Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, February 27, 2013
Money There's Money to Be Made Mocking Gun Nuts
Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 8:58 AM
Considering that Robin Kelly won a congressional seat in Illinois last night by running on a pro-gun control platform against a pro-gun NRA-hugger, why not market your business by telling the gun nuts to go fuck themselves with a giant banner in your window?
Flex Training Gym in Seattle was full of clients last night.
2
There is no such thing as "gun control."
Only "People control."
Nice to see the gym narcissists jumping on the bandwagon.
Only "People control."
Nice to see the gym narcissists jumping on the bandwagon.
3
But this might mean that gun nuts might not join this gym and bring their loaded weapons indoors! How will the gym ever survive?!
4
So "gun nut" is anyone who wants to own a gun? But gun owners who invoke the "slippery slope" argument in response to the current round of gun control debates are reactionary dolts unwilling to work towards a fair and reasonable compromise?
6
If "Consider your man card reissued" is an acceptable use of humor, then trash talk about the superiority of self improvement over buying a thing to compensate for your anxieties is just fine.
The only reason this is even worth noticing is that gun nuts have become such sensitive fainting flowers of decorum. Can you imagine if pro-choice activists ran for the fainting couch every time pro-lifers talked openly about repealing Roe v. Wade? If pro-choicers can grow a pair and tolerate the give and take of a vigorous public debate without crying for their mommy, gun lovers can stand a teeny tiny little bit of heat.
Abortion providers have put up with bombings and assassinations. Gun nuts need special political correctness laws to protect them from uncomfortable questions (my stars and garters!) from big, bad, scary pediatricians. Crybabies.
The only reason this is even worth noticing is that gun nuts have become such sensitive fainting flowers of decorum. Can you imagine if pro-choice activists ran for the fainting couch every time pro-lifers talked openly about repealing Roe v. Wade? If pro-choicers can grow a pair and tolerate the give and take of a vigorous public debate without crying for their mommy, gun lovers can stand a teeny tiny little bit of heat.
Abortion providers have put up with bombings and assassinations. Gun nuts need special political correctness laws to protect them from uncomfortable questions (my stars and garters!) from big, bad, scary pediatricians. Crybabies.
7
@ 4) People who own guns are gun nuts, people who smoke pot are pot heads, and dudes who fuck dudes are homos. That's what they be. But some super reactionary types might misunderstand those terms to mean that everyone who uses those words is trying to legislate them out of existence. Which seems a little paranoid.... but then again, lots of gun owners are paranoid.
8
@7 Really?
The person who enjoys pot on occasion is a "pothead"? That's an interesting, and entirely wrong, use of the term.
And dudes who fuck dudes are homos? Good to know you're in for the "no such thing as a male bisexual" shtick, but, again, you're wrong.
Similarly, it's not about legislating terms out of existence. It's about using terms accurately. Which, as someone who writers for a living, you might want to consider doing.
The person who enjoys pot on occasion is a "pothead"? That's an interesting, and entirely wrong, use of the term.
And dudes who fuck dudes are homos? Good to know you're in for the "no such thing as a male bisexual" shtick, but, again, you're wrong.
Similarly, it's not about legislating terms out of existence. It's about using terms accurately. Which, as someone who writers for a living, you might want to consider doing.
9
@7
"People who own guns are gun nuts, people who smoke pot are pot heads, and dudes who fuck dudes are homos."
So someone who does not own a gun would not be a "gun nut" even if he collected all the back issues of (insert gun magazine name) and donated to the NRA and voted a strict NRA-supported ticket?
You might want to lay off the denigrations, okay?
Just saying.
"But some super reactionary types might misunderstand those terms to mean that everyone who uses those words is trying to legislate them out of existence."
Except that the people who do use those terms usually DO want to legislate them out of existence.
"People who own guns are gun nuts, people who smoke pot are pot heads, and dudes who fuck dudes are homos."
