How we think-- or not

My blogs keep getting rearranged by life. Several that I wrote ahead of time simply didn't fit when their Saturday came along. Part of this one still fits, but more has been added. It's about why we think as we do and why it's so hard for us to understand and sometimes even communicate with others.

This one began when as we drove south and all we could get for talk radio was Rush Limbaugh. I am sure I have mentioned before that, as you drive through the heart of this country, right wing political talk is all there is-- which was before Portland, Oregon found itself in that situation other than public radio or one that talks about things/world/life but not political and not my favorite leftie commentators. 

Farm Boss was not thrilled when I looked at the radio dial contemplatively and asked-- how long can you stand Limbaugh? He made a face. I promised I'd turn it off as soon as it irked him; he reluctantly agreed.

When I began laughing at what Limbaugh was saying (it wasn't the times he intended to be funny) Farm Boss also saw the humor and stood it longer than I expected. I suppose some of my laughter came because Limbaugh had lost big time and he was taking it poorly. Although I must admit he did appear to understand what losing means which is more than I can say for other righties. What he said though, in sticking to his schtick, was so funny I laughed out loud more than once. To his listeners, he called Democrats the under informed voters which is funny all in itself given what his callers appear to know-- which is not much that Fox didn't hand them.

The funny part is during the GW Bush years and Obama's first term, I would be enraged by Limbaugh and how he left out facts or twisted them, but maybe November made the difference. He makes his money not by solving the problems of the country but by rhetoric that enrages and makes a percentage of people feel victimized, superior and furious.

You know it's possible Limbaugh thinks this way, but he also might well know that he's twisting it when he claims Obama is deliberately plotting to teach people that raising taxes is how we succeed as a culture. Does Rush live in a bubble, as Romney did and not actually know that this is a president who for two years has tried to keep the middle class from paying the payroll tax as a way to give them a tax cut he couldn't give them any other way. Obama didn't do it out of the sweetness of his soul (his offering to use a chained cost of living for Social Security proves he doesn't have sweetness of soul) but because he felt it would boost the economy.  The battle now is about trying to keep the tax cut for the middle and raise it on the higher income levels-- and frankly Obama is not pleasing us much on the left for his method.

When I really snorted with disbelief was when he tried to paint a Dana Milbank column as indicating Milbank was enraged that Romney was going back to work for a big hotel chain. He claimed Milbank said Romney should work for the poor. I have listened to Milbank in discussions. He's not the kind of man I can imagine being enraged at the least over Romney-- before or after the election. So when we got to a motel that night, I found the article Milbank had written.

As I read [Milbank's article] out loud to Farm Boss, he and I both agreed. In my view, Milbank was wishing Romney would work to shore up the Republican party. He wanted to see him involved in the negotiations on the so-called fiscal cliff but doing it as the moderate he believed Romney always had been. He wanted moderates and even the actually conservative wing of that party to take it back and said Romney, as the most famous name in his party, could use that to bring his party back from the brink of total control by the wackos (like the judge who took 10 years off a convicted rapist's sentence because he said a woman can't really be raped-- her body won't let it happen).

Limbaugh goes so far as to suggest Obama is some kind of tax dictator who will soon take over all our schools with a tax nirvana agenda. Future generations of children will be taught that high taxes are required for a good life-- or so he said. Recently Farm Boss, on his way to get parts to replace the kitchen faucet here, heard some of Sean Hannity (who I can't stand for even as long as it takes for him to get out the first syllable) hitting on the same spiel. It's probably rampant on all these rightie shows.

Where it comes to Limbaugh, I don't know what he actually believes. His callers are where this gets really weird and my bet is the most rabid never get past his screener. They are the same ones who think Obama is a Muslim, that he wants to destroy our country, that he's a socialist, that he and his ilk want to destroy Christmas. They are the ones who think every school should now make teachers go armed as obviously the answer to what happened in Connecticut was not too many guns of the wrong sort. It was not enough guns.

Since the shooting, one of that bunch said it's Jon Stewart's fault as he's attacking Jesus and Christmas. Excuse me, idiot boy, but Stewart is a Jew. Do you know what that means? Likely not. Someone must be blamed to keep the spotlight off guns and mental illness. Atheists are next as some on the right claim they are trying to destroy belief in any god.

Limbaugh praised the NRA which I think gave one of the most self-serving press conferences that I can imagine. According to the NRA, we don't need more control over war weapons-- we need more of them. Armed guards at every school is their idea-- profit for them not a factor. They and their ilk say it's the fault of those who didn't want teachers armed for why this last shooting happened. The NRA is berserk and I only hope more of their members drop them.

