Because I can
I have done this one before. All that is old is new again. The overwhelming theme that has occurred this week in the argument over gun control are those three words. Because I can. I have gotten into debates with multiple folks on social media and all of them have asserted the same things. The second amendment gives me the right to do it. Of course, whether that’s true or not is up for debate. I don’t have time for that debate in these spaces right now.
Because I can. That has become to conservative mantra in the United States. It has become the mantra of the MAGA crowd. Because I can. I can cheat on my taxes. I can commit fraud on the American public. I can grab the private parts of women. I can be selfish and refuse to wear a mask. I can be selfish and refuse to get a vaccine or follow basic safety protocols. Because I can.
Because we can. Essentially, the difference between a fully functioning adult with moral autonomy and one that isn’t is the keen understanding between “can” and “should.” I’ve fought this my whole life. It’s a hard lesson to learn. That period of early adulthood is key. For the first time in your life you have autonomy from your parents. You CAN do things they would never allow you to do. Because we can. However, that is never the most important question. The most important question is whether we should.
I still remember vividly serving on the editorial board of my college newspaper. A student had been accused of sexual assault. He had not been charged. Journalistic ethics indicate you can report on it and publish his picture. So, the rest of the editorial board chose to do that. We have the right to do it. I didn’t think it was wise since we were a small campus and were the only source of news for the campus.
I lost that debate. They told me I wasn’t a journalism major and simply didn’t understand. We have the right to do it. Because we can. As it turned out, the charges were dropped. The student in question had an identical twin on campus. Both had to transfer to another university because of the fall out. The alleged victim recanted her story, so no one knows if an assault even occurred. Because we can.
All this happened because no one bothered to ask the important question: should we do this? Far too many people have made life more difficult, more painful, and more cruel because they’ve never bothered to ponder that question. Should we do this? Because I can has been the default position. Because I can has been the mantra that has driven this country into a ditch.
Naturally one could take this whole concept to its logical extreme, but any time a decision is made, the effects on those around us should be considered. Does my behavior present an inherent risk to those around me? Does my behavior make the world a better place or a worse place? Because I can is just simply not good enough. We need better. We deserve better.
I think it was Papa that commented yesterday that if a bunch of republican senators were trapped in a room with an 18 year old teenager with an assault rifle bent on killing them, maybe they’d change their minds about reasonable gun control measures. Pardon me Papa for plagiarizing your comments with my paraphrasing, but you were exactly correct. They block reasonable actions to help protect vulnerable kids, teachers and shoppers because they can as Nick points out. I’m not suggesting that anyone do that to them, but not sure what it will take. They certainly have no sincere empathy for victims and their families.
1I’m sure there’ll be the same bullshit ideas and excuses at the NRA convention today along with hollow thoughts and prayers.
They simply lack imagination. They assume everyone has had the same lived experience and that everything they’ve accomplished was down to their own efforts. They assume the playing field is level. Their observed reality is objective reality.
And anything bad that happens to someone else is their own fault.
So they won’t do anything to help anyone else. That would clash with their worldview. It only matters if it happens to them, because *then* it’s unfair.
2my comment on Matthew David McConaughey, Uvalde native hometown; the best he can do is, “Action must be taken”, etc. At the risk of opining incorrectly, did he show up there? Which side of the attendant political sh**show playing out there now is he on? This is the same guy who thought about running for gov or some other high office in Texas?
3Again, if I have missed something to negate this, let me know.
The first sentence, that’s all I’ve read so far but there’s something to say about that. I happen to own guns. I shot a bit and hunted, sort of, in the 70s and 80s. Didn’t get around to using them thru the 90s and 00s. But around 2008 I guess I was feeling my oats and decided it was time to do the target shooting thing again. I kind of enjoyed it and it helped to make me feel manly ‘n’all, blah blah blah. So, I looked into joining the local gun club, so as not to be shooting at my place. The dogs don’t like it and I pretty much figured the neighbors may not like it also (aren’t I thoughtful?).
So, went to the club, axed about joining up, met a few of the (mostly) geezers that were around, friendly enough, so I signed up. Had to fill out a form, u’no, who am I, where am I, what are my shooting interests and goals (shrug) am I a member of the NRA? Hmmm, how to answer this. I was one once, but I don’t really agree with their stated goals these days, so I just kind’a avoided the question. Went to meetings every month or so, that, was a bit uncomfortable. Obama was president then and as you might guess he and other lefty’s weren’t universally loved by this crowd. That would’ve included me, had they known! Now, my point here is to elaborate on the “because we can” thing.
