This might be the single most disgusting thing I've seen in a long time. It's a campaign for gun control which was obviously spawned by the Newtown shootings.
It's is not just the fact that it's a terrific ad campaign which scares me, but it's everything wrong with the modern political setting put into words that are just begging for more government abuse.
It starts by acknowledging the seriousness of the situation and listing off the tragedies which occurred in the past. The speakers are television celebrities who will grab people's attention. They repeat Newtown several times since they know it's in people's minds right now. It admits the fact that the short lived attention of their fellow Americans is currently there because of the shootings and it seeks to exploit that for everything that its worth. So it starts by taking a serious problem and taking it out of context with no serious discussion about what is causing the problem. Then what do they immediately propose to stop it? Government. Yea, it's that simple. F***ing government must stop it "right now".
Okay, so what do they recommend the government do? They have no proposed solution. All you should do is "demand a plan" of your congressman to fix the problem. They offer no cure but laws, they're simply attempting to rile the American populace up so that they'll bend over and accept whatever the hell congress throws at them. They want the American populace to beg for more controls and support the vague lawmaking that's inherent to what Washington has been doing for decades. There couldn't be anything negative thrown into or inherent to a law which would protect us from gun violence could there? It will make the guns go away and make us safe. The best part is when they throw in the recycled patriotism there at the end of the video. Not only should you end the badness of guns because you're a good human being, you should also do it because you're a good American and it'll help our great country.
This is a horrific campaign because it takes an unexamined tragedy and asks for no definite solutions. It simply asks congress to solve the problem and to save them from the horror that is caused by guns. It is anti-thought and by itself it is one of the most disturbing blips on the political radar I've ever seen.
The only thing we should be demanding is that political BDSM pornography like this never sees the light of day.
http://www.demandaplan.org/
Ron Swanson is dead to me.
The Anarch is to the Anarchist what the Monarch is to the Monarchist. -Ernst Jünger
Sentiment seconded.
Ugh, ads like that make me sick. American nobility celebrities showing us how to be good little serfs.
Oh well, "never let a crisis go to waste," as they say.
In 2009 Chicago had approx. 500 school shootings. On average their homicide rate is approx. 500 a year. These numbers have not changed for 2012. That says something for the city with the tightest gun control.
I can immediately read the framing of it. Here are these people, just basic humans, asking how long we'll allow these things to go on, when the answer is obvious you stupid viewer: make guns illegal. It frames everything else, the state, how people are treated, why people engage in violence, as strictly off the table, and if you dare bring it up, you're just a gun nut who doesn't want to face the situation. The world is just perfect except for these damn guns which you people pointlessly want to have. It's time. It's time for the herd to stampede and do something damaging to everyone! They can start by sticking signs in their yards that say "This is a gun-free home." to show their support for a gun-free world. I find it somewhat ironic that gun-control nuts constantly act in the heat of emotion and try to get others to do the same, all the while they deride people for acting in the heat of emotion when they do something drastic with guns. I guess these nuts reach for the state rather than guns when they want to do a mass attack on people.
Wow, what a pathetic piece of shit ad. God damned sheep will eat it up. Absolute morons, and Conan O'Brien of all people? Amazing.
Oh f***ing kay, Jamie Foxx.
Love how they demand plans, or at least demand a demand for plans (haha), but they turn off the comments section.
also, they conveniently came up with a plan for us to demand. Thanks liberal celebrities.
so basically they say that we must demand a plan, which is conveniently provided by.... themselves.
F*** you, Ron Swanson.
I feel like watching Team America now. We're celebrities, and that automatically means that we have to be loudmouths about our near-communist political views because it makes people go see our movies and makes us look cool and special!
Moving into walled-off communities and hiring armed guards makes us feel safe. However, reading about school shootings makes us feel very unsafe!
Hence, we demand that the little people hand in their guns so we can feel safe and good about our heroic efforts.
And did anyone really expect that the person playing a ridiculous caricature of a libertarian was anything but a gun-grabbing liberal do-gooder?
"Insofar as you are venting to people who are likeminded, please do not consider this criticism. I just hope you guys are controlling the message when you discuss this with others. Its really sad to hear poor arguments go unanswered is all."
What are you talking about?
Sun. 12/12/23 21:26 EST.post #242Yes, demand a plan. One problem is that these liberals are never demanding enough, and their plans are wimpy. So, the next time a liberal demands a plan, propose this and see what he says:- Ban all guns for civilians, period. No more civilian gun ownership allowed, period. No more hunting with guns, no more skeet shooting, no more target practice, no more shooting ranges, no more competitive shooting sports, nothing. No more armed bodyguards, either.- Only government, military, and cops will legally have guns (and the non-government criminals and politically-connected civilians will have them illegally of course, but no need to mention this).- Ban all civilian gun sales, period. No more sales of guns in hunting shops, and no more gun shops, period. All gun manufacturers will sell directly and exclusively to the government.- Institute a massive, Draconian new bureaucracy to perform regular and frequent checks for illegal (i.e. civilian) gun ownership. Civilians can and will be stopped and searched in their cars, on the street, in their houses, anywhere and anytime, 24/7, without a warrant or notice or "reasonable cause" or any reason whatsoever.- Any civilian caught breaking this law will be executed on the spot by the officer performing the search. No charges, no trial, no tolerance, no rights at all. The search team will always be accompanied by a hearse to cart away the carcasses of freshly-executed lawbreakers.That should do it, right? Will that make the liberals happy? If they say this goes too far, then tell them they're not really serious about gun control.Let's get serious, people; this is war./devil's advocate
I've actually had a guy admit his desire to ban high cap mags is illogical, and doesn't care. I'm not changing his mind. I've changed my approach from reason to acquiescence. There's no stopping the eventually complete lockdown, so I just make the case to hurry it up while I'm young and healthy.
