by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Until very recently the National Rifle Association was the most ruthless and feared lobbying organization in America. The group's ability to purchase politicians was unequaled, and those who didn't fall in line with the gun lobbyist's dictates quickly discovered that the NRA was also highly effective in whipping up its membership and getting them to the polls.
But now the once almighty National Rifle Association appears to be suffering a deep and noisy lack of respect. Politicians who were once quietly, and sometimes eagerly, complicit, in insuring the "rights" of deranged individuals to arm themselves and carry their guns everywhere, from churches to saloons, were beginning to discover that the NRA might no longer be the most dangerous bully on the block.
The NRA's fascist utopia began unraveling on Valentine's Day of this year when yet another school shooting occurred - this one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The United States has witnessed hundreds of school shootings and mass murders in other public venues over the years, and the country has become so accustomed to the bloodshed and carnage that the killings seemed to be becoming an accepted part of American life. The old routine was for the the press to wax indignant for a couple of days and for politicians to encourage "thoughts and prayers" for the victims, and to caution against overreaction - especially toward guns and gun ownership. And a week later the incident would be consigned to the dustbin of history, except, of course, for the victims and their families.
The difference in Parkland lies in the character of the school and the students. The high school is named after a prominent environmental and political activist. It serves students from moderately affluent households, and many of the teachers are themselves idealists who had already begun instilling the virtues of political activism into their students. The students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas were not going to sit quietly by and accept the assault on their lives and the murders of their friends and teachers as just another day in America. These bright and highly motivated young people opted to fight back, and their chief target was America's gun culture as personified by the NRA.
The "kids" from Parkland, all of whom seem to have a mastery of social media that would make Donald Trump blush, took control of the internet and blanketed cyber space with their messaging in support of commonsense gun laws. They lobbied their state legislature, held marches, called school walkouts, registered young voters, and even forced some members of Congress into holding town halls on schedules that the students set. Their message was that politicians would listen to what they had to say, or those same politicians would be voted out of office.
There was suddenly another player in the gun control debate, and this new voice was just as loud and as intimidating of the NRA. The old power equation was shifting and politicians were caught in the crossfire.
Since the Parkland shooting the NRA has been firing back at its youthful attackers, but the kids are proving to be a difficult target to get a bead on - and most shots fired by the NRA seem to inflict more self-damage than not. It's damned hard to successfully attack young idealists.
NRA mouthpiece Dana Loesch led her group's assault on the young people of Parkland by minimizing their efforts and saying they were being controlled and manipulated by left-leaning political factions in America. The students responded with a intelligent ferocity that not only put Ms. Loesch in her place, but showed the rest of the world that this was a group of individuals who were charting their own destiny and not under the control of anyone.
Fox News personality Laura Ingraham, who had been a featured speaker at last year's NRA Women's Leadership Summit Forum, used her position at Fox to ridicule one of the student leaders from Parkland, and he responded calmly by suggesting that her sponsors ought to look elsewhere for places to spend their commercial dollars. So many of Ingraham's sponsors fled that she was forced to apologize and then take time off from her program to give the situation time to cool. It still hasn't.
And finally there were the attacks on the NRA's life blood, the sale of weapons. Several weeks ago retail giant Dick's Sporting Goods announced that it would quit selling automatic weapons and high-capacity ammo magazines. Other big retailers, including Walmart, quickly followed Dick's lead. Big gun retailers no longer seemed to fear the NRA. And now, just yesterday, Dick's Sporting Goods has placed a second thumb in the eye of the NRA with an announcement that it would destroy all of the guns that it had pulled from the shelves.
While some scream "heresy," others, including astute politicians, are sitting back and pondering where political power rests in this new equation. Has the National Rifle Association been disarmed by a group of angry young people, and do those young people have the power and influence to change the make-up of Congress and the state legislatures?
Those questions may not be answered definitively until the votes are counted next November, but one thing is certain now. The NRA no longer instills the abject fear in politicians that it once did - and for that fact alone America can be truly grateful to a group of angry young people from Florida.
Stand strong, American youth, you're doing good work!
