Thursday, June 25, 2015

Symbols And Cold Steel

Suddenly I am awash in tomatoes. Not only ours but a friend came over and dropped off some of his. I gestured around the kitchen where tomatoes of all shapes and sizes were waiting in various stages of ripening.
"Ours are coming in," I said.
"Give these to your kids," he said. "My freezer is already full of marinara."

So kids- if Daddy brings tomatoes in tomorrow, can you pick some up? Fresh tomatoes? May, there's hot peppers too.
Lord.

It doesn't rain but it pours. And right now it is raining. Every afternoon we get the hint, the threat, the rumble, the distant blackening of the sky and then nothing. Sigh. I want to reach out and grab that blackness and haul it here. But now it IS here, at least a bit of grayness, some rain coming out of it.

I achieved all of my goals today! Plus one! I did write the letter and oh, how rusty my handwriting is. But it was so lovely. And I figured out how to download audio books on my phone but for some reason, I seem to have to go through all of the pages of choices because every time I try to do a search I come up with ebooks instead of audio and I know there's a way but I haven't figured it out. Also? Every damn book I want to listen to is not available and I have to put a hold on it. What the fuck? They'll e-mail me when they're available.
This is not the perfect solution.
And I did weed. Not very long. And now I can hardly walk. But it felt good and the chickens came in and joined me and pecked at fallen cherry tomatoes and bugs and so it was a fine and friendly experience, albeit a hot and sweaty one.

BUT, that's not really what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the whole focusing on the Confederate flag thing after Charleston.
Don't get me wrong. I am THRILLED that states are finally pulling that symbol of hate down. THRILLED. Of course, here in the deepest parts of the south, this just means that people who never really cared a damn about displaying that flag are going to go out and buy one and put it up in their yards. Trust me. But, as Kathleen used to say, at least when you see someone displaying that flag you know what you're dealing with.
An asshole.
They give you fair warning, at least.
"Hey! I'm a racist asshole! Come on in!"
BUT there is no excuse whatsoever for any state government to fly it at the capitol. None. And that's the way it is. So yes, bring it down. Should never have gone up. Ever.

However, while we are all debating this damn bit of racist symbology, we are NOT debating gun control. Why not? Oh sure, the NRA came out and said that if the church members had had a gun...

No. No. No.

They can't get away with that argument any more and how long are we, the PEOPLE, going to put up with this shit? Again I say- the pro-gun people are absolutely more willing to see thousands and thousands of people die every day from the result of guns (sometimes one at a time, sometimes in groups of threes or fours or nine or whatever) than admit that the second amendment to the Constitution did not mean that almost anyone in the country can legally buy an assault weapon and even if they can't, they sure can find someone who can to get one for them.
We are the laughing stock of the world on this issue.
This is not pioneer days, y'all. We don't have to defend our log cabin and split-rail fence farm with two cows and a pig against marauding Indians. We do not have to worry that some government (including our own) is going to try and commit tyranny. I mean, if that happens, your damn assault rifle isn't going to be of much use and let's face it- all of that NRA bullshit is bullshit and they just need their guns to feel like they're powerful and, okay, I shouldn't say this but I imagine that Ted Nugent's dick is about as big as a pencil eraser.

We all know this.

And by god, if we keep putting up with lawmakers who refuse to stand up to the NRA, we're just going to keep seeing the same horror and bloodshed.

There. I could say a lot more but what's the point?

The Confederate flag is a horrible symbol that needs to be done away with. That process has begun. In twenty years, it will be no more socially acceptable to display a Confederate flag than it is now to say the word "n....r" in public. As Obama pointed out recently, just because that's true, it doesn't mean racism has ended but I say it's a damn good start.

So when do we begin the process of educating people about guns? Specifically lawmakers. When do we tell the NRA that even with all of their money and their influence, we won't take their shit anymore?

I'm waiting. And not very patiently, either.

Okay. This old grandmother has to go slice tomatoes and crush garlic and she's said all she wants to say tonight.

If you're so afraid that someone's going to come into your house and assault you, go adopt a dog who barks big. At least he won't accidentally kill your child while you're cleaning him. And so forth.

Love...Ms. Moon

14 comments:

  1. The NRA *are* the lawmakers. Literally. Therein lies the problem.

    I don't know what else to say on this issue. People are hysterical about measles to the point of mandating vaccines, but guns are everywhere, massacres are everywhere and threaten children to the point of surreal misery, but no one seems to care about that. Freedom or death, eh?

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  2. We are living in the moment of a long overdue change.

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  3. Every single time I see Ted, I get so angry. But now, I am just going to laugh and laugh when I see him ranting on the TV. I will be thinking about his little dick! Poor baby.

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  4. The gun thing seems ridiculous, from this side of the Atlantic.
    The other day, two security guards were in a place where I was eating with my children, and one of them had a gun in a holster by his side, and it was not pointing down, so the whole time he was getting a sandwich it was pointing straight at my children. I hated it. Got so nervous about it, I got up and said something about it to him. He just said 'I'm sorry I'm making you nervous', but he didn't acknowledge this was a problem. For the rest of the time we were there, I was worried he was going to come and kill us. Because he had a gun.
    I can't even imagine living in a country where lots of people carry guns. They freak me out.

