Now media wants us to take advice on guns from a serial killer? WTF?!?!
-Gary
-edited to add my response to an FB comment on this post in which someone agreed that glorifcation of guns was a problem-
I disagree with the premise that the “glory” of guns is the problem…If we are to advocate the 2nd Amendment, we are necessarily “glorifying” the gun and civilian possession of guns as the ultimate extension of the 2nd Amendment and the freedom the 2nd Amendment is meant to protect. The fact is, our society was formed by armed insurrection and wouldn’t be possible if that single “tool” hadn’t been available to our ancestors.
My issue with the article above is that Berkowitz didn’t commit his crimes because of the glorification of the gun. Berkowitz is exhibiting classic criminal behavior here and the author’s premise is classic liberal drivel. Berkowitz is not accepting responsibility for his own actions and the premise being pushed is that the gun or glorification therein made him do it. At the time of Berkowitz conviction, he said his neighbor’s dog told him do it. So I’m unwilling to accept this logic because it very much in line with the concept that spoons and the “glorification” of food we see with all these “foodie” shows and channels are making people fat.
I’m obviously not saying I like or promote gun violence but, violence is violence in my opinion. The tool used to commit that violence is irrelevant. Violence is either lawful or not. Gang violence is unlawful violence and that violence, regardless of the tool used, must be minimized. But, it is the violence that is glorified. Gangs have always been part of American culture but, for the last twenty-five years, modern gang violence and the “thug life” itself has been glorified in pop culture, movies, and the music industry via “gangsta” rap and advocacy of the “gangsta” lifestyle. Now, life imitates “art” and you have a whole generation of people who think being a drug king-pin or pimp are good things.
Al Pacino’s “Tony Montana” character in the film “Scarface” is an idol to many gangbangers as are many of the Depression Era gangsters like Al Capone. None other than Curtis “50-Cent” Jackson once said as much in an interview and went further by saying the problem lies in the fact these guys always think they’ll get out of “the game” before they die in a hail of bullets or get hauled off to jail for life. Being “young, dumb, and full of ‘you know what,'” they can’t see past their own nose and are only concerned with living in the moment or perhaps the next couple minutes. There is no concern or planning for the future and what’s worse, few place any value on their own life or that of anyone else. Broken families and bad social policies only perpetuate these issues. So if there is one thing we can agree on, it is that fixing families and strengthening of American culture to eschew the “thug life” would be the obvious way of combating this issue.
-Gary
