Ignorance is not Bliss By David Bock
For those that think high school students protesting things they don't understand is anything new, back in the mid-1980s I experienced my fellow students protest the forming of a military history club. This happened at one of the most prestigious science high schools in New York City.
We were called vile names, our meeting posters were vandalized or destroyed, and the other members of the club and I were harassed on and off school grounds. All of this was based on ignorance of what our club was about. Not, as they would have had you believe, in the glorification of war, but in the exploration and preservation of military history.
However, after the first few meetings, the protesters lost interest and the "Military History Enthusiasts Club" met without incident for the rest of my time at that school.
Keep in mind, nothing happens in a vacuum. Today's ignorant high school students become tomorrow's ignorant voters and next week's ignorant politicians. These ignorant politicians, supported by those ignorant voters, pass ignorant laws. Perpetuating the cycle of ignorance and further marginalizing law abiding gun owners.
In the mid-1990s I attended a lecture at Sienna College discussing the proposed federal firearms ban. The presenter who supported the ban was smooth and charismatic and pushing the same false facts we all know so well now. He used talking points like "a pistol grip makes it easier to shoot from the hip" and "these weapons serve no purpose but to kill children." The college students attending ate it up.
Back then, there was no internet to check facts. These were new talking points and clear counters for them were still being developed.
The pro-gun rights presenter, on the other hand, arrived late, was unprepared, flustered, and made a hash of the whole thing.
Not our finest hour.
The late-1990s were kind of interesting as a gun owner in New York. With the burgeoning hysteria about Y2K I had some mildly anti-gun friends come to me for advice on buying their first gun so they could defend themselves when the system collapsed.
I did not ridicule them or dismiss them. I wasn't even tempted to do so. I gave them the best advice I could and offered to take them to the range with my guns before they decided on what to purchase.
Of course, most of them never followed through and the world didn't end on January 1 2000. However, a few did become gun owners and after their experiences with the New York legal process, some of them even transitioned to the pro-gun position. So learning is possible.
Fast forward to early-January 2017. I was at a wedding reception for a lesbian couple I know. They had decided to get married because they were concerned that President Elect Trump was going to ban gay marriage after he was sworn into office.
During the reception I was sitting at a table surrounded by good friends. Some of whom I had known for many years. Suddenly, one of them called me out as a member of the NRA, implying that this was somehow something shameful.
She then went of a several minute, fact free, rant about "assault weapons" and the need for more and stricter firearms laws.
My response was to tune her out, let her rant, and when she was done I started a conversation about movies or food or something equally innocuous.
Could I have handled this differently? Of course I could have. Would it have been productive? I don't think so.
I could have countered each of her statements with facts. I could have referenced data from the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services, the FBI, the CDC, or some other reputable source.
However, considering the Gish Gallop of misinformation, false data, and CNN talking points, I would have needed a page or more of notes so I could address each point in turn.
Had I done this, I would not have changed her opinion, nor the opinions of others at the table who were nodding sagely in agreement with her statements. What I probably would have done was set some of them off and caused anger and bad feeling around the table.
I have more respect for the newlyweds then to cause that, so I kept my mouth shut and let it wash over me.
To quote Doctor Thomas Sowell "It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance."
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