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  5. Law abiding gun owners don't kill people. Guns don't kill people until a criminal, drug dealer or mentally ill person picks it up and uses it. Even if gun laws were changed we all know these people will always be able to get their hands on a gun. We need to enforce the laws and punish the people to the maximum who commit crimes with guns. We also need to spend the money and help the mentally ill. Closing hospitals and putting these people in half way houses or allowing them to roam uncared for is NOT the answer. Sorry for the rant.

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  6. Carol, NRA members are shooting themselves by accident at gun conventions. Toddlers are killing their responsible, gun-owning grandparents by accident. Kids are playing with guns and killing their friends. The stories go on and on and on. America is full of ordinary kids on anti-depressants who are in no way ready to be institutionalised... until something goes wrong one day and they decide to massacre their friends and teachers.

    Do you honestly in your heart of hearts believe security guards in schools with yet more firepower is the answer? There isn't enough institiutional space for all the people in America, be they criminal, mentally ill or disenfranchised. Wouldn't it be easier to take the guns out of their hands?

    I guess there'd be more of a budget for it if your government wasn't spending trillions on their arms industry... the whole thing is a fucked up mess, and I cannot understand how anyone is adhering to this 'guns don't kill people' platitude anymore.

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  7. Jo- I no more understand it than you do.

    Elizabeth- Hell FUCKING yes!

    Denise- Yes m'am. We sure are.

    Ms. Peace, Thyme- We must have compassion for the small-dicked.

    Mwa- Fortunately, we do not see that much open-carry except for police. And it freaks me out to be around THEM. Because...they could kill me so easily. If one of them flipped out, they could just reach down there, pull that weapon and shoot anyone dead. I understand how you felt.

    carol- Sorry. Not buying it. For one thing, it's not an either/or on the guns and mental health facilities. If guns weren't so available, the people you mention wouldn't be able to get their hands on one AS EASILY. And that's just common truth. What Jo said in her comment is what I think too. It is NOT just "criminals, drug-dealers and mentally ill people" who kill other people with guns. Think about it- how many accidental gun deaths are there in this country every fucking day? How many people who do not appear to be "mentally ill" are able to legally buy guns because they have no record? What do you mean by criminal? Drug dealer? Mentally ill? Define those terms. You can't just throw a blanket over a segment of the population defined by some vague term and blame them for all the gun violence. It doesn't work that way. I think you are swallowing and regurgitating the line the NRA and gun-rights nuts put out. Read actual studies, many of which point out that "law-abiding" citizens do indeed kill people with guns every day. They are law-abiding up until the moment they reach for that gun for whatever reason and decide to blow someone away for whatever reason. Or by accident. Nope. Not buying what you said. But thanks for being brave enough to post your thoughts.

    Jo- What you said.

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  8. Mary,I know my views are different than yours and I know that you respect that and THAT is why I was brave enough to state my opinion. I enjoy your blog because of that difference (not that it will change my mind, but then you never know). I knew when I responded what I was in for but here in America thank God we can voice our opinions and hopefully be tolerant of our differences without being critical. "To each his own" as my mother always said. Enough said on this very hot topic!

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  9. About the tomatoe floods - I haven't a clue about the flag business, but I could tell you a thing or two about neo nazi shit here - anyway, there was one summer a while back when we were inundated by tomatoes to such an extent that I just chopped them up any which way and bunged the lot in the pressure cooker. I roasted a couple of whole garlic bulbs in the meantime. And then I blended the lot, strained and seasoned and off into the freezer. Nobody noticed. And people here can be a tad finicky about peel and seeds.
    I am usually more refined when it comes to cooking but desperate times called for desperate measures.

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  10. As a person not from the U.S. I don't think the rest of the world is laughing. It is just baffling is all. But Canada is not above the killings. We are not far behind, in fact.

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  11. I was going to tell you that we can get e-reader books (and I guess audio books too) here at the library which has only ONE copy so there is always a long wait time. I declined. I'll just go to the library and check out the actual book. and yah, the country is all focused on the confederate battle flag cause it's so much easier that the really harder conversation we need to have about guns. every statistic out there shows more guns equals more gun violence and the smallest percentage of it is from assault by strangers. but people with their guns and the stupid NRA who one ever thinks that more guns are the answer has their fingers in their ears and lalalalala let's talk about a flag. what we need is term limits for our congresspeople.

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  12. I hate guns. I would like to see the number of guns greatly reduced--GREATLY. The South is a gun toting place--and it scares the shit out of me that some redneck or other neck can have a few drinks and decide to shoot someone in a bar. The NRA wants money and could care less about people and killings. They have no conscience.

    The flag is an issue that has a lot of racists angry. It does need to come down. I have now sold all the inherited Civil War memorabilia that I have. I am not wanting that part of my family history in this house.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.