So someone who does not own a gun would not be a "gun nut" even if he collected all the back issues of (insert gun magazine name) and donated to the NRA and voted a strict NRA-supported ticket?
You might want to lay off the denigrations, okay?
Just saying.
"But some super reactionary types might misunderstand those terms to mean that everyone who uses those words is trying to legislate them out of existence."
Except that the people who do use those terms usually DO want to legislate them out of existence.
10
@6 "If "Consider your man card reissued" is an acceptable use of humor, then trash talk about the superiority of self improvement over buying a thing to compensate for your anxieties is just fine."
It's not my job to decide what is an isn't "an acceptable use of humor" is. Though, for what it's worth, I wouldn't consider that funny. And I have no problem with the advertisement, in the same way I don't have problems with advertisements playing on whatever other political sentiments people might have (isn't this just the urban, liberal version of what is ubiquitous in rural areas, anyway?).
I do think confusing gun owners and gun nuts shows that Dominic (and probably most of Seattleites) is horribly out of touch when it comes to this issue, and from his post @7 probably doesn't really understand the idea of someone who is obsessive and nutty about something vs. someone who is obsessive about that thing (e.g. someone who goes to the gym vs. a gym rat). Of course he also thinks all dudes who fuck dudes are by definition homos, so...
What really galls me isn't that people misuse language and when that is pointed out double down. What galls me is that this sort of shit alienates gun owners, a very large portion of whom support gun control and are naturally allies. It's not just stupid, it's also politically stupid.
It's not my job to decide what is an isn't "an acceptable use of humor" is. Though, for what it's worth, I wouldn't consider that funny. And I have no problem with the advertisement, in the same way I don't have problems with advertisements playing on whatever other political sentiments people might have (isn't this just the urban, liberal version of what is ubiquitous in rural areas, anyway?).
I do think confusing gun owners and gun nuts shows that Dominic (and probably most of Seattleites) is horribly out of touch when it comes to this issue, and from his post @7 probably doesn't really understand the idea of someone who is obsessive and nutty about something vs. someone who is obsessive about that thing (e.g. someone who goes to the gym vs. a gym rat). Of course he also thinks all dudes who fuck dudes are by definition homos, so...
What really galls me isn't that people misuse language and when that is pointed out double down. What galls me is that this sort of shit alienates gun owners, a very large portion of whom support gun control and are naturally allies. It's not just stupid, it's also politically stupid.
11
(Wow. My apologies for the ubiquity of spelling/grammar mistakes in my hastily-written responses above.)
13
@7
"That's what they be."
I'm wondering if your editor stopped you at "women be bitches".
Sure, bitches get all "stop propagating rape culture" when you point out that they're all bitches but that's what they be.
"But some super reactionary types might misunderstand those terms to mean that everyone who uses those words is trying to ..." denigrate women."
"Which seems a little" bitchy ".... but then again, lots of " bitches "are bitchy."
Is it possible for the staff at The Stranger to maintain an adult level of discourse on this subject? Or at least to refrain from inflammatory terminology?
"That's what they be."
I'm wondering if your editor stopped you at "women be bitches".
Sure, bitches get all "stop propagating rape culture" when you point out that they're all bitches but that's what they be.
"But some super reactionary types might misunderstand those terms to mean that everyone who uses those words is trying to ..." denigrate women."
"Which seems a little" bitchy ".... but then again, lots of " bitches "are bitchy."
Is it possible for the staff at The Stranger to maintain an adult level of discourse on this subject? Or at least to refrain from inflammatory terminology?
15
@12 So vigorously disagreeing with someone's use of language is freaking out? Then doesn't that pretty much mean half of what the Stranger does is simply freak out?
I also presume you realize you've not made a single argument, right?
I also presume you realize you've not made a single argument, right?
17
@15
Check the title of this thread:
"There's Money to Be Made Mocking Gun Nuts"
So Dominic is trying to to generate more comments in order to drive up the ad rates here.
