Archie Bunker Logic and the Right Wing Reaction to the Shootings at Virginia Tech

More information is coming out on Monday’s shootings at Virginia Tech, and more opinions are being posted beyond the strange views from the right I reviewed earlier. The latest is a report that the killer spent the time between the shootings sending his views to NBC News. It’s also been found that the killer was ruled to be mentally ill and potentially dangerous in 2005.

The idea that the tragedy could have been prevented, and the world would be safer, if students carried concealed weapons has spread from the right wing blogosphere to the New York Daily News as they posted an op-ed from Glenn Reynolds. Michelle Malkin also calls for a “culture of self-defense” at Real Clear Politics. At least most people realized it was a joke when Archie Bunker presented his solution to airline hijackings: “All you gotta do is arm all your passengers.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLjNJI54GMM]

As with Michael J.W. Strickings at The Reaction, I see little point in pointing out what is wrong with the various beliefs spread by the right. My bet is that the vast majority of people will realize how crazy these views are, and those who don’t are not going to be convinced by anything we write. These are generally the same people that believe that Saddam had WMD, creationism is a valid alternative to evolution, and that it is inconsequential that the consensus of scientists in the field agrees that human action presents a meaningful threat to the climate. Seeing these views move from the right wing blogosphere to the news media will only help demonstrate what we have known for quite some time. The right wing blogosphere is dominated by people out of touch with reality who possess ideas which just go beyond the bounds of rational thought. Such views have infiltrated into the Republican Party to a degree sufficient to prevent them from governing effectively.

My previous post showed an example of someone from the religious right blaming the shootings on teaching science and a secular society. Today Dinesh D’Souza uses the tragedy to launch an attack on atheists which is debunked by PZ Myers.

Among all the bizarre ideas being posted, there is some information on line which does provide meaningful insights beyond what is being covered by the news media. A student at Virginia Tech has posted his reflections at Gnosos.

9 Comments

  1. 1
    jay k. says:

    what is the rights fascination with malkin? this woman is flat out stupid. oh…never mind…answered my own question.

  2. 2
    birdman says:

    so has the time come when we just have to accept that 50% of the country are morons, and we should just sit back and watch the place go to shit? I take this fatalistic view because when such a large percentage of the population is utterly stupid, I don’t see how you can solve the problem, save for sit back, wait for total entropy and start over. am I wrong here? please tell me i’m wrong.

  3. 3
    Ron Chusid says:

    Birdman,

    We can’t afford to let it all go and start over.

    It isn’t as bas as 50% being morons. Even though the country was split 50:50 in recent elections, most who vote Republican don’t follow things closely enough and do not realize how extreme the party has become. Many voted for Republicans because they fell for the claims that they were fighting terrorism, because their major concern was cutting taxes, or they heard at church that George Bush was a good religious man.

    We say in 2006 that more people are catching on and repudiating the Republicans.

  4. 4
    Bendz says:

    Gee this Ron Chusid is the most extreme left wing person that I have see to date. He does not mind implying that others are somewhat mentally deprived and un patrotic if they do not share his opinion. There are several sugestions I have for him. 1) He ought to send his entire income to the government as he is sure they are going to use it for his good. As a former Federal Employee I can attest to fraud waste and abuse of his entire forturne very quickly. 2) If he feels that carrying a weapon is foolheardy – Then just ask those who died needlessly at VT. This is a man who does not read stastics. In every state where a person has a right to defend themselves – crime has taken a significant drop. Like let take Vermont & New Hampshire – you do not need a permit to carry a weapon. Now compare the crime and murder rate to other states that feel a false sense of security because they have gun control. Poor Ron you might even consider Swizterland where each male is issued an automatic weapon to take home. Yet crime there is virtually unheard of. How do you explain these variences. Also Ron you might want to consider if you are attacked that you have a cell phone so you can call the police – because when they get there they can either invistage your wounds or you demise. You share A bias against Guns. You might also want to consider all the multiple victim public shootings in the Unted States from 1977 to 1999. You will note that on the average states that have a right to carry law experience a 60 percent drop in rates which the attacks occur and a 78 percent drop in the rates at which people are killed or injured from such attacks. Oh you also might want to look at some of the facts in New Orleans during Katrina. The chief of police decided to confiscate all the weapons from law abiding and registered gun owner. Suddenly the rape, robbery, beating skyrocked almost as if those individuals were following the police that were taking the weapons and decided this was a great area to committ their crimes. Ron maybe you never had your kid or wife attacked and stood there defensless while it occured. If you havent I might suggest that tonight you go home and put a sign on your lawn stating no defensive weapons in this house. If I happen to be your neighbor it sure will save me a lot of aggervation.

  5. 5
    Ron Chusid says:

    I stopped reading the above around the point where he suggested sending off my entire income to the government. It’s bad enough that he starts out claiming I said things I did not and claiming I’m on the exteme left wing. He might actually read what is written here before expressing such nonsense. Someone let me know if there is anything at all coherent in the above comment–and once I get to the moderation panel this just might be the last anything from this fool is seen around here. It’s about time I took advantage of this license.

    (A more thorough response was added below when time allowed.)

  6. 6
    Ron Chusid says:

    Glancing back at the above comment, it sure is easy to argue by inventing statistics and making up facts, allowing him to pretend that having more people with weapons would reduce rather than increase crime and violence. I would worry far more that my wife or child would be at risk of an attack if there were more people running around in the US with guns than there are now. They’d also probably be safer in Switzerland whether or not the Swiss carry guns, but that is hardly relevant.

  7. 7
    battlebob says:

    Ron,
    I don’t know if the Swiss carry guns but they sure have really neat Army Knives…

  8. 8
    Ron Chusid says:

    Battlebob,

    The Swiss own guns as part of a militia, which is hardly the same as college kids taking concealed weapons to classes. Plus there is a considerable difference between Switzerland and the United States so talking about the Swiss having guns is irrelevant to this. The Swiss also have the coolest Army Knives.

  9. 9
    Ron Chusid says:

    The real problem with our visitor above (beyond failure to read the blog before making unfounded claims, and beyond ignorance of the underlying problem) is the conservative tendendy to see everything as black and white.

    To this conservative minds set, you can only be either for guns or against guns. If you are for guns, then you must twist all evidence to support your position, when in reality, on most complex issues there is evidence both pro and con (which is one reason why there is controversy).

    Conservatives like Bendz cannot differtiate between the right to gun ownership in general and the wisdom of carrying a gun at all times. This leads to the irrelevant digressions in his comment about Switzerland, New Orleans, and having guns in one’s home which are unrelated to the question of carrying concealed guns on a college campus.

    Conservatives like Bendz also cannot comprehend the idea that you can support a right without supporting the action in all circumstances. This difficulty is seen in many areas, besides gun rights. I’ve both defended the right to own guns in principle (with reasonable restrictions) while conceding that there are dangers, and possession of a gun is not always the safest choice. There is no need to invent facts to make Bendz’s claims that guns always decrease violence. Similarly I support the right to abortion while prefering that the procedure be rare. I oppose the “war on drugs” while opposing the use of street drugs.

    Finding the idea that students should carry concealed weapsons absurd does not mean one is, as Bendz claims, an extreme left wing person. Nor does it mean that one is unpatriotic, or even that someone opposes the right to own guns. It simply means that the idea of having more concealed guns out in most of society is a bad idea–something only the fanatics of the far right fail to understand in their 100% black and white mentality.

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