The Demonizing Of Self Defense

Declaring An Evil To Be Good

The picture below is of Kyle Rittenhouse defending his life in Kenosha, Wisconsin during riots filled with burning and looting in 2020. He was castigated throughout the land as evil because he did so when attempts were made on his life by three individuals after he tried to stop one of them from burning down a gas station. He was charged and found not guilty on all counts after a contentious trial.

It was once the common belief among people in general, and even turned up in sermons, that a failure to defend innocent life, including one's own, was a sin. You must defend your family, help your neighbor if thugs attack him, and a failure to defend one's own life was thought tantamount to the sin of suicide. Willfully being unable to do so would be part and parcel of such a sin, and would mark one as not just a coward but as contributing to evil. The point of this essay is that we are being propagandized into an opposing point of view, one in which it is a supposed virtue to not defend innocent life so that we are more easily controlled.

"Self-defense is not only our right; it is our duty." ~ Ronald Reagan

Although in the modern world this tends to become about gun control, ultimately it isn't. Attempts to keep weapons away from the common folk so that the power of the powerful is not undermined have been common throughout history, and a useful tool for that purpose is to claim that it's a moral issue, and ultimately that the right of self defense is evil.

"In self-defense and in defense of the innocent, cowardice is the only sin." ~ Dean Koontz

"The totalitarian states can do great things, but there is one thing they cannot do: they cannot give the factory-worker a rifle and tell him to take it home and keep it in his bedroom. That rifle hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or labourer's cottage, is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there." - George Orwell

Times have changed to such an extent that we are assured that evil resides in those who would resist evil, and laws are passed to allow said evil to prosper. If you should be a supporter of firearms in the hands of civilians, concealed carry and so forth, you may be expected to explain yourself; how do you justify such beliefs? If you should find yourself being harassed in such a manner, be sure to keep in mind that they are in effect trying to brand you as a sinner, and it would be in your interest to gently explain that it is they who are supporting evil and that their actions are sinful. (They may not believe in sin. Admittedly, yours truly spent too much time in academia.) Be sure that, instead of being defensive and explaining yourself, ask them to explain themselves. Why do you support such evil? This may cause a blank, open mouthed stare as a new and incomprehensible thought enters the brain, even a highly educated and intelligent one. This hinges on the fact that people have been trained to think that eliminating firearms is a societal good, and that the people supporting it are trying to do good, thus people who are not necessarily evil themselves are supporting an evil. (To get people to do evil, convince them that they are doing good.)

"In truth, a state that deprives its law-abiding citizens of the means to effectively defend themselves is not civilized but barbarous…revealing its totalitarian nature by its tacit admission that the disorganized, random havoc created by criminals is far less a threat than are men and women who believe themselves free and independent, and act accordingly." - Jeffrey Snyder, A Nation of Cowards

It was intentionally planned to demonize firearms the way that cigarettes were, which was thought would lead to loss of their acceptance by the populace. Few would argue that cigarettes are healthy, though they can increase mental acuity, but that plan did not work with firearms since they were in effect demonizing defense of innocent life. Think how Kyle Rittenhouse was attacked for defending his life, apparently the moral course for him was allowing himself to be killed.

"There exists a law, not written down anywhere, but inborn in our hearts; a law which comes to us not by training or custom or reading; a law which has come to us not from theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays it down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right." - Marcus Tulius Cicero (106-53 BC)

The point is that the gun control debate is not so much about what laws will make us safe, but rather about distorting perceptions of good and evil.

“Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act of depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest.”  Mahatma Gandhi

School shootings. Pass a law legally prohibiting the adults in a school from protecting the children, wait for the occasional nut case, blame Republicans and guns, never mention said law or how the shooters are on psycho-active drugs, rinse and repeat. Frequently talk about school shootings on the news so the nut cases never forget. If it is as really as intentional as that, few things are more evil.

"Pure, hard-core liberals believe in a superior race. They think they're it. They believe they're more intelligent than the general run of mankind, better suited than the little people are to manage the little people's lives. They think they have the one true vision, the ability to solve all the moral dilemmas of the century. They prefer big government because that is the first step to totalitarianism, toward unquestioned rule by the elite. And of course they see themselves as the elite." ~ Dean Koontz

Consider the seven types of gun control personality as explained in the linked article:

https://jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/jp_seven.htm

The elitist. The sin is pride, one of the seven deadly sins.

The authoritarian. The sin is wanting to control others.

The fearful. Not exactly a sin, but a character flaw.

The criminal. It interferes with business. Enough said.

The ideological chameleon. A deceitful liar who puts others at risk for personal gain.

The security monopolist. Puts others at risk for his bank account. Similar to above.

The dysfunctionally unworldly. Born in wealth and safety and doesn't understand. Character flaw.

All of these types of people have an interest in promulgating the perception that self defense itself is a an immoral act. We must not succumb to that type of thinking.

Stay Brave, Stay Free