But he still wants to claim that when someone he does not like does the same thing that they are somehow wrong.
It's a nice double standard.
Check the title of this thread:
"There's Money to Be Made Mocking Gun Nuts"
So Dominic is trying to to generate more comments in order to drive up the ad rates here.
But he still wants to claim that when someone he does not like does the same thing that they are somehow wrong.
It's a nice double standard.
18
@15: Stop freaking out man, you are GOING CRAZY up in here!
That last response turned the dial to 11, WOOOOOOO!
That last response turned the dial to 11, WOOOOOOO!
19
i read/heard (somewhere) recently that the average MALE gun owner in the US owns 7 firearms.
1 or 2 hunting rifles, you're a hunter. 7 hunting rifles, you're an "shooting enthusiast".
7 semi-automatic handguns and military-styled rifles? you're a Gun Nut. embrace it.
1 or 2 hunting rifles, you're a hunter. 7 hunting rifles, you're an "shooting enthusiast".
7 semi-automatic handguns and military-styled rifles? you're a Gun Nut. embrace it.
20
@6 - everyone is pro-life. the folks you are referring to are anti-choice. don't let them frame it.
23
While many of the pro-gun people currently on Slog are gun nuts for sure (I'm looking at you, f.u.), there is absolutely honest about describing every gun owner as a nut. The nuts are the ones who are fighting every reasonable and modest restriction tooth and nail, hysterically claiming that there are plans to seize lawfully acquired weapons from law abiding citizen when no such thing is occuring, running out to buy new guns and ammo every time Democrats win elections, and polluting forums like this with their nonsense. You gain nothing by lumping the ones who actually support universal background checks in with them. You just give them more fuel to run on.
24
@6 & @7: so this is all just good natured joshing between friends? Because we're hoping to have the kind of respectful and compassionate discourse that characterizes the abortion debate? Good to know!
25
Gun is merely the adjective describing the particular sort of "nut". Our Seattle society has a large diverse population. Please place the adjective which is appropriate to YOUR fixation or obsession in front of "nut" to determine how you rate in the nut hierarchy.
NOTE: You may have a "salted, dry roasted mixed" nut sort of personalty if your interests are broad..
NOTE: You may have a "salted, dry roasted mixed" nut sort of personalty if your interests are broad..
26
@24
We need to be able to have an honest conversation about the intersection of consumerism, masculinity and the culture of fear. It isn't only about guns. It's about the "need" for a 4 wheel drive behemoth to drive you to the mall, or a rice rocket that goes 200 mph, or, for that matter, fake boobs.
It's one thing to be honest and self-deprecating about having a self-indulgent toy that facilitates your adult role playing. It's something much worse to be so immersed in the cinematic fantasy of an identity that comes in a box with a credit card recipient that nobody dare question it. So immersed in the dream that you throw a hissy fit every time anybody pokes fun at gun culture. This shit is real: the gag rule for pediatricians is a real thing that exists. The ban on doing science on guns is real.
Every time one of you NALTs comes along and whines that You May Not Say That, you make it easier for gun loons to trample the free speech rights of pediatricians to ask a simple question. Or scientists to conduct an inquiry into the causes of gun violence. Your finger wagging has real consequences.
We need to be able to have an honest conversation about the intersection of consumerism, masculinity and the culture of fear. It isn't only about guns. It's about the "need" for a 4 wheel drive behemoth to drive you to the mall, or a rice rocket that goes 200 mph, or, for that matter, fake boobs.
It's one thing to be honest and self-deprecating about having a self-indulgent toy that facilitates your adult role playing. It's something much worse to be so immersed in the cinematic fantasy of an identity that comes in a box with a credit card recipient that nobody dare question it. So immersed in the dream that you throw a hissy fit every time anybody pokes fun at gun culture. This shit is real: the gag rule for pediatricians is a real thing that exists. The ban on doing science on guns is real.
