A Time for Change

As you may recall, I gave a personal opinion on my blog that I believe that assault weapons should be banned.  Some NRA proud propagandists (they displayed a badge stating “gun propoganda” blogger) came on my blog and harassed, used my blog for their own concerted agenda and then one of them, Rustmeister, referred to me as a crazy person on his blog simply because I had the audacity to disagree with their viewpoint on the Second Amendment and other issues.  I am a lawyer but I don’t understand the Second Amendment, but these non-lawyers get it better than me.  Even Rustmeister conceded that their position sounded “loony” on another blog post on his blog.

Ristmeister’s and others’ Blog Badges

Because some of the posting was abusive and the blogging was so intense, I decided, according to the rules of my blog, that I do not want to subject myself to continue to deal with them because they are not interested in discourse. My rules clearly state that I do not allow people to come on here to further some agenda.  In this case it was not one, but quite quite a lot of them working in concert. Moreover, at least one gun blogger, Rustmeister, has conceded that he was not even trying to convince me, he just wanted to use my blog to adddress my readers as an NRA advocate and gun propaganda blogger. As I said, my comments specifically state that I will not allow people to use my blog for an agenda, particularly where they do so in concert with others as these bloggers did.  Most of them only seek to ridicule viewpoints different from theirs in the most base and crude ways.  I will not engage in that.  See my comments.  That is my right because it is my blog.  Let them do as they wish on their own blogs.

Their comments are not posted on this blog and will not be in the future.  That is my choice.  

I hope that one day they will let it go and realize that  a conversation gets much farther when you don’t ridicule, accuse or otherwise engage in nasty confrontations.  I have posted a comment from one person who was interested in a discussion and will always do that and there are a series of comments on  my blog prioer to the time that they becamse abusive.

Nonetheless, the bloggers have continued to harass. Amazingly enough, I have been referred to as a “bigot” because I have a different opinion. Webster’s dictionary defines a bigot as a person who obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own principles or prejudices, espcially one who treats members of a group with hatred and intolerance.  They equate gun ownership with the struggle for civil rights that African Americans had in this country, which is why I am a bigot?  Yet they say my view is narrow?  Such chutzpah to even equate gun ownership with the struggle for civil rights.  That says a lot about just how extreme and fringe they are.

As for whether I could even be considered a bigot. No.  If you look at the comments, I tried to respond point by point to their comments.  They may not have liked my answers, but I responded.  I posted the propaganda post when  I was alerted that one of them, Rustmeister, had said that I was crazy and pathetic because of my point of view. Nice.  At that time I discovered that a group of them were working in concert and that they post gun pro-NRA propaganda. I never called anyone a bigot but I ask you, who are the real bigots here?

On their blogs they also list me as “having shit for brains, mental deficiencies and refer to my stupidity” for, among other things not understanding the meaning of the word “shill.”  According to Webster’s Dictionary, a “shill”  means to act as a spokesperson or promoter.  When bloggers such as those who were on my blog, do not identify themselves as NRA advocates and dish out NRA propaganda and belong to a group of bloggers who act in concert to promote the goals of the NRA, it would seem that the bloggers were NRA shills, particularly where they identify themselves as propagandists on their own blogs.  Oh, what do I know. I just have several degrees, including a doctorate and a BA in English magna cum laude from a great school.  I am definitely not always right, but I do my research.

The funny thing is that they claim that I don’t listen to other viewpoints, but that’s ridiculous.  Other viewpoints are littered throughout the comments in my blog.  Check it out.  The truth is that they were so abusive (today in particular) that I had to shut comments down.  I review them now and will do so for the time being.  Perhaps that was the goal. Even after I shut down comments I kept getting nasty ones for several hours.  Who has that kind of time?  I don’t.

In any event, ridicule persuades no one and it never will.  Good bye to them and good riddance.

February 9:  Sadly, these people don’t believe in letting things go.  Some of them have taken “harassment” to a new level.  Now I’m cyberstalked.  I want to thank everyone for the overwhelming support that I have received and the amazing emails.   Not all of them were rude and belligerent, but most of them were.  They have done more for gun control than this blog ever could have.  That was actually not my intent, I just wanted a discussion.

They are still asking me to engage and criticizing me for not providing some statistics because in one post I said that I could provide hundreds of statistics but the fact that one child dies is enough for me.  They totally missed the point of that statement.   I have researched this issue and reviewed statistics provided by the NRA and the Brady center as well as other groups. I provided statistics on the post that started all of this already.  Statistics can be easily skewed.  The point was NOT the statistics, it was that the loss of one human life is not worth it.  They see that as an “emotional” argument. I see it as a truism.  That’s my opinion.  I respect their point of view.  They don’t respect mine.  That should be the end of it.  

It was interesting that on one of their blogs, and thank you for pointing that out to me, a blogger said that one death is acceptable so that they can shoot, etc.   That would have been interesting if they had posted that on my blog because it shows two diametrically opposed viewpoints about the issue and the value that you put on life versus hobbies.  I doubt it would have been resolved, but it would have gone a long way to further the debate.

The bottom line is that, I am not obligated to do something simply because they say I have to.  I will not be bullied and I will not be threatened.   They can say what they will and I appreciate your support, but as I have said before, I do not want to continue to engage them.  They take an odd view of the Second Amendment in my opinion and have already said that they are not interested in discourse, they just want to tell people what they think people should believe.  I have talked about this topic with many people, including many gun owners, and have never been subjected to such personal attacks.  It has always been a good discussion.  So, please don’t hold it against all gun owners.    My father  and my brother both have owned / own guns and they were/are responsible, nice, and caring people.  

Again, thank you for your support. This is the last time that I will address this matter.