that whirling noise you hear

[the_siobhan]

For some reason I always find it really interesting when the media latches onto a story about the media itself. A little bit of meta-journalism, if you will. So when I saw the headline about a big stink going on right now over an article published in the Globe, I went right on over and read all about it.

Apparently a journalist who wrote an article about the recent shootings in Montréal made the statement that Quebecois culture has to take some of the responsability for actions of Gill at Dawson College, and also for the the Lépine shootings at l'École Polytechnique sixteen years earlier.

Because francaphones are "unwelcoming".

I shit you not.

Now the editor is saying the remarks should have deleted before the article went to print and lots of people are demanding apologies all over the place. And I think the whole thing is hilarious.

To be perfectly clear where I'm coming from, I don't think it's funny that Wong printed something inflammatory and stupid. I sure as hell don't think it's the slightest bit entertaining that a bunch of people died because some douchebag was Fucked In Head With Gun and decided to take his bad day out on a bunch of innocent people.

No, what makes me smirk is just how seriously everybody is taking Wong's comments.

I mean, come on people. She actually suggested that some guy shot up a school cafeteria because Quebecois are unfriendly. Roll your eyes, give the girl one of those pointed hats with the big "D" on it, and get on with your day.

This is all fed by my complete inability to understand why we give people microphones when we already know that something stupid is going to come out of their face. Why is Ann Coulter ever able to even get people to interview her? Why does anybody give a man airtime to talk about international politics when his day job is to play a fucking guitar? Why does anybody really care what the head of some religion thinks about our same-sex marriage laws, or in fact, anything to do with anything except maybe, you know, his religion?

And more importantly, having found somebody to give them a platform - what the hell inspires anybody else to actually listen?

On the other hand, if the world wasn't full of Really Stupid Ideas, we wouldn't have the opportunity to make fun of them. That would pretty much eliminate the Daily Show, and things like the The Racist Survivor Theme Song. And that makes a lot of this stuff totally worth it.

Comments

[machineplay.livejournal.com]

"I didn't want to talk about what I wrote because what I wrote is out there."
"If people don't want to agree, that's fine. I welcome a debate."

Dear Jan: PICK ONE. I think her response is bogglingly unprofessional as well.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I get the impression she was taken by surprise and is kind of scrambling for a response.

[montieth.livejournal.com]

Re Stupid things, how many calls have their been in the Canadian Press for more gun control? The last event fomented the massive gun registration program as a response. Looks like it did a lot of good. Guess you need more laws and more money spent on punishing EVERYONE for the act of one.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

19 minutes flat.

I think that's a new record.

[montieth.livejournal.com]

When you keep trying the same thing with no change in results, what do they call that? When lots of people do that, what do you call it.

[redbird]

Internet business-as-usual and an impressive lack of reading comprehension.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Let me be clear, I don't classify as stupid everybody who holds a different opinion than me. I may think they are mis-informed, or have based their opinions on faulty data, or that they aren't looking at all the data, or that their logic based on that data is flawed.

I can buy that some people think the murders would have been prevented if we kept tighter controls on guns, or had better mental health screening in place or if we took a good hard look at how our culture romanticizes violence. I may not agree with them, but I don't think they are stupid.

OTOH, people who think it's because he listened to Metallica and played GTA? Stupid. People who think it's because he posted his profile to a website full of fourteen year-olds pretending to be vampires. Whoo-wee Stupid!

Unfortunately the latter group who seem to have a public voice - sometimes to the point where it interferes with of the former to have any kind of intelligent discussion. And I really don't get that.

[montieth.livejournal.com]

I think you and I will probably largely agree that it's sometimes hard keeping nuts from doing things. They'll kill people regardless, using a car, a firearm or some other improvised device. The mechanisms for their malfunction is complex and that a single solution or "band aid" won't do squat.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I completely agree that I don't believe in band-aid solutions. I think problems are more complex than that.

I also don't beleive in arbitrarily dismissing one aspect of a solution because it by itself will not solve the entire problem.

I beleive in examining options & combinations of options and balancing priorities. 'Cause life is complicated like that.

And that's as far as I'm willing to go in taking a stance pro or con gun control.

[mr-sharkey.livejournal.com]

It's key to remember that newspapers are in the business of selling newsprint - not news. Any discussion that leads to the resolution of issues lessens future sales - any discussion that is circular, hysterical and emotionally over-wrought drives sales. When you're emotionally invested, you don't think critically - Won't Someone Please Think Of The Children?

M.

[caspervonb.livejournal.com]

Oddly, that's pretty much exactly how
I think of politics.

[caspervonb.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't think I've ever met someone in Canada who felt
punished by the gun laws.

Not that I'm trying to start an argument here but it seems to me
that saying that the country is punishing all because of one lone
nut makes just about as much sense as using one lone nut as
justification for gun ownership.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I've met one. But she had the same opinion about having to licence her car.

[caspervonb.livejournal.com]

Felt that the government was trying to punish
her by forcing her to have a license in order
to drive? That's awesome.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Well, she was actually more outraged about the having to have a licence plate on her car in order to drive, but other than that you pretty much got it.