Citizen Journalist
Until very recently the National Rifle Association was the most ruthless and feared lobbying organization in America. The group's ability to purchase politicians was unequaled, and those who didn't fall in line with the gun lobbyist's dictates quickly discovered that the NRA was also highly effective in whipping up its membership and getting them to the polls.
But now the once almighty National Rifle Association appears to be suffering a deep and noisy lack of respect. Politicians who were once quietly, and sometimes eagerly, complicit, in insuring the "rights" of deranged individuals to arm themselves and carry their guns everywhere, from churches to saloons, were beginning to discover that the NRA might no longer be the most dangerous bully on the block.
The NRA's fascist utopia began unraveling on Valentine's Day of this year when yet another school shooting occurred - this one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The United States has witnessed hundreds of school shootings and mass murders in other public venues over the years, and the country has become so accustomed to the bloodshed and carnage that the killings seemed to be becoming an accepted part of American life. The old routine was for the the press to wax indignant for a couple of days and for politicians to encourage "thoughts and prayers" for the victims, and to caution against overreaction - especially toward guns and gun ownership. And a week later the incident would be consigned to the dustbin of history, except, of course, for the victims and their families.
The difference in Parkland lies in the character of the school and the students. The high school is named after a prominent environmental and political activist. It serves students from moderately affluent households, and many of the teachers are themselves idealists who had already begun instilling the virtues of political activism into their students. The students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas were not going to sit quietly by and accept the assault on their lives and the murders of their friends and teachers as just another day in America. These bright and highly motivated young people opted to fight back, and their chief target was America's gun culture as personified by the NRA.
The "kids" from Parkland, all of whom seem to have a mastery of social media that would make Donald Trump blush, took control of the internet and blanketed cyber space with their messaging in support of commonsense gun laws. They lobbied their state legislature, held marches, called school walkouts, registered young voters, and even forced some members of Congress into holding town halls on schedules that the students set. Their message was that politicians would listen to what they had to say, or those same politicians would be voted out of office.
There was suddenly another player in the gun control debate, and this new voice was just as loud and as intimidating of the NRA. The old power equation was shifting and politicians were caught in the crossfire.
Since the Parkland shooting the NRA has been firing back at its youthful attackers, but the kids are proving to be a difficult target to get a bead on - and most shots fired by the NRA seem to inflict more self-damage than not. It's damned hard to successfully attack young idealists.
NRA mouthpiece Dana Loesch led her group's assault on the young people of Parkland by minimizing their efforts and saying they were being controlled and manipulated by left-leaning political factions in America. The students responded with a intelligent ferocity that not only put Ms. Loesch in her place, but showed the rest of the world that this was a group of individuals who were charting their own destiny and not under the control of anyone.
Fox News personality Laura Ingraham, who had been a featured speaker at last year's NRA Women's Leadership Summit Forum, used her position at Fox to ridicule one of the student leaders from Parkland, and he responded calmly by suggesting that her sponsors ought to look elsewhere for places to spend their commercial dollars. So many of Ingraham's sponsors fled that she was forced to apologize and then take time off from her program to give the situation time to cool. It still hasn't.
And finally there were the attacks on the NRA's life blood, the sale of weapons. Several weeks ago retail giant Dick's Sporting Goods announced that it would quit selling automatic weapons and high-capacity ammo magazines. Other big retailers, including Walmart, quickly followed Dick's lead. Big gun retailers no longer seemed to fear the NRA. And now, just yesterday, Dick's Sporting Goods has placed a second thumb in the eye of the NRA with an announcement that it would destroy all of the guns that it had pulled from the shelves.
While some scream "heresy," others, including astute politicians, are sitting back and pondering where political power rests in this new equation. Has the National Rifle Association been disarmed by a group of angry young people, and do those young people have the power and influence to change the make-up of Congress and the state legislatures?
Those questions may not be answered definitively until the votes are counted next November, but one thing is certain now. The NRA no longer instills the abject fear in politicians that it once did - and for that fact alone America can be truly grateful to a group of angry young people from Florida.
Stand strong, American youth, you're doing good work!
No comments:
Post a Comment