I once lived next door to a guy in Memphis who owned more than a hundred firearms, some of which were strewn around his two-bedroom house and even lying on the kitchen counter. I saw them when he asked me to come over one afternoon to help him move his 700-pound gun safe.
Neil, as I’ll call him, also kept two large dogs, one of which was a cane corso that was so unpredictable it couldn’t be allowed near his two young children. Neil was a nice guy but perpetually anxious and nervous, which in turn made me uneasy about his family’s safety. I worried about a gun accident or one of the dogs getting loose and mauling a passerby.
The fact is, there are a lot of Neils in America — white guys in a near-constant state of fear about their personal safety. And rather than being merely pitiful, guys like Neil are actually dangerous.
They’re the hyper-armed neighbors with itchy trigger fingers, who are convinced they’ll be the victims of a home invasion; who treat any Black or brown person as an imminent threat; who see foreign terrorists behind every bush; who believe the government is trying to poison them, plant […]
Joe Hayden is an excellent writer. His article had me both laughing, and nodding my head in agreement. The perfect example of these people who try to organize into clubs and gangs, and wrongly style militia – were the domestic terrorists that attacked our nations capitol on Jan 6th. Their leader Donald Trump, has the same boastful braggart attitude, and coupled with spewage of misinformation, becomes a danger to society.
My response would be “sorry about your small stick know it all, but you lost, and my vote counted.”
https://youtu.be/49kG7HfD-oM
I’ve been thinking and talking about this for some time. Glad you posted it. I believe many of the press are responsible for part of the fear and panic that rises out of sensationalist reportage. And don’t get me started about the public school system, which was originally set up to improve lives, support and create more informed and better citizens and communities. Educated people get better jobs. A more educated America will be in a stronger position internationally. Instead, under Trump we saw a widespread dismantling of public education. It’s been shocking to see how misinformed people are, knowing how all of this will be a huge disadvantage for the youth of today.