I had to congratulate her for her consistancy.

(I'll give her one thing, during these conversations/debates, she would freely admit she was batshit.)

[montieth.livejournal.com]

Know anyone that was forced to give up property because of the changing laws? I do.
Know anyone that's been forced to register firearms that they've held for years and pay fees to do what they continued to do before? I do.

Registration stops drunk driving just like registration stops gun crime. It doesn't. It just provides a mechanism for confiscation later in the future.

[caspervonb.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I don't really get it.

I assume you mean to ask if I know any canadian citizens
who have been forced to give up their guns and/or pay for
licensing of their guns?

Well, yes and no. I have not yet met anyone who has had to
give up their guns (as practically all guns that would now
be considered illegal but that were legally owned before 1996?
1998? were grandfathered in).

I do know people who have had to register their guns and pay
a fee for it when they previously had not done so. Including my
father, actually.

I may be mistaken but I believe that the only firearms that are
actually prohibited in Canada automatic weapons (including conversions),
short barreled handguns and short barreled rifles. And, again,
keeping in mind that most of those owned prior to the mid-to-late 90s
were grandfathered in.

So, yeah. I stand by what I said. I don't know any canadians
who feel punished by the gun laws.

As far as comparing a driving license and a gun license, I feel the
comparison is disingenuous. Apples and oranges and all that.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I've always thought it was a reasonable comparison. Both can be used as lethal weapons, both are heavily restricted in where and by whom they can be used. Both can only used by somebody after going through rigorous testing.

Maybe the tool itself isn't comparable, but the legal requirements can be contrasted nicely.

[montieth.livejournal.com]

40,000 auto fatalities from 'Accidents' in the US , less than 1000 accidents per year in the us from guns. Add in suicides ~10,000 and violent crime 20,000 and you have ~30,000 gun fatalities to 40,000 auto fatalities. Considering that guns are designed to do something and cars are not, the guns aren't doing a very good job.

The main difference between car licensing and gun licensing in the States is:

Cars can be owned/driven/operated on private property without registration or a license. Farm trucks/vehices/etc are all under this rule. 12 year old kids learn to drive in the country on dad's pickup on the farm off of the roads. And your driver's license from Georgia is valid in all 50 states and in Canada and Mexico.

Guns are licensed in some localities on the basis of 1 license = 1 gun or 1 license means you can own the gun, but not carry it. A Concealed Carry License allows you to carry in your state and other states that have reciprocal agreements with your state, but not all states. So my State issued car license is valid in New York State. My State issued Gun License is not. Car Registrations work the same too. New York doesn't make me register my car in their state in order to possess it while visiting New York.

And if I have an accident, no-one comes to my home and takes all my car parts and cars.

[montieth.livejournal.com]

It is still incrementally death by a thousand cuts over the course of 70 years since 1934. Would you not call $2 Billion Canadian to be punishment for everyone? Especially the gun owners burdened by it?

What happens to a historic Bren "grandfathered in"? Is it destroyed when the owner passes on or is it able to be transferred to another owner? What about a WWI era Lewis Gun? What about an L1A1?

I don't know any canadians who feel punished by the gun laws.

Perhaps I talk to different people on different forums. But I get the distinct impression from the Chaps on the Maple Leaf Up Forum (http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/showthread.php?s=9af520c4178a7d5cb9a9f98d464c53b0&threadid=5822&highlight=gun+control) that the Gun Control in Canada has made their life harder.


This old thread from 2003 (http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/showthread.php?s=a9f8ab6b04a37462e2a766e290f0541d&threadid=5044&perpage=40&highlight=gun%20AND%20control&pagenumber=2) sure seems to have a bunch of Canadians hopping mad.

As far as comparing a driving license and a gun license, I feel the
comparison is disingenuous. Apples and oranges and all that.

Yeah, exactly, no-one comes and hauls all your cars, car parts, car accessories and other accouterments away if you happen to let your driver's license expire and try to renew it the next day. Gun Control advocates have stated that guns should be licensed like cars, but when you press them on it, that's not what they actually want.

guns and cars

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

And they both often appear in movies, magazines and websites accompanied by pretty girls with exposed navels.

Don't forget that part.

[caspervonb.livejournal.com]

My mother asked me about the dawson shooting as though
I'd be able to provide extra insight.

It was pretty interesting to catch a glimpse of her
perspective. But, honestly, I think she was looking
for something more profound than "How the fuck should
I know?"

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Aren't we all?

[mr-sharkey.livejournal.com]

How about "Don't worry, I haven't got a gun - I'm not going to go on a killing rampage"[*]

M.

[*] Only tell her this if it's true - it's not good to lie to your mom.

[caspervonb.livejournal.com]

Heh

I think the most interesting bit I got out of talking
to her was that, apparently, the killer walked in and
asked some guy to hold his bag while he got something
out of it.

So the guy obliges and holds the bag while the killer
started pulling out the gun (guns?). When guy saw what
the killer was pulling out, he dropped the bag and ran.

I can't help but think this would all have been much
neater if he'd simply crotched the killer, taken him
down and called the cops.