Ho-hum, another day, another mass shooting in the United States of America. Nothing to see here, move along. Nothing you can do, 2nd Amendment, we have rights blah blah blah.
That, of course, is utter horseshit, but dealing with currently entrenched positions that allow this kind of travesty to continue will be difficult, and the reason for that is - you guessed it - language.
It’s not money. It’s not politics. It’s not lobbies. It’s not the NRA. It’s not the industry.
It’s language. The above-listed players are merely outcomes, symbols, and symptoms of a problem created by language. Here’s why.
Language is both an expression of culture and its shaper. Language delivers our ideas to others, and simultaneously changes the way they see the world. The words we say literally create reality.
Our language around guns is Heroic. Especially coming from the Right, it’s about Protection, Family, Safety, Constitution, Patriotism, Security, Sacred Right. It’s Religious. The right to bear arms is Enshrined in the Constitution. It’s what makes America unique and contributes to our Independence. It’s interwoven with a certain set Identity, the language of Freedom and self-sufficiency, self-Reliance. Plus, it’s Fun.
This language builds a world view where denying guns means denying all the Capitalized Words from above. In this world, gun control is a non-starter; it’s not an option to consider, and if it’s not gun control, then it’ll literally be anything else - mental health, criminal immigrants, immigrant criminals, or even doors, as that professional proto-fascist wanker Ted Cruz suggested. That’s right, doors are responsible.
This world view was built with great care, vision, over time, and at great expense by Republicans and those who stand to benefit. We cannot dismantle it without changing the words we use to describe guns and gun ownership. We cannot even begin to dismantle it if we don’t focus on language.
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The most recent shooting in Uvalde, TX brought one word to the forefront. I believe that word is “disgust,” and that is entirely appropriate. We need more “disgust” when we think and communicate about guns.
We must look at guns the same way most of us look at venomous snakes or giant spiders - with fear, respect, and at a distance. Owning a gun may be necessary (an arguable proposition), but if you do own one, you can think of it as a giant venomous snake tarantula scorpion hybrid that you have temporarily stunned into service. If you had a “pet” like that, you wouldn’t carry it in your back pocket unless you abso-freaking-lutely had to, would you?
No, you wouldn’t.
When your friend tells you about their new gun, your look of disgust should be clear and immediate. Is their new scorpion black widow “friend” kept in a bullet-proof terrarium with multiple locks and a thumbprint access code? Does your friend know how to put it to sleep if things get out of hand? Did she go to venomous spider classes to learn handling such a ridiculous pet?
There’s nothing Fun about taking your disgusting death-salamander for a walk to the local Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s just insane. No one wants to see your slimy murder lizard out and about.
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Changing our words will slowly drive cultural change, which is exactly what we need. The verbal infection will spread from person to person, if we’re all committed to making this gun violence problem go away.
If we want to accelerate this change, we need to enact legislation as that is the only way of ensuring procedurally that some language wins over other.
The legislation must be gradual, and it can start with any verbiage that establishes guns as a sometimes-necessary Evil. As much as I vehemently disagree with 2A proponents on virtually everything related to guns, I also understand that attempting to crush someone’s world view is likely to result in violent reaction, and we definitely want to avoid that.
Pass the legislation as a token of the change, even if it’s not immediately meaningful. Sometimes the action can express an intent, and the intent goes a long way.
What do you think?
Intentions are everything.
They promote awareness, future understanding, and future behavior. Actionable small steps that are achievable and result in success lead to the next step, and the next step, and the next.
It was suggested that we use the words “Gun regulation “ in place of “Gun control“ to assist in making these new steps palatable. After all; who wants to be controlled?
It is the language they've used to build 'gun culture.' It's truly become a culture, lifestyle and identity. Therefore, the hold on it becomes stronger because now it's personal. "You can't control my way of life." However, the only way to break has to come from inside their group. I've seen some people coming up to the light and good gun owners do want reform.