Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 19:03:55 +0000 From: alan@BLOOMFIELDPRESS.COM (Alan Korwin) Subject: Politically Corrected Glossary Part 2 To: AZRKBA@asu.edu
POLITICALLY CORRECTED GLOSSARY -- Part 2 POLITICALLY CORRECTED GLOSSARY -- Part 2 POLITICALLY CORRECTED GLOSSARY -- Part 2
We've all talked about how we're losing the war of words in the struggle for our liberties. Well here comes the cavalry.
[Note: These ideas are changing the national debate. If you missed Part One, catch it (along with the new material below) on our website, or ask for the whole file by email, fax or street mail. The entire Glossary, including the critical "You Lose or They Lose" word chart, is now downloadable as a neatly formatted PDF file from our website. Permission to circulate for non-profit purposes is granted.]
The Concept -- The Concept --
Certain words hurt you when you talk about your rights and liberties. People who would deny your rights have done a good job of manipulating the language so far.
Without even realizing it, you're probably using terms that actually help the people who want to disarm you.
To preserve, protect and defend your rights in the critical debate on where power should reside in America, you need effective word choices. Try out some of these ideas the next time you deal with this subject.
Then just give it a rest and watch where it goes. You'll hear their litany, replete with flaws. Don't rebut, seize the moment, listen hard and learn -- then just raise an eyebrow and think, "How 'bout that. Feller doesn't even own a gun. It takes all kinds." Then talk about something else. And boy, does the disjoint hang in their craw.
They want you to say (and you lose if you say): THE GUN LOBBY
It's better to say (and they lose if you say): CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS
They want you to say (and you lose if you say): COMMON SENSE LEGISLATION
It's better to say (and they lose if you say): DANGEROUS UTOPIAN IDEAS
They want you to say (and you lose if you say): REASONABLE GUN CONTROLS
It's better to say (and they lose if you say): VICTIM DISARMAMENT
They want you to say (and you lose if you say): GUN CONTROL LAWS
It's better to say (and they lose if you say): INFRINGEMENT LAWS
They want you to say (and you lose if you say): GUN CONTROL
It's better to say (and they lose if you say): INFRINGEMENT
The next time you see or hear the phrase "gun control" think "infringement" and notice how differently the whole thing comes across.
The Glossary (Part 2) -- The Glossary (Part 2) --
THE "N" WORD Anti-rights activists are becoming so strident in their call to deny your civil rights, they are referring to anyone who owns a gun as a "gun nut." This term drips with hate, and comes from a heart filled with hate, from people who, surprisingly, believe they are anti hate. It is directed not at criminals but at honest and decent people. You should express the same outrage at the "N" word, and similar epithets, as any ethnic group would feel about racial slurs.
REAL GUN-SAFETY CLASSES A gun-safety class is real if it teaches a person how to shoot, or is taught by a marksman. Phony gun-safety classes, also known as "gun avoidance programs," are generally taught by people who want you to believe that guns are evil, and something you should never own. Range time is never part of a phony safety class. By and large the "teachers" are not gun owners themselves, rarely if ever practice their marksmanship skills, and may even favor civilian disarmament.
The curriculum in a phony gun-safety class is a mixture of fear, danger and avoidance that encourages gun ignorance. No empowerment takes place. A phony gun-safety class does not teach you how to handle a firearm in any manner, and even a dummy gun for learning rudimentary safety skills is usually not present. Safe gun use is simply not an issue at a phony program.
The phony approach is becoming popular among pediatricians and the medical community, and others, who frequently are acting out their own repressed fears and personal dread of firearms. Real and phony gun-safety classes both usually include a good dose of politics.
AVOIDANCE PROGRAMS These have their place and can prevent accidents ("Don't go near the pool!" or "Don't touch that gun!"), but recognize them for what they are. In the end, the education card must trump. Learning how to swim and learning how to safely handle a firearm are excellent skills to have, even though both can be lethally dangerous.
It's precisely because you can drown that you learn to swim, and it's because regular household firearms are dangerous that a person needs to at least learn about them. It's because a criminal's firearm is really dangerous that people learn a lot about firearms and their effective use. Learning replaces fear and danger with confidence and safety. Avoidance programs cannot do this. They perpetuate danger by instilling ignorance. It makes sense to know how to swim even if you have no pool. After all, your neighbor might have one.
GUNOPHOBIA Morbid fear of touching a gun. Generally curable with modest training. Take an afflicted individual to a range for the first time, and they invariably ask the same thing at the end. Do you have any more ammo? Gunophobe, gunophobic.
THE DECOMMISSIONING RUSE If the public cannot be disarmed, decommis sioning all guns is the next best thing. Pitched as "gun locks" and requirements for storage, unloading or separating ammunition from guns, it all serves the same purpose: not merely to infringe, but to eliminate your ability to keep and bear arms.
Decommissioning schemes are an enormously effective, insidious and destructive ploy. If the gun is empty, you're legal. As soon as it is loaded, or accessible, or outside its padlocked canister, you stand at risk of criminal charges. How outrageous. Charges should only stem from a criminal act that creates a victim, not mere possession of private property. If you can't point to the victim, there is probably no crime.
WAR ON GUNS If you like the war on drugs, you're gonna love the war on guns.
ASSAULT FORCES They carry belt-fed machine guns, drive assault vehicles, and establish their presence by military might and the threat or use of lethal force. The media often calls such folks "peacekeepers" but they sure look like troops of an occupying army. Decide for yourself next time you see such "news." Please, don't get me started on the "news."
COMMUNIST CHINA Not "China." A country whose leaders are interested in bringing about our demise, and replacing representative democracy with communism. If you're worried about people who steal guns, remember that these are the people who stole our atom bomb secrets, and they make their own guns. An enemy of capitalism and American values. Their beliefs about human and civil rights are horrifying and abhorrent to the American way. Bill of Rights? Try death penalty for minor and political crimes, mandatory enforced birth control, imprisonment for speech against the regime, forced labor, no right to assembly, trials without defense testimony, and no choice in the leadership.
I don't know about you, but I do not relish the thought of such a system here. Would the rulers of Communist Red China be capable of such brutal atrocities if the Chinese people they oppress were heavily armed, I wonder. If a heavily armed Chinese populace were somehow able to prevent the deaths and abuse from the yoke of a tyrannical dictatorship, but experienced instead deaths and injury from its own negligent and criminal misuse of arms, would that be a fair trade?
DETERRENCE So where do you stand, Senator, on deterrence at schools? You know, is it legal for a person caught in one of these media-hyped killing sprees to shoot back if they are able? Is there any limit on the number of bullets they could use? Would they be charged with something if they managed to stop the attack and the attacker died in the process, or if they used a type of gun not on an approved list? More questions the media doesn't ask, and an exploration of the issues, is coming soon in a piece I call, "So Where Do You Stand, Senator?"
"Social balance has evolved into a war of the metaphor -- neurolinguistic programming meets George Orwell." -- Alan Korwin
For Publication, 1,316 Words, 3/31/00 One-time North American Serial Rights Copyright 2000 Alan Korwin
Not-for-profit circulation is approved. Not-for-profit circulation is approved.
Alan Korwin is the author of seven best-selling books on gun law, including "Gun Laws of America -- Every Federal Gun Law on the Books, with Plain English Summaries," and gun owner guides for AZ, CA, FL, TX, VA. This paper is part of an ongoing series, click Position Papers on the home page, or write or call for copies.
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