 mass shootings that have occurred in the U.S. so far this year.

...

What are the roots of the U.S.’s obsession with gun ownership? And when did the motivation for having guns move from largely using them for utilitarian purposes and sport to using them as a tool for protection?

The historical literature shows that in the early American period in the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, we had a different relationship with guns than we do today. A gun was treated as a tool for hunting, pest control and other tasks around the farm. The advertisements of the time painted guns as something that helped you live your life rather than something used for protection. While there was an armed militia to ward off foreign invaders, guns were centrally stored in an armory, not kept individually.

Read more: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-gun-became-integral-to-the-self-identity-of-millions-of-americans/

Beautiful lion cub photos...

Economic advice from Robert Reich:

Public Display of Affection in Flight

Is it Fascism yet?

It seems to me that we are still living in a functioning democracy, with a democratically elected government.

But there are more and more disturbing signs that we are losing our freedoms, and that our institutions do not serve the people who they ought to serve.

I see the word fascism more and more. I'd like to know what DUers think about the current state of democracy in the US.

Timothy Snyder on Putin's plan

Snyder is a Yale professor who wrote the book On Tyranny. There are 16 tweets in the full conversation.

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326437742198784

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326439306584064

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326440833392640

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326442573991939

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326444218204164

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326445656834054

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326447250571266

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326448756334593

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326450064973825

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326451692253185

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326453332312064

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326454896906241

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326456574509062

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326458407436289

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326459950948352

https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1543326461737803776

Fuck you, Amy Coney Barrett

What kind of woman joins in an attack on women's rights?

You are despicable.

Whenever I hear or see Adam Schiff I get the feeling

that everything is going to be ok.

He's so calm, so confident, so measured, so intelligent.

"I've done my own research and decided not to get the vaccine".

I did not grow up in the age of the internet.

I did not grow up in the age of social media.

In high school one of my teachers spent a whole semester showing us how to do research for a paper. But the topic was nothing so important as getting vaccinated.

We live in an age where there is a huge amount of readily accessible information. But a lot of people don't know how to use it. Just as you can make an argument for just about anything from the Bible, you can find any opinion you want on the internet.

Facebook is not research. You can find any opinion you want on Facebook.

Twitter is not research. You can find any opinion you want on Twitter.

Listening to Joe Rogan is not research.

In this age, people consider all sources of information to be equal. They are not.

"The COVID vaccine is part of a scheme to make money for Big Pharma and Anthony Fauci."

This is a second argument that anti-vaxxers commonly make.

As far as I know, all Covid vaccines in the US have been free to anybody that wants one. As far as I know, Anthony Fauci is a salaried employee and his income is not affected by vaccine production.

But people don't trust Big Pharma, in part due to the Oxycontin/Perdue fiasco.

The response to my first thread was great. Can you help me out with responding to this argument too?