I’m Coming To Atlanta!

Every year a gathering takes place of wolves(critical thinkers) wherever we vote on the previous year. Its called Wolf Fest and this year its at DragonCon again.

I’ll be attending this again along with a few of the other Howls From The Wolfpack authors and you can find us at a dinner thrown by Thorin WickedJester, but you have to purchase a Wolf Fest kit to help cover the cost of the dinner.

There I will have the reserved books with me and more to sell. Both Howls From The Wolfpack and Growls Of A Wolf.

However if you reserve a copy or run into me in the Con or the street you can buy a book you don’t have to attend the dinner.

Hope to see you there.

Ronin

Pictures from last year here

Turning Off The Spin Machine; Context Needed

Control The Language, Control The Thoughts.

I said that a few days back and now I’m really going to dig into it. Especially since this phrase is has made its reappearance.

“Assault Weapon”

Sounds evil doesn’t it. Let’s look at the definition of Assault from dictionary.com.

assault[ uh-sawlt ]
noun
1. a sudden, violent attack; onslaught: an assault on tradition.
2. an unlawful physical attack upon another; an attempt or offer to do violence to another, with or without battery, as by holding a stone or club in a threatening manner.
3. the stage of close combat in an attack.
4. rape.

verb (used with object)
1. to make an assault upon; attack; assail.

Now look at weapon.

weapon[ wep-uh n ]
noun
1. any instrument or device for use in attack or defense in combat, fighting, or war, as a sword, rifle, or cannon.
2. anything used against an opponent, adversary, or victim: the deadly weapon of satire.
3. any part or organ serving for attack or defense, as claws, horns, teeth, or stings.

For this the assault as a verb is required because its connected to an object, in this case, weapon.

Look at the second definition for weapon. Anything used against another. So if I stab you with my pen technically it’s an assault weapon. What if you pull a knife and come at me? You have an assault weapon.

What if I pull a gun and defend myself?

Is that an assault weapon?

The word Assault in the proper context is the intent of the person, just as Defense is. If you intend to assault me I’ll defend myself. Whatever is used in either case can do nothing without the person wielding it.

Think about that. By using this terminology you skew perspective on an inanimate object. Same as talking bad about someone to a stranger and when the stranger meets that person, unless they’re a critical thinker, their opinion probably isn’t that high.

The NSSF understands this, recently they began calling the AR-15 Stoner design “Modern Sporting Rifles” which is actually more in context. Not Assault Weapon. Weapons are tools, assault is the act. If an assault isn’t taking place you have a tool.

Under the media and popular lexicon’s definition in reality your average martial artist is an assault weapon. Should we ban martial arts?

Obama’s Emotional Manipulation, A Favored Tool of Politicians

Obama Calls For Government Action On Guns In The Wake Of Colorado Shooting

 

That’s the headline I saw from Captivating News in my Twitter feed. Of course I read it. And I could go after this on so  many levels. Let’s look at the article. First a quote from Obama…

“I, like most Americans, believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms,” Obama said. “But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals — that they belong on the battlefields of war and not on the streets of our cities.”

He believes in the Right to keep and bear and in the next sentence says he believes in restricting said right. So obviously he doesn’t honestly believe then. Then this comment, “AK-47′s belong in the hands of soldiers…” The U.S Army does not carry AK-47′s or other Kalashnikov designs.

Is he really that stupid?

“I believe the majority of gun owners would agree that we should do everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons. We should check someone’s criminal record before they can check out a gun seller. Many mentally unbalanced individuals should not be able to get his hands on a gun so easily,” he said. “These steps shouldn’t be controversial they should be common sense.”

We should check criminal records? Are you kidding me? We do! Its called NICS, a system supported and beefed up by the NRA and the Gun Lobby! From the same President who’s Administration let guns go over the border and when cornered shouts “Executive Privilege.”

What a idiot!

Or is he? I don’t think he is. He’s aware of these laws already and what he says. Its how he says it. He’s using the typical political trick of manipulating your emotions. I’ll show you.

