No, I agree, folks-- this guy's pretty good at what he does. His efforts toward tarring everyone with the same brush are well-applied.
Consider:
If you give lip-service to free speech (1st Ammendment, anyone?), you're clearly in support of any of the views espoused by anyone at the show.
If you are right of center, you are an "extremest": <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>"You get the impression when talking to him that there is a point beyond which he will not go, and the militia movement is that point. Still, his friendly manner does not conceal the fact that he is a Second Amendment extremist."[/quote]
(WTF, over?!? Review those two mutually exclusive statements! To be an "extremist" means that you are to the extreme.)
Then there's the implication that if he can't readily see the iniquities he seeks, you're clearly hiding them: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Actually, though, racism at the gun show is more implicit than explicit.[/quote]This falls somewhere along the same lines as the guy on the street shouting: "Stop staring at me! Stop looking at me!!! Hey, why aren't you looking at me?!? Do you find something wrong with me?!?" You see, folks, we clearly ALL are subliminally racist and ethnocentric, and our denial of the problem is proof of our collective personality disorder.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>"Certainly many attendees are not racist at all."[/quote] Implying that a goodly portion, probably most, most definitely are. (That's why he had to point out the good guys for you... wouldn't want to be unfair, here.)
His references to safety re: dry-firing, chamber-checking, and alcohol are all condescending, and from the standpoint of: "Thank Gawd we have these rules to keep these people from killing themselves and others!"
Finally, he ends with the apparent observation that these buffoons can't even make a good order of french fries; time to head to a Big Boy he noticed on the way out to the fairgrounds. Without being too crass, I too have seen his photo, and don't doubt that he had every intention of hitting that Big Boy, good fries or no.
He parts with this summation of logic: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>"Alas, the calls of my stomach win out over my interest in the PRO Gun Show. So I take my leave, for the time being. The patriot movement, I am sure, will survive without me."[/quote] This is the last brushstroke in a painting he is trying to portray for you: Patriot Movement = Militia.
Gunshow = Patriot Movement.
Ergo: Gunshow = Militia.
Of course: Militia = Radical racist extremests, so:
Gunshow = Radical Racial Extremism
This guy's got ability. Too bad he's an elitist, muckraking, spin-doctor.
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Will you, too, be one who stands in the gap?
Matt
[This message has been edited by Long Path (edited February 07, 2000).]