You'd think after all of that, I'd feel relief to listen to lefties. Not so fast. Since I don't toe the liberal line, I am also not thinking as they do. It's hard for me to grasp how the left wing has gone after fear of all guns instead of the actual guns that were used in this massacre. Right now they are providing evidence of their real goals to those righties, who fear any reasonable gun regulations. Attacking all gun owners for what a few do is not going to get legislation that many gun owners also support. Can any of these sides look at what actually happened and what might've stopped it?

Okay looking at facts, I look at the issues of guns this way. Yes, guns can be misused. Yes, some kill people. In 2011, our country had 12,664 murders with 8,583 with a gun. Of those most were gang/ drug related shootouts or domestic violence.

The big problem with the drug and gang related shootings in our cities is this: collateral damage. The bullets fly and innocents are killed. Are these guns legally purchased? Probably not since a lot already involve illegal, reckless and violent activities.

Will taking away assault rifles and high capacity magazines stop deaths? Maybe or maybe not as in this country the guns are there. IF, and this isn't going to happen, the gun haters got through a law to ban all guns, who will turn in theirs? It won't be the ones in inner cities using them so carelessly that walking to school can mean death. It's why I didn't laugh when in the film, One for the Money, the grandmother shot the cooked turkey sitting in the middle of the table with the family all there. I don't find guns funny.

As for the many deaths from domestic violence, those could happen as easily with a knife, fist or baseball bat if it didn't with a gun; so it's not going away based on no gun.

One place I read an article intended to scare people into getting rid of all guns, not just the extended magazines and assault and semi-assault rifles. When I got through it validated what I thought before I began-- women need to be darned careful what kind of men they date, live with or marry. Some men are very scary. Whether the woman in the article had been at risk of being shot in the head by a Glock, with a boyfriend violently out of control, a knife would have done the same thing. It has worried me for sometime as to who my granddaughter will start to date when that time comes as a woman's greatest risk is trying to end an abusive relationship that she didn't realize she was in until it was too late.

That's what I thought but not what the other commenters said, who were absolutely convinced that guns were the problem. Get rid of guns, and boyfriends will cease killing woman trying to leave them not to mention half her family when he can reach them.

I see it that once you get in such a dangerous relationship, you probably have to move somewhere that person cannot find you when you finally decide you want out. Women sometimes find restraining orders hard to get but like one is going to stop a man already set on murder? Maybe threats of violence should land someone in jail for long enough to cool of at the least.

To me, the nutty stuff coming out of the right is even worse for what they want as a solution to someone shooting up a school-- arm the teachers too. Wait until a child gets hold of one of those guns (they do all the time in homes where parents were careless with the weapons) and starts shooting. End of that idea along with more deaths. I don't know if they could find someone to train on the faculty but it seems some states are determined to try. The armed guards the NRA suggested are equally asinine. That is the most self-serving, disgusting bunch. Oh wait, did I already say that!

The question I got from all of this was how can humans look at the same facts and come up with such totally divergent opinions on what they mean? Is that brain wiring? How we grew up? Do we get fed what we think even if subtly? I find I can't really talk to the extreme right or left on a lot of sensitive issues. Try having a rational discussion on abortion with a rightie or leftie when your position is not total freedom of abortion and also not total elimination of it. Emotions run high over murder on the one side and total freedom on the other. For me it's a lost cause because I see nuance.

Years ago I did one of those personality tests where it determines where we fit in the human spectrum. My results came out in the less than 5% of the population which may explain some of my problem in all of this at least.

So as I have said here and wherever I've commented on this, I saw what happened in the shooting this time as multi-pronged and in no order of what should be done first.

One--better access to mental health, identifying dangerous people before they get to the mall or school, giving families and authorities the power to do something when the problem is identified (the power is NOT there now). As you read the stories of families and school authorities dealing with mental illness, it's clear that they are on their own, helpless with a problem that they can see has every chance of escalating to deadly violence.

Two-- get the guns that did the killings out of the hands of everybody/anybody. That means assault and semi-assault rifle ban, no extended magazines, no resales and a program to get the ones out there turned in. More controls over the big gun shows that are everywhere. How about the government putting out some money to help with meaningful background checks which means waiting periods no matter where someone buys a gun. And if you sell your own to a private party, you have responsibility for who they are.

