social stigmata

"thafuck is wrong with you people?"

primates are social creatures.

this has been true since forever, for the simple reason that monkeys who said, "you guys do what you want, i'm going THIS way!" quickly became a meal.

to ensure the survival of the group/the tribe/the society, the common understanding has always been, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."

this is true not just among primates, but most other species, whether they school, swarm, herd, gaggle, or flock.

historically, americans accepted the premise that our strength was as a collective of like-minded people, banded together to "insure domestic tranquility and promote the general welfare."

as immigrants and the ancestors of immigrants, we invited others from around the world to join us on this mutual journey, the logic of which was elegant and insistent, wired into our DNA.

along the way, of course, some individualists in the group had to re-learn how not to become a meal...

"They're my kids, and I say they don't need to wear seatbelts."

"I can have a few drinks and still be a perfectly safe driver."

"Why do I have to smoke outside, I'm not hurting anyone."

"I'm young and healthy, there's no reason for me to have health insurance."

nope. nope. nope. and, nope. 

you may be too foolish to buckle up, but your kids shouldn't have to pay for your mistakes. you can't have a few drinks and safely drive. your smoking does hurt others. you need health insurance so when you break yourself you can be repaired (and so the rest of us don't have to pay quite as exorbitantly for your care).

see, that's the thing about america: in order for the group to survive, sometimes small personal sacrifices are necessary.

this is one of those times...

"I shouldn't have to give up my guns, I'm a responsible gun owner."

nope.

your "want" for devices designed to kill is not superior to the right of others to live. 

you didn't pull the trigger at columbine and sandy hook and san bernardino and aurora and blacksburg and orlando, but your rapacious "want" for weapons helped it happen.

you may be too stolid or selfish or sociopathic to acknowledge the straight red line between guns and slaughter, but our kids shouldn't have to die for it.

your apathy over 33,000 US gun deaths each year tells elected officials you don't mind the carnage. your entitled self-indulgence tells gun manufacturers to keep up the good work.

as social creatures we are linked together, which is part of the reason we want you to step back from this cliff. mostly, though, we just don't want to go over the edge with you.

you are threatening the survival of the group.

you need to stop it.
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"The common good is a notion that originated over two thousand years ago in the writings of Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero. More recently, the contemporary ethicist, John Rawls, defined the common good as "certain general conditions that are...equally to everyone's advantage."

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excursus: the second amendment to the US constitution reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." 

in other words, "keep and bear arms" all you like...while you're a member of a well-regulated militia (such as the US military or national guard). do not, however, pretend the first two sentences of the amendment don't exist and therefore condone an orgy of guns.

the decision in heller v. D.C. was "wrong and unprincipled," and is a marvel of judicial activism, which "conservatives" allegedly abhor.

"There is no better illustration of the abandonment of neutral principles by the Heller majority...than their cavalier disregard of what the Supreme Court has termed 'the first principle of constitutional interpretation' — that the Constitution must be read to give effect to every word and that interpretations that render portions of its text 'mere surplusage' must be avoided."

the founding fathers were not perfect beings, and they did not create a perfect constitution. to ensure domestic tranquility and the common good, the 2nd amendment should be repealed.