Elitist or just uninformed?
Interesting question. It appears to me that both answers are applicable, depending on the person. Some "educated" people are not intellectually honest. I have known people who dislike (even hate) guns, because of a personal expierence. One fellow hated guns, because his father was murdered (with a shotgun). To me this is not intellectually honest. To him, his father was murdered BY a shotgun. See the difference?
I have changed my opinion of people and groups, based on their stance on firearms, and on other issues. I liked the music group "Boston", until I read the fine print in one of their albums, and discovered that not only were they vegetarians, but that they felt everyone else should be as well. At that point I stopped buying their music. I still like to listen to it, but I won't give them any more of my money.
It is nearly impossible not to have some of your money wind up in the hands of those who's view on civil rights is not the same as our own. But I try not to give them any more money than I can help.
Time magazine, who became Time/Life, who became Time/Warner, who became I'm not even sure now, does not get any of more of my money than I can help. But they do get some. Back in (I believe) the early 80s, Time actually published an editorial stating that, while journalists should remain neutral, they believed the gun issue was too important for them not to take a side. The side they chose to take was opposite mine. I respect them for the honesty of actually printing (ONCE), the fact that they had an agenda, but beyond that I oppose their views. Many times I have recieved solicitations for books/videos that would otherwise appealing to me, but I would not buy. When they would call me on the phone, I would talk to them, and after the sales pitch, I would tell them that I would LOVE to buy their book/videos, but would not, SOLELY because of their parent company's stand against personal firearms ownership. They were always polite, and thanked me for my time.
I do enjoy some movies, and some TV, and I will not deprive myself, or my family from otherwise enjoyable entertainment just because Time/Warner is involved. I don't think this makes me a hypocrite, just less than fanatically commited to boycotting ALL their products. Not seeing a movie (that you want to see) because of their politics doesn't send them any message.
If I hear of a "gun friendly" business, they get my business, even if I have to spend a little more.
As far as actors/actresses, I can enjoy their work without putting up with their personal politics, unless they bring it into their work (and many often do).
For those individuals who "don't know", or support anti-gun groups because "everyone else is doing it", I can cut them a little (a little!) slack, because I realize that their reasoning has not been influenced by the harsh realities of the real world. Their money, prestige, and influence has protected them from learning the hard lessons, in a personal way. Quite often, when reality does intrude into their protected lives, they become active supporters of gun rights. Nothing makes a pro gun supporter like a liberal who has been mugged.
Now, the others, are elitists. They are the ones who, for whatever reason (money, education, popularity, etc) believe that they have the right to tell the rest of us how to live. That they are better than we are, and so their beliefs are automatically correct, and superior to ours. These are the people who think that it is ok for them to have a gun, but not the rest of us. Or, more often, since they can afford to hire men with guns for their protection, that we don't need guns for ours. They get special attention from the police, but believe they don't, that everyone gets treated the same, so we don't need guns. People like this, who keep their opinions private, I have no problem with. But when they engage in public discourse, that changes.
I do form, and change opinions about people based on their actions on the gun issue. I use this as a gauge of their overall honesty. The misled, and the misinformed I can forgive, once they see the truth. If they refuse to see the truth when it stares them in the face, then my opinion becomes pretty fixed.
People like Feinstein, Schumer, Biden, and others who have ACTIVELY worked for decades to take guns away from law abiding citizens, well, I have a pretty low opinion of them. They are trecherous, lying, untrustworthy individuals who have shown their true elitist ambitions repeatedly over the years. Diane Feinstein ("if I could have gotten 51 votes, turn 'em all in Mr and Mrs America") turned in her gun (registered) when she was pushing gun control as mayor of San Francisco. Later, it was found that she had TWO registered guns, and only turned in ONE. She doesn't want us to have them, but she KEPT hers. And she has paid security people as well.
People like this are BIGOTS. They are bigoted against anyone who is not of their own exalted status (or above). The rest of us are inferior, and should be properly subserviant, and subordinate. To these people, the very idea of "the great unwashed" making their own decisions about anything, let alone something as important as life and death, is rediculous. The are better, they know better, and we should just leave it all up to them. For our safety. For the Children....
Make your own decisions, I will make mine. Form your own opinions, I will form mine, when you come down to it, until they take our lives, forming our own opinions is the only freedom we have that they can't take away.