In the first quote he said, ‘he, like most Americans’. Which is him saying ‘I’m one of you’ to gain legitimacy in popular opinion. And using the same theme, ‘most Americans believe that’ and switches to fear ‘keeping AK-47s out of bad guys hands in the battleground of the cities.’

This is a half truth, since most Americans do think its an individual right and bad guys with an AK-47 isn’t cool. Further linking the guns to war he said only soldiers should have them and compared the streets to a battlefield. And we’re not soldiers. He plays on your fear of being outgunned and wants your support for another failed law. It only disarms the law-abiding, their’s a reason a criminal is a criminal.

Next quote, making guns harder to get. If you’ve never bought a gun in the store you probably have no idea what’s involved. In this quote he’s playing on your ignorance of this fact. He doesn’t tell you about the three pages of paperwork and a phone call to the F.B.I to see if the buyer has a record.

You have to actually listen to politicians and their choice of words, its a lot easier to play to feeling than reason. Reason you have to back up with facts. Instead of like this snippet using popular opinion, ignorance and fear.

The Aurora Massacre and The Fallout

Watching the coverage of the Aurora Massacre I’m reminded of the media bias I wrote about in the essay Who Is Your Master/Bow To None in the book Howls From The Wolfpack. From this coverage the killer has been dubbed “The Joker” by the media, thus turning him into a legend of sorts. From the Breaking News reports, almost always wrong, the anchors and “expert” commentators have filled the airwaves with so much conjecture that conspiracies inevitably arise. And it’s a pattern.

In the Ft. Hood Massacre, the news said it was a group of people shooting. Same with this instance. When you see Breaking News it’s 10% something happened, 90% opinion. Because the situation is fluid, no one knows for sure what is happening. But it’s still reported. Like all news in fact. What you see is what a producer thinks you should see. Control the language, control the information, and you will control the thoughts.

Why do you think that dictatorships take over the country’s airwaves?

Now we see calls for “Assault Weapon Bans” again, however it’s not gaining much traction. And it wouldn’t work. Criminals won’t turn in their guns and smart people won’t either.

While everyone focuses on this, and how the killer acquired all his gear legally, you don’t see the news like the week before, where a retired gentleman was in an Internet Café minding his own business when two punks came in with guns ready.

More evil gun violence!

Nope. He calmly waited for an opportunity to pull his legally owned and permitted to carry, pistol and shot the two before they could do some damage. Story here: http://www.11alive.com/news/article/249500/40/Elderly-man-fends-off-would-be-robbers-in-internet-cafe-shootout

I’ve posted about other times guns were used by good people like here, here, here and here.

To even buy a gun or get a permit through a dealer you’re vetted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. You may think that guy slipping through is a trend, but thousands of guns are bought every day by good people. And every criminal started somewhere. It’s a flaw in character, not the system.

So think things through before you let the media shape your thoughts. Take nothing as Gospel, not the television news, papers, Internet or even my site. I’m fair, but I’m not balanced, and I admit this is opinion. Reasoned opinion, but still just that.

Question Everything.

Racial Pride?

Is White Pride racism?

What about Black Power?

Or Affirmative Action and quotas?

The answer is…yes. The best way I’ve seen it summed up is by Ayn Rand who said…

“Racism negates two aspects of man’s life: reason and choice, or mind and morality, replacing them with chemical predestination.”

White Pride and Black Power, two sides of the same coin. Just because your culture has a rich history doesn’t mean you inherit all of their abilities. All cultures have similarities, just slightly different ways of going about it. But it is learned.

Even natural athletes and genius level intellects with some good genetics have to put forth the willpower to use it. You can transplant an African child to China and they’ll grow up eating rice, speaking Chinese, and bowing. The only difference is skin tint and whatever genetic markers came from their parents and even that can be changed with diet and lifestyle.

You are not your genes. Don’t use them as a crutch or podium. If this was true all the Jamaicans would be gold medal winners like Usain Bolt. But no, he’s a product of dedication, training and indomitable will.

And that’s a much sturdier foundation than what others have done. If someone asks what you’ve done in life and you say you’re from a long line of engineers but you work at McDonald’s; it’s just not the same.