“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

They had a vested interest in politeness.

We are a society of stupid.

Aside:

It should surprise none of my two or three regular readers that I have a news alert to notify me of reports of gunnuttery; that news alert has been unchanged for over a decade, since I first saw that car plastered with “An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” NRA bumper stickers, which in turn led me to highlight incidents of gunnuttery, way back in the very early days of this blog.

Why did I decide to track gunnuttery? Because I grew up with guns, I know how to use guns, and I respect and fear guns (because, natch, they can kill). Indeed, I think I’ve mentioned before, when I’m in practice, I’m a damned good shot.

I do not respect, but I do fear, those who think that a gun is a plaything or, worse, some sort of prosthetic phallus.

Over the past few months, the volume of daily alerts has increased drastically. Yesterday, there were well over four dozen. Until a few months ago, 10-20, often fewer, would be typical. (Occasionally, there will be an alert that is not related to gunnuttery–usually a car crash that includes one of the terms in my alert–but that percentage is negligible.)

In addition to being a society of stupid, we are shooting our way into being a failed polity.

I am not sanguine.