Too damn many guns and gun metaphors

[LiberalEsto]

America lives, talks, sleeps, breathes and thinks in a cloud of gun and violence metaphors.

Politicians "target" their opponents, "get them in their sights", "take them down", and "fire back" using a vivid imagery of violence. When did we last hear the words "civil" or "discourse" used in the political game?

When the Koch-funded teabaggers shouted down and threatened members of Congress during town hall discussions on health care reform, they raised the level of violent language in politics.

When hired Republican thugs physically stopped the Gore-Bush recount in Florida a little more than 10 years ago, our nation began its slide into banana republic status.

Something desperately needs to change in order to stop the de-evolution of America, and frankly, I don't know whether it can be done. The media would need to stop focusing on violent rhetoric, and the speakers of it need to face consequences.

Maybe decent people need to organize large silent protests everywhere the violence-mongers appear. Hold them responsible for their words.

[WinkyDink]

1. Don't forget "#5 with a bullet." Or documents with "bullet points."

[Tesha]

4. I'm going to defend *THAT* particular usage.

"Printer's bullets" is a typographic term from way back,
quite long before this country went completely gun insane.

Tesha

[LiberalEsto]

9. I think it has to do with the lead letters and symbols

Back in the olden days, newspapers were printed with reverse image pages put together with small letters made from lead. I imagine the little dots looked like miniature bullets and were named accordingly.

[Tesha]

12. No, it has nothing to do with "halftoning".

Round "dingbats" (decorative type elements) were (and still are)
known as "printer's bullets.

Tesha

[LiberalEsto]

13. I didn't say halftoning

I know what that is.
I'm talking about the little dots (still called bullets) used to pick out key points in an article.
Been in the newspaper business since 1968.

[Tesha]

14. Sorry -- I misunderstood your reply -- you're right. (NT)

[baldguy]

2. What we saw yesterday was the "Second Amendment Solution" in action.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. 'In the crosshairs' is a potent metaphor

and RWers will FAIL in their lame-ass attempt to portray Pistol-Packin' Mama Grizzly's graphic map as 'surveyor's sights.' Common sense is not the forté of the RW; nobody is fooled by their weak denial.

[upi402]

5. They desensitize us and coarsen us

They make liberals, now anyone not far right, seem like they are not real persons. They do it with non-whites. They do it with their media, and know it works.

They do it so others will dirty their hands and they live pampered lives above it all.

[LiberalEsto]

6. They have also desensitized us to the poor

The poor in America are the wholly forgotten.

I agree with your comments

[treestar]

7. That and sports

metaphors of winning and losing are overly rampant, too.

[demoleft]

8. agreed 200%. wary and far-west-like language. i noticed since long in europe too. n/t

[WiffenPoof]

10. I Agree....and...

Maybe we should also do away with "The War on _________" - I've never liked the term "war" for these fights.

-PLA

[LiberalEsto]

11. I want to add something

I was talking with a friend after church this morning. She has a grown son with mental illness, and believes the accused shooter is a victim of the failure of the nation's mental health system, such as that is.

I agreed that was quite likely, but added that if the suspect had not been immersed in an atmosphere of violence and "wild west" language and gun metaphors, his mental illness might have taken a different turn.

The right wing extremists who promote death and killing language have created a climate in which violence is virtually normalized. Some people with severe mental illnesses - and by no means are these people anything but a tiny minority among those with severe mental illness - may be tuning in to this language and imagery, and being influenced by it to the point of acting on it.

That's why the words and pictures used by people like Palin are so toxic.

Every place the speakers of violence go, they should be followed by large crowds of decent people who protest silently, holding appropriate signs and photos of the victims.

[Kingofalldems]

15. Uh oh

:popcorn: