I’m not arguing that Russia doesn’t do the thing. I’m just pointing out that their use of the NRA is not primarily about laundering money. And that their actions here are not about something as simple as lobbying efforts or buying politicians. Both your articles make reference the the one major, as yet unconfirmed, accusation of money being pushed through the NRA to one politician. And the Rolling Stone one makes reference to several smaller more scattered instances.
That does not equate to the NRA’s major function being to move money from Russia to various American politicians and groups. The NRA still gets the vast majority of its money from the fire arms industry, and to a lesser extent its members and licensing. And it still mostly concerns itself with pushing the same nonsense and conservative policy positions as it has since the 70’s. Which are doing a pretty good job of fucking things up for the rest of us.
It doesn’t even appear to be the primary way the Russians have used the NRA.
Pointing out that Russia’s use of them is a lot broader than just in some sketchy campaign contributions. And that the harm they do is in large part independent of and predates Russian involvement is defending them?
The one has nothing to do with the other. You could just as easily say that it should be possible to hate guns and not behave like a racist shitweasle to everyone you come in contact with. Just because someone supports a given position and is also racist doesn’t make everyone who supports that given position a racist.
According to legend, King Henry I of England died after eating “a surfeit of lampreys” while hunting in Normandy. His death resulted in the 18-year period of civil war known as the Anarchy.
The First Amendment doesn’t so much garuantee your right to be a malignant asshole, as prevent the Congress from writing legislation that would abridge your ability to voice your opinions if you do happen to be one. Federal civil rights and hate crime laws exist to punish people who act on such opinions.
I wasn’t trying to suggest that all racists own guns or that all gun owners are racists, and I tried to clarify that in-thread. I was making a minor observation; that convictions shouldn’t preclude civility. I think it’s fair to say that my own uncivil language undercut my point.
Behaving with courtesy towards others, even others with whom you disagree, is a tacit recognition of the other’s humanity. The goal of bigoted speech is to strip a person of their humanity. When they are no longer human, they are no longer deserving of the same rights and privileges as everyone else, and are much easier to evict, imprison, or kill. I think we can agree that those are bad things.
I believe United States citizens should be able to own firearms, and I believe that that right should be subject to limitation. I believe that the NRA has turned what should be a reasonable discussion, into a game of no-limit, winner-takes-all brinksmanship that can’t end well. I believe Wayne LaPierre is crazy, and not like a fox. I believe that the decline of courtesy here and elsewhere is dangerous because it robs us of a tool for talking our way past our differences.
TFL;DR : “Manners maketh man.” -William of Wykeham, also Wayne LaPierre is a dangerous loon.
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There was a time maybe 15 years ago when nobody “knew” that bettybowers.com was an act. By which I mean that anyone with a lick of sense knew B.Bowers must have been a reductio satire, but a lot of people thought that it (and the related Landover Baptist Church) were real things. Right wing sites used to quote “news” from both of these.
If Dallas has a stereotype of being a haven for racists, it’s not one that’s been earned. Dallas has changed a lot since the 1920’s. Our police actually help protesters and activists have safe rallies. They work with community leaders to plan out routes and security for protesters even when the protesters aren’t citizens. Our police chief is a black woman and 6 of the last 9 police chiefs have been a minority. Our most active and quickly growing neighborhoods are ones with minorities in the majority. We voted for Hillary in Dallas county, over 60% of us.
Believe me, the talk around Dallas was about how these NRA nuts need to leave and take their orange bastard with them.