^ I've done the devil's advocate thing and they just say that's not realistic, or ignore me altogether. It seems using words like 'reasonable' and 'sensible' is their version of taking the moral high ground.
You can't debate old people (40+). Their brains are mush, and when a tragic event like this happens, they see no fault in readily using emotions (which are especially strong, considering most of them have children) to come to their conclusions, even if it's blatantly at odds with reason.
Sun. 12/12/23 21:42 EST.post #243 HabbaBabba:... or ignore me altogether.Maybe they know you're spoofing. Try asking the liberal what his plan is. Then tell him it's "okay, but doesn't go far enough." Ask the liberal how many more gun murders of children he thinks would be "reasonable" and "sensible." Tell him that all his "reasonable" and "sensible" plans have, to date, failed, and it's time to stop preaching his good intentions and produce successful results.
HabbaBabba:... or ignore me altogether.
You can't talk to those idiots. There may be a few exceptions, but overall their mentality can be summed up by this line from an experience I had having a nice chat with one:
"Oh and go and shove the Second Amendment up your ass."
Yep. Well, I'm ready for Anenome's seasteading plan, anyone else?
At breakfast this morning, my family of state-worshipping progressives were discussing "gun nuts".
Here's a few gems:
"I heard somewhere that the 2nd amendment means you're allowed to have a military"
"They say 'the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun.*laughs,but does not explain why 'they' are wrong."
"Cops are trained,professional killers.That's why they should be the only ones who have guns." o_O
"We also had slaves back then. We've made a lot of changes."
In other words,emotional pleading galore,and no actual logic or facts.
@ fegeldolfy
I know exactly what you mean. My mother's side of the family is progressive, my father's side of the family is conservative. You can't see my Mom's side without hearing something like "we need to demand the government take control of these stupid guns" or "why don't we have socialized medicine yet?" And with my dad's side, it's just typical right-wing misconceptions about "those terrorists," and glorification of Ronald Reagan.
Sun. 12/12/23 22:02 EST.post #244 SkepticalMetal:You can't talk to those idiots.Do you tend to respect people who think you're an idiot?
SkepticalMetal:You can't talk to those idiots.
What I mean is, if anyone thinks you're spoofing them or mocking them or ridiculing them, you lose. Your sincerity and respect must not be suspect.
Being the good little "Teutonic thinker" I am - I have always been more impressed by flavor, tone, mood, and texture and how to play around with them in terms of sociability than anything else.
In this regard, I have always been fascinated by the left. While they essentially function and can only come uo with a philosophy no better or different than anything other than subsidized entrepeneurs and marketers, they are able to sell their product so damn well. Kudos to them for that, I guess.
Maybe Marx, Weber, and Schumpeter have a major point - there is something self defeating about Capitalism - even if the "market necessities" and the "imperative to act" is still essentially an Austrian outlook.
Take something popular to the common mind like:
Right to bear arms = right wing
Freedom of speech = left wing
And somehow there is an inevitable victory for a markedly "left wing" flavor / tone/ mood/ context in regards to "free speech" - Not only that, "free speech" is subsidized in academia by the very guns leftists protest so much to give to other people. In other words their subsidized "flavor" of "free speech" is the right of the left to bear arms!
The fact that this doesn't require much "thinking" to debunk or see past and it still persists as the seemingly inevitable way of things is the interesting part ...in fact, it's wat makes it correct in it's own way.
A good little capitalist could learn a thing or two from a leftist.
"As in a kaleidoscope, the constellation of forces operating in the system as a whole is ever changing." - Ludwig Lachmann
"When A Man Dies A World Goes Out of Existence" - GLS Shackle
Do you mean that the left has a certain aesthetic that makes it more popular than the right?
That's not Swanson; that's Offerman.
But Offerman is dead to me, for sure.
Guys that isn't our Swanson. It is obvious one of his exes got to him. I'm sure once he manages to escape he'll issue an apology.
lol, I guess that's a less pretentious and more to the point way to phrase it.
Perhaps you could say "the style is the substance"
I cannot find the original, but this is a parody video of when some celebrities got together and made a video pushing for Obamacare. The parody video sheds some light on the subject: what the hell do celebrities know? (I know Will Ferrel was in the original if you want to find it.)
That was awesome, Bert.
The original:
Neodoxy: This might be the single most disgusting thing I've seen in a long time. It's a campaign for gun control which was obviously spawned by the Newtown shootings.
To paraphrase Marc Faber: We're all doomed, but that doesn't mean that we can't make money in the process. Rabbi Lapin: "Let's make bricks!" Stephan Kinsella: "Say you and I both want to make a German chocolate cake."