Sarcasm or Serious?

[Bailey Guns]

If this guy is being sarcastic, OK...I get it.

Unfortunately, I fear he's quite serious. What do you think?

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2009/12/28/guns_teachers_and_self_defense/



Guns, teachers, and self-defense

December 28, 2009

I am a math teacher at Brockton High School, the site of a school shooting earlier this month.

Current school security procedures lock down school populations in the event of armed assault. Some advocate abandoning this practice as it holds everyone in place, allowing a shooter easily to find victims.

An alternative to lockdown is immediate exodus via announcement. Although this removes potential hostages and makes it nearly impossible for the shooter to acquire preselected targets, it unfairly rewards resourceful children who move to safety off-site more shrewdly and efficiently than others. Schools should level playing fields, not intrinsically reward those more resourceful. A level barrel is fair to all fish.

Some propose overturning laws that made schools gun-free zones even for teachers who may be licensed to securely carry concealed firearms elsewhere. They argue that barring licensed-carry only ensures a defenseless, target-rich environment.

But as a progressive, I would sooner lay my child to rest than succumb to the belief that the use of a gun for self-defense is somehow not in itself a gun crime.


DOUG VAN GORDER
Quincy http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/File-Based_Image_Resource/dingbat_story_end_icon.gif

[funkfool]

"...the use of a gun for self-defense is somehow not in itself a gun crime."
WTF?
So, to go along the same lines...
The use of a knife (scalpel) to save a life is a knife crime??

[Irving]

So he's basically saying he'd use his kid as a human shield before he'd use a gun to neutralize a threat. Sure dude, suit yourself. I'll keep my kids behind me, thanks.

[Bailey Guns]

To be fair, Stuart, there's nothing wrong with human shields. For example, I'd be more than happy to use this knucking fucklehead as a human shield.

[Irving]

Boy do I have a video for you....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqj2AHRfSAQ

[Hawk]

In a day when too many ideas and beliefs are gravitating to far-left thinking way too quickly,
this (unfortunately) seems to be an honest "shining jewel of colossal ignorance" moment.

I feel it should be seriously noted and remembered by us who take the self-defense
aspect of our hobby and sport seriously.

Good catch, Bailey Guns.

Thanks

[TFOGGER]

A-frickin'mazing....he's a math teacher, and can't understand:

1 Armed citizen
+ 1 well placed bullet
+ 1 school shooter
= a bunch less people dying in school shootings

I personally woudl rather deal with the guilt of taking 1 life, rather than letting many die, knowing I could have stopped it. +1 on protecting the defenseless, rather than hiding behind them.

[SA Friday]

Come on now, Mass. is the pinnacle of intellegence. I mean, who WOULDN'T want all the victims equally screwed. Seriously, the only thing that matters is that it's equal. All other ideas to the contrary are just ludicris. We cannot have a society that, "unfairly rewards resourceful children who move to safety off-site more shrewdly and efficiently than others." That's just crazy talk... Rewarding the more intelligent and resourceful? What kind of un-politically correct shit would that be? We all have to be screwed and if someone it getting ahead of the pack, well gosh-darn-it, you better pull is ass back in line.

[Irving]

That is a tough article to understand for me. It seems like the unfair rewarding of kids who hide effectively is clearly sarcasm, but that last part isn't delivered quite the same way and leaves me wondering. I can see why you brought it up.

[Bailey Guns]

Boy do I have a video for you....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqj2AHRfSAQ


Well now that just wasn't fair. Everyone should be equally exposed to the grenade explosion.

[SA Friday]

I don't read a single word of sarcasm in it. I have written into paper's editorials before, and a sarcasm doesn't read well. It's a verbal mode of correspondence. One writes what they mean. I would have to consider this moron has a BS to teach math in a school. This can't be his first foray into writing something for another's reading.

Yes, there are acutally people out there this screwed up... I'm would not be shocked at all he was this screwed up and a teacher at the same time. I call people who think like this terminal victims.

[Irving]

I tried to come up with a "He who smelt it, delt it" joke out of this, but I gave up.

[Bailey Guns]

And another thing...

I refuse to buy into this rebranding of liberals as "progressives". What a crock. They've already screwed up the term liberal and it's evolved into a derogatory term for most. Now they want to relabel themselves as progressives? Personally, I think most people equate the term "progressive" as having a connotation of something good. That's why they've s**tcanned the liberal term.

My gut actually tells me this guy is serious...I guess I just didn't want to believe it. Denial. I need to see my therapist, Dr Kimber, for a short stress relief session.

