Quick Notes On Our Troubles

TL;DR: Here's why I don't want to see "legal firearms" at local rallies in my town.

I want to see a movement like '60s Black Empowerment and the Pettus Bridge and Kent State and Stonewall heroes. I do not want to live in armed-skirmish-Northern Ireland. We remember the names of the relatively few who lost their lives in the mid-century US, because there were relatively few of them. And look at all of what their sacrifice actually gained us. Voting rights, school integration rights, abortion rights, women's rights, LGBTQ Rights. Think very hard at the progress made in the last 70 years through persistent non-violent protest movements.

Yes, violent fascists are in power. But they've been in power before. The actions of their thousands of assholes is no match for our millions of Regular People who don't want to see their Regular Guy Suburban neighbors eyes burned out of their head with pepper spray or shot 10 times in the back. That guy they just hauled away still has my skil saw.

We can get it back (Not the saw, that thing's just gone let it go). We don't need to walk around armed to protest for peace.

I am not victim blaming. It's not my opinion that Alex Pretti had any role in provoking his own death. My opinion was that he only would have used that weapon in the defense of others facing violence. ICE pepper sprayed this man in the face, and never did he try to shoot them for that. He remained calm. It's unclear to me when they even noticed he had a gun. It seems it may have been after they'd already made their decision that he wasn't ever going to get back up. I'm not going to watch that man die so I can frame-by-frame figure it out.

This is in response to this video about which I have no context. But it's basically a MAGA prick who rolled in all Maga Prick-like and IRL PWN some Libs and then panicked like anyone would when they've mouthed off and decide they gotta go. My opinion is that Pretti would not have used that opportunity to unload his firearm in the MAGA guy's face. As a public servant he would have attended to the injured student. Because he's a regular, nice person who feels a duty to his fellow people.

It's shocking, but not shocking. This will be played by the MAGA right as "bad apples on /both sides/ guys remember that ANTIFA lady who tried to run down that ICE guy?" The civilian hard-MAGA right buys all that and so they feel like they can retaliate in kind when they try and trigger some libs and things get a little too real. Regardless of what an asshole he is, think about this guy's state. He's all jacked up on adrenaline because he braved marching into the lib crowd and talked some smack. Hurries back to the truck. People are gathering. Decides it's Time to Go.

It's a case study in "there's suddenly a crowd of people around my car yelling at me I better get outta here, oh god did I hit one of them I better GO!".

The difference is the ICE agents unload in your face you when you panic under those conditions. As any Regular Person would panic. The Libs do not do retaliate with firepower, and must not IMHO. We are not the violent ones here. This is what non-violent resistance looks like to me. Everyone can do what they can. When the violent fascist government marches straight into us with riot gear, we remain peaceful. And we remain there. There are Trump Flag waving pricks at the No Kings rallies in my town. They get jeered. But they don't get shot at. And I don't want armed Regular Libs in my town square ready to "protect" us. This lady didn't die did she? Would it have helped anyone if this guy got lit up for that?

There's a lot of power in the moment when a peaceful resistance movement is met with state sanctioned violence, and they're not armed to respond. They're just a bunch of regular people being gunned down. And things start moving really fast politically when regular moms in a mini van full of cheerios are being gunned down by feds armed like a military. From 100 angles. On the nightly news. Like you're watching Idi Amin.

The optics works. Most people are disgusted by the national guard having to protect a little kid walking to school because of her color, whether it's in the 50s or now. Churches were bombed and community aid workers murdered then also. But there wasn't a race war because you can't really have a "war" when only one side chooses to use force.

If I take one in the face while peacefully gathered in my literal town's square my final thought isn't going to be "damn I wish someone was armed so we could shoot back".

I would hope I'm thinking of John Lewis.

This isn't Crips v. Bloods ca 1987. It's LAPD v. All of Regular Guy LA in the '90s.