Every time one of you NALTs comes along and whines that You May Not Say That, you make it easier for gun loons to trample the free speech rights of pediatricians to ask a simple question. Or scientists to conduct an inquiry into the causes of gun violence. Your finger wagging has real consequences.
27
@20
If I've got both the choicer and gun nut PC Police after me before lunch time, then I've done a good day's work.
If I've got both the choicer and gun nut PC Police after me before lunch time, then I've done a good day's work.
28
@26: NALT is an awesomely compact ad hominem. Congratulations. But I don't think I said "you can't say that." I said that saying that drives gun owners to believe that all efforts at gun control are unreasonable, which is an unfortunate conclusion.
What's this thing about pediatricians?
What's this thing about pediatricians?
30
@ 28, he's talking about the attempts to ban pediatricians from asking if there are guns in their patients' homes. I think that's passed in some red states, but I'm not sure.
31
@23
"While many of the pro-gun people currently on Slog are gun nuts for sure (I'm looking at you, f.u.), ..."
Sorry, what was that?
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Comme…
"Fuck you for resisting my righteous judgment of your disingenuous bullshit."
Well I guess that's okay then.
http://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives…
"motherfucker"
"shit stain"
"dog's anus"
So it appears that "gun nut" is anyone who expresses an opinion that you do not approve of.
But at least I can express an opinion without becoming verbally abusive.
"While many of the pro-gun people currently on Slog are gun nuts for sure (I'm looking at you, f.u.), ..."
Sorry, what was that?
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Comme…
"Fuck you for resisting my righteous judgment of your disingenuous bullshit."
Well I guess that's okay then.
http://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives…
"motherfucker"
"shit stain"
"dog's anus"
So it appears that "gun nut" is anyone who expresses an opinion that you do not approve of.
But at least I can express an opinion without becoming verbally abusive.
32
@30
Florida, with an injunction against it but Rick Perry is appealing to circuit court to enforce the gag rule.
It's also enshrined in the Affordable Healthcare Act, Obmacare. Obama has since issued an executive order saying doctors may ask about guns, but there is still a moratorium on doctors collecting data on guns. They're not allowed to do science.
Look at the absurd outcome of the NRA's blocking funding for gun research:
Condition________Cases in U.S.___# of NIH Grants
Cholera________________400______212
Diphtheria_____________1,337_____56
Polio__________________266______129
Rabies_________________65________89
Firearms injuries _ 4,000,000+____3
We have half again as many studies of rabies than we have cases of rabies. Every rabies patient must have one or two researchers camped on their doorstep. And 3 measly studies for 4 million gun injuries. Sick sick sick.
Florida, with an injunction against it but Rick Perry is appealing to circuit court to enforce the gag rule.
It's also enshrined in the Affordable Healthcare Act, Obmacare. Obama has since issued an executive order saying doctors may ask about guns, but there is still a moratorium on doctors collecting data on guns. They're not allowed to do science.
Look at the absurd outcome of the NRA's blocking funding for gun research:
Condition________Cases in U.S.___# of NIH Grants
Cholera________________400______212
Diphtheria_____________1,337_____56
Polio__________________266______129
Rabies_________________65________89
Firearms injuries _ 4,000,000+____3
We have half again as many studies of rabies than we have cases of rabies. Every rabies patient must have one or two researchers camped on their doorstep. And 3 measly studies for 4 million gun injuries. Sick sick sick.
34
@ 31, change the fucking record. Or at least find me a proposed law that will allow for the seizure of legally obtained guns from lawful citizens. (Remember, you failed to demonstrate that with Feinstein's bill, so don't think you can sneak that one in again...)
35
@34
"change the fucking record."
What?
You don't like seeing your own words?
"(Remember, you failed to demonstrate that with Feinstein's bill, so don't think you can sneak that one in again...)"
I remember that you first went off about stolen property and finally ended with something about you not being able to tell if your parents were alive or dead.