[GoldFinger]

I'm guessing this guy doesn't have a child, nor appreciates the responsibility of trying to protect one. I dare say this, but how could anyone really be so rash as to say they'd rather bury their child than have someone kill the criminal? If he does have children I hope, for their sake, some ahole doesn't take this as a personal challenge. No one should have to realize how freeking stupid they are like that.

[Bang]

[Mtn.man]

Once again it proves that brains don't always lead to one to have wisdom.

[BigBear]

Hey now, careful! I'm a teacher too. Don't generalize! lol.

Although to find teh reaction of whether it is meant as a joke or if the writer is serious... why not put his kid in front of a gun and see what happens?**

**Disclaimer, I am in no way suggesting someone actually do this!

HAHA.

[jake]

It's obviously sarcasm. Here's another clearly satirical letter purportedly from the same author:




Stars and Stripes
Letters to the Editor, Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Immediately after the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, the Army’s top officer, Gen. George Casey, said, "As horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse."

The general is spot on.

There is no more precious national cause than the continued creation and veneration of diversity. Diversity trumps the safety and lives of our soldiers, ourselves and our children. The deaths of 13 brave men and women constitute a tragic loss, but we can take comfort in knowing that their lives were given in the name of protecting Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s right to remain a member in good standing of the American military.

It is entirely appropriate that the Army never acted upon suspicions raised by Hasan’s earlier, perhaps troubling to some, behavior. It is appropriate because — and we must continually restate this as almost a mantra until progressivism sets our collective heart in the right place — he is an American whose very presence completes our national identity. And although we deplore the acts of violence Hasan allegedly committed, we deeply cherish his contribution to America’s diversity.

Doug Van Gorder
Quincy, Mass.

The only thing I can't figure out is whether he's one of 'you' who thinks all us liberals and progressives think like that because we're mentally ill, or one of 'us' who is parodying 'your' more extreme hyperbole.

[Irving]

There is obviously an unbridgeable gap between how non-gun people understand gun ownership compared to how most gun owners understand it. I highly suspect that same large gap exists when it comes to understanding the logic behind comments like the one about him rather burying his kid than use a gun to protect him. This article may be satirical, but I've seen comments like that many times before, and none of those instances were satire.

[Bailey Guns]

After reading the article jake quoted I tend to agree...the guy is really not a whack-job liberal. He's just making fun of them.

Reminds me of this guy, Liberal Larry. He's freakin' hilarious:

http://blamebush.typepad.com/blamebush/

[Elhuero]

never mind

[68Charger]

perhaps he was told by the principal he couldn't express his true pro-2nd amdendment views... so he figured the next best thing was thinly veiled sarcasm that makes people think, and helps expose Liberals hiding behind the progressive label..

[SA Friday]

It's obviously sarcasm. Here's another clearly satirical letter purportedly from the same author:

The only thing I can't figure out is whether he's one of 'you' who thinks all us liberals and progressives think like that because we're mentally ill, or one of 'us' who is parodying 'your' more extreme hyperbole.
In light of this second article, it does appear he is writing sarcastically. But, I wouldn't say it's obviously sarcasm without the second article. The Star and Stripes article is much more obvious.

[two shoes]

After reading the article jake quoted I tend to agree...the guy is really not a whack-job liberal. He's just making fun of them.

Reminds me of this guy, Liberal Larry. He's freakin' hilarious:

http://blamebush.typepad.com/blamebush/
Gotta love Liberal Larry with "Goose-Murdering Lunatic Worshipped as a "Hero" (http://blamebush.typepad.com/blamebush/2009/01/goosemurdering-lunatic-worshipped-as-a-hero.html)"

Sad thing is, there are those that argee with his statements, without the sarcasim....

[Birddog1911]

Frankly, I'm dumbfounded to say anything that probably wouldn't be a COC violation, other than the fact that I'm glad that I do not have children.

[Mtn.man]

Sold yours too...

[two shoes]

Sold yours too...
[LOL][LOL][LOL]

[Elhuero]

[LOL][LOL][LOL]


naw, same boating accident that lost him his guns

[theGinsue]

That is a tough article to understand for me. It seems like the unfair rewarding of kids who hide effectively is clearly sarcasm, but that last part isn't delivered quite the same way and leaves me wondering. I can see why you brought it up.

After living with those MASSholes, and trying to navigate through this gentleman's (cough, cough) poorly written article, I believe this was written with sincerity, not sarcasm. Sick bastard.


Good response SA!