Guns or Megaphones

Old Gadfly:  Gentlemen, after the Orlando mass shooting, the President used this incident to emphasize that we should not make it so easy to purchase guns.

AM:  There is a lot to unpack in this particular tragedy, but I see that you want to focus on the role guns played in it.

Old Gadfly:  Yes.  For example, addressing the dilemma associated with the teachings of Islam and homosexuality is too complex and deserving of another conversation.  Nor do we want to get into the issue of tolerance based on natural law versus secular humanism and the absurdity in understanding consequences.

IM:  So, we want to understand the thinking behind gun control.

Old Gadfly:  Yes.

AM:  Well, obviously the logic suggests that without guns people will not get killed.

Old Gadfly:  Exactly:  As if to suggest guns have motivation and intent.  Yet, for an individual who wants to do harm, a gun is an instrument for doing harm.

AM:  How many guns were used on 9/11 or the Boston Marathon incident?

IM:  Of course, none.

Old Gadfly:  So, what really “killed” the victims on 9/11, in Boston, and Orlando?

AM:  Ideology.

Old Gadfly:  Correct.  Are there any other instruments that can kill targets?

IM:  All sorts of instruments:  knives, hammers, bats, and all other sorts of instruments.

Old Gadfly:  How about megaphones?

AM:  What do you mean?

Old Gadfly:  On tonight’s news (at least with ABC), Trumps tweets were “controversial.”  Obama’s White House message and Hillary’s tweets were characterized as “in contrast” to Trump.  Simple words like this are amplified by the media megaphones in such a way as to “kill” a target.  Again, ideology kills.  Various instruments, whether guns or megaphones, serve the purpose.

AM:  One of the Presidential candidates seems to have identified this form of threat.

IM:  Yes.  Trump’s apparent resistance to “imitate” politically correct language and tone makes him an even bigger target. The fact that fellow Republicans have joined this megaphone bandwagon might be the real “vein of intolerance” Colin Powell cleverly, but incorrectly, pointed out during the first Obama election.  Powell implied a racist prejudice among Republicans, despite serious concerns about actual experience and what could not be learned about the candidate because of legal efforts to seal records. 

Old Gadfly:  F.A. Hayek observed that “mind is a product of cultural evolution that reflects more imitation than reason.”  So, the real contest in America may not be between Clinton and Trump.  It is between imitation and reason.  Until reason dominates imitation, killings, whether via guns or megaphone, will continue into the future.