On full display.
And to answer his anticipated question, I read NASA Watch because I find it informative, despite things like this.
13 thoughts on “Keith Cowing’s Hoplophobia”
Comments are closed.
On full display.
And to answer his anticipated question, I read NASA Watch because I find it informative, despite things like this.
Comments are closed.
I will have to give Keith some credit.
When he jumps the fucking shark, he doesn’t do it half-assed!
Remind us why anything Keith writes is worth reading. I thought maybe the guy has just had too much sensitivity training, but he’s an asshole to the commenters who disagree with him. What a jerk.
Statist faux-liberals seem to have selected hoplophobia, to the extent one can make any sense of their “philosophy” (a melange of voodoo economics, “ressentiment,”* and State-cultism) at all. On the one hand their agenda couldn’t be forced on the rest of us without some weapons in the hands of its enforcers. In the old days the weapons would have been swords and spears; now they’re automatic weapons and more. Yet most “liberals” I know claim to hate guns. Since they’re usually Baby Boomers who had their “consciousness raised” in the 1960s, they must think ATF and IRS agents tote love-beads and bags of granola.
*I mean the French word, not the English “resentment.” (I’d italicize it if I knew how to.) See:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ressentiment
The Leftists’ religion is progressivism, an off-shoot of Christianity (The Puritan version). The faith is also the official state religion of the Cathedral.
Isn’t there a name for the phenomena where people read a newspaper article about a subject they’re conversant in, realize it’s totally pants and dismiss it (and the author) out of hand…and then turn the page to an article about a subject they’re NOT conversant in, and accept it wholeheartedly, even though it’s in the same paper and by the same author?
Loon is loon. If this guy is getting hysterical about a bunch of NASA employees hitting a range in Texas because he “works ten blocks from Navy Yards”, he’s probably got a whole bunch of other screws loose too.
Gell Mann amnesia effect.
Many thanks. I knew the concept, but couldn’t remember the term.
That’s regular amnesia, Dave. 🙂
Heh, this makes me want to attend.
I think the best thing to do after a workplace violence event is to take employees out and teach them how to properly defend themselves. Of course, at NASA, that means hiding in a closet hoping not to be found, because you’re not allowed to carry a firearm on the premise.
Interestingly, I was discussing this issue with a nephew of one of those in the email. We debated whether the JSC gate guards were armed, but then the Naval Yard shooter entered the premise first. Like the building 44 shooting in 2007, the shooter needs to just keep his gun out of sight until he gets to his target. Fortunately for JSC, the shooter in 2007 seemed to only hold a grudge against one person. Otherwise, that facility is as soft as most government civilian installations, and it probably shouldn’t be that soft.
Hmm.
It is a little tone deaf for a federal agency to have an event like this so soon after what happened but there isn’t anything wrong with the event itself. Cowing really isn’t so concerned about the timing but that the event will happen at all. He started off ok with his original post but deteriorated quickly in the comments.
He brings up a good point about how some people might feel about attending an event like this as a team building exercise but there will always be a person who doesn’t like golfing, Hooters, or trust falls. He doesn’t really deal with his detractors very well, seems thin skinned, and doesn’t even address the issues they raise.
The event would have been scheduled several months in advance; cancelling it would have entailed some complications. After 9-11 we were exhorted to not let the terrorists win; cancelling a planned event seems an awful lot like letting the crazies win.
Being afraid of guns is kinda silly, but on the other hand, being afraid of high velocity bullets coming right at you does make logical sense. What I’d suggest is taking him to a range and showing him that the shooters stand on one end of it, where the bullets are departing, instead of standing at the other end where the bullets are arriving. Folks who reload could even paint happy little smiley faces on the back of the bullet and really scary, screaming, Halloween faces on the front, just in case he gets confused. Seeing smiley faces good. Seeing scary faces bad. Duck when you see the scary faces.
People are scared of all sorts of things such as sharp objects, heights, enclosed areas, blood, etc. Guns aren’t particularly noteworthy as a fear since they are potentially very dangerous which makes them more of a legitimate source of fear than say clowns or the monsters under the bed.