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On Mon, 29 Oct 2001, Mike Lorrey wrote:
> represents them or not). NRA anti-candidate campaigns kill more
> candidacies than any other group.
Heh heh heh. Guns don't kill, but our lobbyists damn sure do!!!
I ought to join up.
> Why is it then that most groups who espouse an anti-coporate agenda are
> also opposed to the NRA? It is important to understand this sort of
Two reasons.
1. Ideological lock-in; i.e. an irrational linking of memes. A person
believes that racism or sexism is wrong for example. They look around
to see who else feels the same way, and sees our old buddies the
lefties. Uncritically buys the leftie package deal, which includes gun
control though there isn't anything about it inherently pro- or
anti-bigotry.
2. The apart from the odd contradictory ideology of anarcho-socialism,
modern leftists are generally statists. They think that their best
shot at utopia is imposing their ideas on others using the machinery
of state. Since an armed populace is the final safeguard against a
state that oversteps its bounds, they are doing their best to get rid
of that inconvenience.
> The NRA is effective because it has "God" on its side politically: The
> Constitution says the NRA is right, in terms that are easy to understand
> for most people. The term "The right of the people to keep and bear arms
> shall not be infringed" is extremely easy for the average dope to
> comprehend. They don't need a lawyer or law maker or judge to tell them
> what that means. There isn't more than two two syllable words in there,
> and no terms that are not ordinary speech.
I like how the lefties distort it to say "it applies to muskets, not
these newfangled big scary ASSAULT WEAPONS". I wonder if they are the
same ones who feel freedom of the press applies to hand-cranked
printing presses and not to photocopy machines, laser printers, and
CD-RW burners.
> For extropy, I think the best thing we can do on the political front is
> to find similar language and grab onto it. Claim it as our own, that
> only we can truly defend the people's interests in it, etc. This
> establishes our cause as having a tradition worth defending, one that
> every person has an interest in.
Well, there is enough modernism left, despite of generations of
erosion by the leftilists, that maybe simply "Nevermind the bullshit,
let's seek progress" will resonate with the public.
> I think that this is inevitable. Politics doesn't work at all well on
> the "I am an army of one" philosophy.
I disagree. Unless you are preternaturally charismatic, any plan for
changing the world you come up with has to scale. By that I mean: the
entry costs must be low, each input of effort has to leverage a
measurable difference, and it must not need any central
hierarchy. Those are the ingredients to the memes that take on a life
of their own and spread virally.
- --
* I believe that the majority of the world's Muslims are good, *
* honorable people. If you are a Muslim and want to reassure me and *
* others that you are part of this good, honorable majority, all *
* you need to say are nine simple words: "I OPPOSE the Wahhabi cult *
* and its Jihad." *
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