On the assault rifles already out there, even if they could make them illegal to own (it'll take a Democratic majority in the House and Senate) survivalists won't turn theirs in, that's a fact, but there could be a big fine if they are found with them. They are the ones who think they need those weapons to defend themselves when the UN comes knocking-- which is no more likely to happen than Santa Claus will come down their chimney-- and in the meantime these guns are designed to look cool to the youths, they are what they see in the video games and movies, and intended for only one thing-- killing humans.

Three-- look at our culture of violence where kids grow up pretending to shoot people in video games and watch films where mass murder is common and part of the excitement.

Yes, I have said all of the above before-- and after each of these mass killings. My posts on violence through the years.  Nothing happens. Nothing is done and the reasons are manifold. Some because Americans are eager for the next cause which is instantly provided. It takes concentration and a reasonable set of goals to get anything-- if we could even agree what anything is.

Four-- replace all school doors with bulletproof glass and solid enough doors that a machine gun can't open them. This should be done before school starts up after Christmas. Can't do it? Why didn't we already do it?

Five-- I've suggested this other places but bear spray in the administrator's offices with them knowing how to use it. Bear spray works better than pepper for an insane, maybe out of control druggie or someone like last one who couldn't feel pain. It works at 30' and although he might not feel pain from it, his eyes would close long enough for the police to arrive.

Six-- quit calling each other names over this. It is NOT the fault of  me and the millions of other gun owners. It is not the fault of atheists. It is not the fault of Jon Stewart because he's Jewish. It is not because we don't have prayer in schools. It is the fault of all those who have been ignoring all of this, which might include us, and letting weapons of war become toys in homes for people who didn't grow up.

Guns are tools. They are used by ranchers to quickly and mercifully kill suffering livestock when what is wrong cannot be treated. They are used to kill predators that threaten or have killed their stock. Where I live they are used by some who hunt for the meat which they very much need as they are marginal for incomes. They can be used if the person is attacked by a predator. Most country folk are wise enough to realize when a bear in the bush wolfed at you, the solution is quietly turn around not shoot into the brush, but if the bear does more than warn you off, then it's good to have more than a shrill yell to hope will stop his charge.

Yes, I've shot my rifle at living creatures-- coyotes. I have also, when I cannot get hold of one fast enough, run screaming at a coyote with a lamb down and scaring it off by my voice. Actually I've done that twice with no weapon, but it only works when I am there to do it. I've seen the animals torn apart by the predator and I guarantee you, it's not a pretty sight.

Because of my experiences with livestock and the need to protect them, because I live a LONG way from any police protection, a gun is a tool for me. I don't love it. I do understand how to safely use it which means I don't keep my finger on a trigger when I am not ready to fire. I also don't point it at anything I don't intend to shoot. (our class for a concealed carry permit said don't point it at anybody as a threat but only if you are willing to shoot-- the other way is apt to see your gun taken away and used on you).

Although I do have a concealed carry permit, I don't carry because I see the risks of having one where my purse might be stolen as greater than not-- besides my purse is too heavy now. I've had friends though who always carry a gun in a shoulder holster, and I feel no fear of them because they know how to use the gun wisely. For those who worry about concealed weapon permits-- how many holders have ever used their gun for a crime?

For those scared of guns. Wise choice. Don't get one. But don't you dare try to put the blame for Connecticut on me or those like me. I won't take it, and you are shooting at the wrong target with the likelihood the real one will escape as it's counting on this kind of hysteria.

Worse though than the possibility the country won't really get rid of assault rifles, for me is that we might not change policies regarding mental illnesses; so that parents and schools have better options than to have to wait until a crime has been committed. Isn't that too late? It was in Connecticut.

If I am talking to a rightie or leftie on this, I lost them both a long time ago. My only hope is enough moderates are thinking and ready to put real pressure onto government, thoughtful, nuanced pressure that we might as a nation make changes that would stop a new tragedy at least using extended magazines, assault or semi-assault rifles. I also hope the changes don't end with the guns.

Of course, my hope is not what the far right wing wants. They want more guns, even assault rifles in the hands of principals. And what I want isn't enough for the far left who want a ban and confiscation of all guns. Three ways of seeing the same incident and three different approaches. Why do we see it so differently?

I hope you didn't think I had the answer. I haven't got a clue as how I see it seems the obvious sensible way but neither extreme right nor left agree with me.

First three photos in our Tucson back yard are of a Harris's hawk. Fourth is a kestrel at Catalina State Park and the one above a Road Runner also there. 

Bird watching is very good for emotional health right now in such a tumultuous time. I know Christmas seasons can be stressful but this seems extreme and not just the mass shootings, just everywhere. It's as if our country has gone for rabid anger and it's feeding on itself. What is that about!?