And, again, I disagree with Ayn Rand and with you when you claim that taxation is the same as seizure.
Taxation is NOT the same as seizure.
"change the fucking record."
What?
You don't like seeing your own words?
"(Remember, you failed to demonstrate that with Feinstein's bill, so don't think you can sneak that one in again...)"
I remember that you first went off about stolen property and finally ended with something about you not being able to tell if your parents were alive or dead.
And, again, I disagree with Ayn Rand and with you when you claim that taxation is the same as seizure.
Taxation is NOT the same as seizure.
37
@ 35, then it's settled. By not meeting the challenge, you accede that no one is proposing to take legally acquired guns from lawful citizens.
@ 36, do your comments make you feel better? I ask because I don't see any point to them otherwise.
@ 36, do your comments make you feel better? I ask because I don't see any point to them otherwise.
38
@37
"then it's settled."
I think you'd have to be a bit irrational to claim that.
Oh, wait.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Comme…
"Fuck you for resisting my righteous judgment of your disingenuous bullshit."
I guess it is your "righteous judgment" that makes you say that.
What else does your "righteous judgment" make you say?
"motherfucker"
"shit stain"
"dog's anus"
http://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives…
I don't suppose that there's any chance that your "righteous judgment" might be wrong?
No, didn't think so.
"then it's settled."
I think you'd have to be a bit irrational to claim that.
Oh, wait.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Comme…
"Fuck you for resisting my righteous judgment of your disingenuous bullshit."
I guess it is your "righteous judgment" that makes you say that.
What else does your "righteous judgment" make you say?
"motherfucker"
"shit stain"
"dog's anus"
http://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives…
I don't suppose that there's any chance that your "righteous judgment" might be wrong?
No, didn't think so.
40
@39
Shouldn't you at least give an attribution to those lyrics?
Was that more of your "righteous judgment"?
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Comme…
"it is ALWAYS alright to call out dishonest people for the shit stained motherfuckers that the are. It is NEVER wrong to do so."
Looks like you might have a problem with getting all verbally abusive.
But don't do anything about it.
After all, it isn't your fault, right?
Just post some more song lyrics without attribution.
Shouldn't you at least give an attribution to those lyrics?
Was that more of your "righteous judgment"?
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Comme…
"it is ALWAYS alright to call out dishonest people for the shit stained motherfuckers that the are. It is NEVER wrong to do so."
Looks like you might have a problem with getting all verbally abusive.
But don't do anything about it.
After all, it isn't your fault, right?
Just post some more song lyrics without attribution.
41
@ 41, ROFLMAO. "Attribution." That's good.
I'm going to call you Dull Knife from now on. "DK" for short.
I'm going to call you Dull Knife from now on. "DK" for short.
42
"Dull Knife," huh? Hmm, I might use that one.
I called 5280 "skeeter" a few weeks ago when he wrote that Obama likely had staged the skeet-shooting photo just so he could claim to have shot a gun. I don't see him that much or engage him that much, but I did call him skeeter again one time after he posted. I don't know if he saw it or understood it, but I'm reserving that monicker for him.
I called 5280 "skeeter" a few weeks ago when he wrote that Obama likely had staged the skeet-shooting photo just so he could claim to have shot a gun. I don't see him that much or engage him that much, but I did call him skeeter again one time after he posted. I don't know if he saw it or understood it, but I'm reserving that monicker for him.
43
@41
"ROFLMAO. 'Attribution.' That's good."
Yes, it is good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution…
Or did I just find something else you did not understand?
Copyright?
Attribution?
Or to quote Wikipedia:
It is widely regarded as a sign of decency and respect to acknowledge the creator by giving him/her credit for the work.
"ROFLMAO. 'Attribution.' That's good."
Yes, it is good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution…
Or did I just find something else you did not understand?
Copyright?
Attribution?
Or to quote Wikipedia:
It is widely regarded as a sign of decency and respect to acknowledge the creator by giving him/her credit for the work.
