I try and keep the politics fairly light around here. I don’t want to put people off with a rant or alienate readers who don’t share my views. Yet, I think we might have now reached a point in the US where the politicians are so stupid, it almost doesn’t matter what side you’re on. Pretty much anyone can point and laugh at them.
After the recent tragic Florida school shooting, The Florida House of Representatives leapt swiftly into action – by declaring pornography a public health risk. This was immediately after they’d declined to debate gun control. Note that it wasn’t that they declined gun control, but they declined to even debate it. I’d hope we can all agree, not matter where you stand on gun control or on the political spectrum, just from a PR perspective this is incredibly stupid. How can people by smart enough to get elected, but dumb enough not to recognize how bad this sequence of decisions would look? I have strong opinions on the issues, but I oddly find it more depressing that the politicians can’t even by smart about managing their image, which is 90% of the job of being a politician.
Then Florida Senator Marco Rubio came out and basically said that bad guys will get guns whatever the laws say. Essentially there’s no point legislating control, because people will always find a way around. So when it comes to pornography – something that can be made by anyone, endlessly copied, easily encrypted, transmitted freely across borders and stored in the cloud – legislation about its risks is clearly necessary. When it comes to guns – things that are hard to make, not copyable, difficult to ship across borders and can’t be stored in a million different ways – well there’s no point legislating control of those. Again, I don’t think it matters where you stand on the actual issues here, but the cognitive dissonance involved is incredibly. I’m amazed Marco’s head doesn’t explode from holding such contradictory positions simultaneously.
I’ll leave you with some more of that public health hazard. If you feel that this has put you at risk, then I guess you should contact your senator.
I’m afraid I don’t have a source for this.
Updated: Thanks to a helpful comment I can now attribute this to the 5-inch-and-more tumblr.
Two different parts of the government, though. The Florida House is who passed the pornography bill (and yes, as a resident, I was wtf about it as well), but Rubio is the US Senate. And, at least he showed up to the town hall, unlike Scott. (Not that I agree with Rubio in the slightest—he has never had my vote).
Our politics are super screwy down here, but it’s not surprising at this point when they do something bafflingly bad from a PR standpoint—it really doesn’t seem to impact much
That’s true, it is two different parts of government. However, I felt it was valid to juxtapose them like this, as I’m 100% sure that Rubio would not make the same claim that legislation was pointless about drugs, porn, abortion, etc. He’d happily legislate the hell out of those, and his comment and the Florida House porn bill was just a nice example to highlight that contradiction.
The (current) incredibly partisan nature of US politics does reduce the impact of bad PR events. If everyone is locked to their party, then doing crazy shit matters far less sadly.
-paltego
Well, you know, I’m a Brit so I have a particular view on the gun thing, but I love the idea of someone running into a public place with a photo of a naked or a leather-clad person, shouting ‘LOOK AT THIS EVERYONE!!!’ while everyone reels backwards in horror and has to consult their doctor later.
Probably if you did it with a Mapplethorpe picture in Utah or some bits of the conservative south, it might actually have that effect. I would say it’d be an interesting experiment to try, but you might also get shot doing it.
-paltego
Behind you all the way in your need to vent on the horrible events that took place in Florida. I was a marine once, I’ve been in Vietnam, and I never felt such sadness as I feel now about The USA. The country seems to have lost it’s way.
It does look more messed up than it has been in a long time. Although I take comfort in the fact that everything looks worse close up and better as you get distance on it. Vietnam was before my time, but having watched the recent Ken Burns series on it (and having read a lot about it in the past), it seems the country was equally if not more traumatized then. Although better than a really fucked up situation isn’t exactly a great place to be.
-paltego
“In retrospect Sandy Hook marked the end of the US gun control debate,”
What Explains U.S. Mass Shootings? International Comparisons Suggest an Answer
– The New York Times, Nov. 7, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/world/americas/mass-shootings-us-international.html
—
That always stuck with me. Personally, I wonder, if you are against abortion because life is precious, why don’t you keep children safe from harm? That not only includes guns, but also to make sure children have food on the table, proper healthcare and an education. No doubt, many who read this, me being Dutch, will brand me as “a socialist”. However, if you, as a society, care so much about unborn life, you take on a responsibility once they are born.
As an outsider I look at the USA’s love for guns in bewilderment. As far as I can tell, the National Riffle Assocation’s [NRA] influence is disproportional to the number of people supporting its views and stifles any debate on gun control. A democratic deficit if any there was one. No doubt there are quite a few Republican politicians in favour of stricter gun laws, but afraid to speak out because of the influence the NRA yields.
Let’s hope today’s teenagers fighting for better gun control, understand how to use the system to their advantage, a long shot, I agree.
It’s definitely a unique aspect of America’s culture. Hard for an outsider to understand, and I include myself in that category, despite having lived here for 17 or so years.
I think influence is people*passion and while the NRA might not have a majority of the people, it does have a lot of the passion. In any debate you can guarantee that NRA members will flood politicians offices with letters and calls, where on the other side the interest only spikes after a major event and then (normally) quickly diminishes. The NRA just have to ride that out and normal service is resumed.
-paltego
It’s hard to believe politicians write any laws for moral reasons.
Pornographic law is much easier to enforce selectively to protect the rich and powerful from it, and to strike down political opponents with it.
Gun control laws are a bit trickier, but I’m sure as soon as a loophole can be crafted to protect the criminals, it will be in with full force.
Hope my cynical view is totally out of touch with reality and offers a laugh or two.
This image is from https://5-inch-and-more.tumblr.com