I have another blog for politics, and I don’t want to distract, but here’s a theory, straight out of antisocialization theory or game theory –

The connection between the memes of “freedom” and “guns” in America and Canada is no accident, and a new meme might make the point: these data analysis companies working on our Facebook data generated some of these memes the NRA uses, “guns and freedom.” They know the connection is there in your mind.

Of course, it’s there, because it truly is a level of freedom to be able to kill a person who would harm us. In one meme pairing, match that with something like the Noble Savage, the idea that we’re all born to health and rationality, and their answer makes sense: everyone can have a gun because everyone is healthy and rational. In another pairing, this freedom and something like Christian Original Sin, some idea that we are all born aggressive or evil, everyone needs a gun! How we can use both arguments, well . . . no real conflict if they’re both wrong, right? Let’s try that first, maybe we’ll get lucky. Do I have to argue the first one, if I think I’m arguing with biologists?

I think science has pretty much debunked rationality, maybe “health” too – certainly scientists don’t see any “starting point” or “pure early conditions,” anything like that. The noble savage has no believers in science anymore, maybe this idea of a good pure man is restricted to some religious points of view these days. Original Sin is holding out much better, there are other ways we can tell ourselves we’re born bad, evolution and biology automatically suggest the beast inside us all, right? Honestly, if it weren’t for . . . well, me – I wouldn’t think our low self image was going anywhere. This blog right here is my argument against that idea.

I don’t know why, I can’t explain it, I don’t bloody have that self-loathing thing, so I can’t agree with that basic assumption. The truth isn’t going to be some value judgement – although our value judgements play a huge part in our lives. It is everything to me that we mostly think that way, and especially so because it’s just not true. We’re not bad – except that we apparently want to be. For a reason, sure, but we want to be, and we’ve found a way to be, and the trick is to beat ourselves spare – and that’s what we are: born too good for our own fears and driven mad by our violent solution. That’s your noble savage, and that’s you and me, abused children with issues and complexes – that is human nature, and that is the human being every one of which probably shouldn’t have a gun.

So, the connection is there, freedom to kill an assailant is a very good definition of freedom indeed – but are the players who we thought they were? If we grew up knowing a human being is born a helpless loving creature and converted by abuse to be the beast next door that we fear, would we issue them each a gun?

 

Jeff

April 9^th., 2018