Nope, that's not the title of my new hard rock album, just a Cliff's Notes version of some thoughts I had lately. Consider the following:
The pen is mightier than the sword.
-Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Fire and swords are slow engines of destruction, compared to the tongue of a Gossip.
-Sir Richard Steele
Shoot, if a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe cameras should be in this discussion, as well, but here's the path my mind train has followed since yesterday's post...
I found out about something yesterday that has possibly changed the world forever. A guy down in good ol' Texas, by the name of Cody Wilson, has launched something called the Wikiweapons Project. In short, anyone with a 3D printer can download a free file and make his/her own firearm components in the convenience of their own home. No serial numbers...completely untraceable...cheap...disposable...biodegradable. Here's where we jump off the cliff...
On one hand you look at that and say "cool!" But on the other it scares the crap out of me. At that moment I remember that we should look at things objectively before jumping to emotional conclusions, so...
What about Gutenberg? In his time, knowledge was power... more specifically, printed books separated the haves from the have nots. Even crazier, the printed matter that mattered most was actually the Bible! The ones who had a Bible and knew how to read it were the most powerful people in many parts of the world, but then the printing press...and the power structure crumbled...
Then came the modern age of science and logical reason, ushered in by the very printing press that had destroyed the pre-modern age...more and more material became available to the common man. More and more men (and women...shudder the thought) were, therefore allowed to question the almighty scientist. Eventually there were more questions out there than could be answered in a satisfactory amount of time and people became exhausted with the asking and power shifted again... knowledge in the post-modern world is based on each person's own life experience and what "works" for them, however that may be defined. the lines are blurred and before long the only certain things are death and taxes (that statement alone is worth volumes of attention and thought).
What of words? If those two statements at the top are true then the most destructive thing any of us could ever possess is a tongue. And if that's true, then all this conversation about "gun control" is a mute point. Anyone who's read Lord of the Flies or, more modernly, the Hunger Games, knows that when it comes down to it, a large amount of weaponry can be made utterly useless in the absence of chatter that may or may not be based in truth. Deception is the most vile trap of all.
So here we are... if one of the only things people can agree on across the globe is that dead is dead and no one wants to be found in that condition (for the moment, just forget about the whole zombie apocalypse thing), has this guy in Texas brought us to the precipice of another revolution of thought for the developed world? Are we doomed to hit the reset button and return to a power system based on some derivative of even greater physical threat because small arms are no longer an advantage and the world has become so saturated with readily-available information that knowledge is now powerLESS? Are the haves and have nots soon to be separated only by large arms that are not and never have been available to the average person... but.... wait for it.... eventually will be because of the ever-increasing level of knowledge and cheap technology?
The questions that this one little "Ctrl-P" brings up are seemingly endless...
So is Cody Wilson a modern-day Gutenberg...leveling the playing field for all mankind and telling the "powerful people," "Sorry, you're gonna have to find something else to hold over our heads because everyone with a computer has an endless supply of weapons." Or is he nothing more than a cavalier fool, equipping the Libyan terrorists in the VW van so they can go after Doc Brown?
The point your gentleman in TX was making is that everyone has a right to a gun, just like we do to utensils, paper, and iphones. The old mantra, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people", still stands. True, they make it significantly easier, but that is no reason to ban them in any capacity (no pun intended). We still have a responsibility to our fellow man. The government takes that responsibility away from us, the more laws it institutes on its people. the less responsibility we "feel", the more likely we are to "act" on another.
ReplyDeleteThe best distraction in the gun debate has been that gun rights are merely for personal protection and hunting. This way of thinking has allowed laws passed to ban weapons sold to the private citizen that are used by our military. This is truly unfortunate, as what made this country great was the government being in fear of its people. This is no longer true. All the government needs to do is distract the masses, and then pass laws for our protection. It is not the responsibility of the government to protect me! Allow me to purchase every single weapon in the US arsenal. Until that day happens, the government will never fear its people.
Your man in TX is simply fighting tyranny. Period.