At every meeting, after the pledge of allegiance and all the flag-waving stuff’n’all at the meetings there’d be a bit of a pep talk reminding us of the necessity of being an NRA member and all (I felt exactly the same as I do in church when the pastor guy is talking about all the non-believers and is looking right at me!). That pep talk always included lots of talk about the “because we can” clause which goes something like this as I recall, “We can own guns, any type any number, BECAUSE WE CAN! the second amendment guarantees it. So should anyone question your motives, remember these words…BECAUSE WE CAN!” So there it is, right there out in the open, in bold lettering.
Of course, most, if not all of them carried guns with them and in their cars, and who the hell knows where else.
So, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
4Jeezus! a murder hornet the size of a sparrow just came and looked in my window! Hafta go and see where they’re coming from before they eat the dogs!!!
So, went back and finished Nick’s column…
Yup!
My beef with the NRA at the time, mid-70s I guess had mostly to do with the advertising of guns, specifically in the club magazines. Ruger Arms and other manufacturers had recently begun to make small caliber high power semiautomatic rifles similar to the M-16 and M-1 Gerrand and were marketing them to young people. They advertised heavily in the NRA magazines and the NRA used them as come-ons in the internal ads and contests that were aimed directly at youngsters. Which I thought, at the time, and still do, was un ethical.
As it turns out I apparently was somewhat prescient, in my own pissant way, about where all this would lead in the future.
5Someone posted a video of Jeff Goldblum from Jurassic Park on my Facebook page. Basically, it was saying the same thing.
6“I think it was Papa that commented yesterday that if a bunch of republican senators were trapped in a room with an 18 year old teenager with an assault rifle bent on killing them, maybe they’d change their minds about reasonable gun control measures.”
It appears otherwise. Think Jan. 6…
7Doesn’t seem to have any effect/affect(?) whatsoever.
I have a grandson who is on the autism spectrum. He couldn’t wait until he turned 21 this last year so he would finally be considered an “adult.” He’s a good guy and has worked hard to overcome many difficulties in his life. But I have spent considerable time talking to him about what being an adult means. It doesn’t mean just because you “can” do something (like smoking, drinking to excess, etc.) that you should do that. Being an adult means being responsible for your actions and what they might do to others. I told him I know a lot of people my (advanced) age who never really got past that adolescent outlook of “I’m doing it because I can.” He seems to have taken it to heart. I wish others in this country would do the same.
8Ian in Jurassic Park said it perfectly:
“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they never stopped to think if they should”
The same goes for newspapers, news stories, speeches, even conversations.
9Politico had an article this morning calling the NRA meeting in Houston the “conspiracy theory convention.” Couldn’t copy it here but among other typical gun/repugnantican conspiracies, was this:
10“But at the annual NRA conference in Houston, a new defense emerged — one rooted in conspiracy theory: that the left somehow wanted — or even shepherded — Texas’ latest tragedy that left 19 elementary school kids and two adults dead, seeking to push an agenda and try to steal law-abiding citizens’ guns.”
They say anything because they can.
I cannot help but believe that the “freedoms” we have today–the “freedom” to accuse public figures of pedophilia, based in the basement of a pizza shop without a basement; the “freedom” to declare, over and over and over, without evidence, that an election was rigged; the “freedom” of the governor of a state to decide what a university may or may not teach; the “freedom” of citizens to purchase and carry weapons of war, in some states without so much as a license–cannot be what the men who wrote our founding documents had in mind when they wrote the Bill of Rights. Without some restrictions on such “freedoms,” we will destroy the country.
11Between the Me generation and the self-esteem movement era, way too many people are convinced that they’re “entitled” to anything they want, no matter what the consequences to others.
12They always say the socialist communistic Democrats are coming to take away the guns of law-abiding citizens. It’s a reflex with them.
The problem with the ‘law-abiding citizen’ is that he’s law-abiding until he’s not, and he’s not likely to tell us up front that he’s about to go off on the rest of us.
The problem with the ‘good guy with a gun’ is that the rest of us have to wait until he starts plinking people to know whether he’s a good guy with a gun or a bad guy with a gun. They think you can tell a bad guy with a gun because he’s like a character in a gangster movie.
13Mo Brooks on guns- Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) on Sunday said that he does not support new gun safety laws because firearms might be needed to “take back our government” after a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Even though he also said to take it back from dictators, I don’t think there’s any question about what he’s inferring especially after his support of the Jan 6 insurrection.
https://www.rawstory.com/mo-brooks-gun-control/
14Any rePUKEian dimwit who thinks(???) that him & his ak50 will ‘take back the gov’mint’ is the very definition of delusionally insane!
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