44
@ 43, if you want to make a case that I violated copyright, then knock yourself out. Who knows, it might even end up being substantial, unlike your notion that the Feinstein bill proposes to seize legal guns from their lawful owners.
Just keep in mind that you'll have to research something called "fair use" when you do, and demonstrate "intent" (as in that I intended these words as my own original work).
Happy hunting, DK!
Just keep in mind that you'll have to research something called "fair use" when you do, and demonstrate "intent" (as in that I intended these words as my own original work).
Happy hunting, DK!
45
@44
"if you want to make a case that I violated copyright, then knock yourself out."
No. I'm pretty sure that it is covered under "fair use".
But I have no problem pointing out that you found even the idea of correctly attributing it to be funny.
Did you really expect to have people believe that you wrote that?
"ROFLMAO. 'Attribution.' That's good."
Yes it is. Attribution is good.
Did you not know what it is?
"if you want to make a case that I violated copyright, then knock yourself out."
No. I'm pretty sure that it is covered under "fair use".
But I have no problem pointing out that you found even the idea of correctly attributing it to be funny.
Did you really expect to have people believe that you wrote that?
"ROFLMAO. 'Attribution.' That's good."
Yes it is. Attribution is good.
Did you not know what it is?
46
Dull Knife @ 45, do you really think anyone read it and believed it was my own words? Did you? Did you have to google it?
47
@46
"do you really think anyone read it and believed it was my own words?"
What was that you had posted?
"ROFLMAO. 'Attribution.' That's good."
And you still have not bothered to provide attribution.
Strange how many times you can post and still skip over something as basic as attribution.
But then you also claim that taxes are the same a seizure.
Is that why you put attribution in quotation marks?
You did not know what it was?
"do you really think anyone read it and believed it was my own words?"
What was that you had posted?
"ROFLMAO. 'Attribution.' That's good."
And you still have not bothered to provide attribution.
Strange how many times you can post and still skip over something as basic as attribution.
But then you also claim that taxes are the same a seizure.
Is that why you put attribution in quotation marks?
You did not know what it was?
49
@39 Wow, what an awesome poem you wrote just now especially for this comment thread. Someone should set it to music or something.
50
Seems to me that a business owner has a pretty broad right to adopt whatever policies, and post whatever signs, they want to. As with most rights, there are some limitations on both of those activities, but any such restrictions should be far and few between.
If the policies and/or signs are offensive to too many people, the business loses customers.
As someone who DOES own a gun -- two, actually -- that's no problem for me.
That being said, let me point out that there's money to be made in mocking homosexuals, too. For that matter, there's money to be made in mocking almost any sub-group.
Doesn't mean that it's right, though.
If the policies and/or signs are offensive to too many people, the business loses customers.
As someone who DOES own a gun -- two, actually -- that's no problem for me.
That being said, let me point out that there's money to be made in mocking homosexuals, too. For that matter, there's money to be made in mocking almost any sub-group.
Doesn't mean that it's right, though.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
It's Spring! Who's Ready for Street Harassment? by Cienna Madrid
-
SL Letter of the Day: Insane Demands by Dan Savage
-
SL Letters of the Day: Just Say No to DSGs by Dan Savage
-
SL Letter of the Day: Gonna Boil My Laptop After Answering This One by Dan Savage
-
Bigot Florist Files Countersuit by Dominic Holden
-
New Gun Enthusiast... by Dan Savage
-
America Doesn't Care About Black People by Charles Mudede
-
"Bus service shouldn't be optional—it should be a right." by Cienna Madrid
-
US Military Grants Itself the Power to Police American Streets and "Quell" "Civil Disturbances" by Brendan Kiley
-
Fucking NBA Rejects Kings Move to Seattle by Goldy
Stranger Personals
The Stranger
RSSSeattle Art & Performance Quarterly
A complete guide to Seattle's current art, film, dance, and theater season.
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (51) RSS