April 13, 2005
Barbarians We ARE
I've been in many arguments with GFW's about WHY I feel the need to possess fierearms. They tell me that the only reason to have a firearm is if I intend to participate in a war zone or act as a duly authorized Law Enforcement Officer(LEO).
Well, I was a LEO for over 10 years. I have seen the underbelly of our society and dealt with the barbarians inhabiting that zone. And make no mistake, they ARE barbarians. We as a people have delegated responsibility for our safety to units of government embodied in the Military for the outside forces and the LEO's for those barbarians within our own walls that would do us harm. Then we proceeded to try to tell ourselves that we were safe, and we didn't need to worry on our own personal level, thats what the Police were for.
We forgot that "society" is an artificial construct; and it only functions smoothly and safely when all of us play by exactly the same rules and moral codes. The fact is that basic Human Nature IS NOT, and WILL NEVER BE as benign as we would have it in society. That drive to strive to overcome and to possess is in all of is to various degrees. In fact, we need that drive, channelled in appropiate ways, to maintain a society at all; without it, society becomes stagnant and withers away.
I have never been able to articulate what I mean by my views, and then, as I was surfing through my usual haunts, Kim du Toit(be sure to add him to YOUR daily reads!) pointed me to a post that articulates it perfectly, to where even the most devout GFW must stop and ponder "Hmmm, he may have a point there, I just wonder..." before they lapse back into their familiar rut of indoctrination and cry for yet another restriction of our 2nd. Amendment rights to "protect them from people that think that way".
My main point is that we are, by nature, Barbarians. Civilization has put a thin veneer over our basic nature and makes it seem that we have advanced over the millenia, but in reality, we have only channeled those basic impulses in the strictures of sociatal norms that allow us to use those impulses in ways that don't overtly harm others, at least for the most part. When we forget that those impulses are there, and let our guard down the slightest bit, society begins to break down and our true natures come once again to the fore. In the final analysis, might does make right. We are all animals, some of us predators and some of us natural prey, the difference we have over all the other animals in the world is, we can chose whether to REMAIN prey, or whether we will prey on the weaker just at this moment...we have choice in the matter. The GFW's have made the choice to remain sheep, protected by the shepherds of government; unfortunatly, they would try to force that same choice on those of us who, while we ARE predators, do not chose to predate, at least today. We will not mildly accept the pulling of our fangs, it isn't within our nature to do so. They should be gratefull that it is not, for the time will come yet again, when we will be the "civilized barbarians" that are defending them from those that have totally given themselves over to their true predatory nature.
Great Post.
Would you rather have the enemy at your feet or at your throat? All the laws in the world can't protect you, only you can protect yourself. The knowledge that you might die if you try to overpower your neighbor and take his possesions is the only deterrant separating the prey from the predator. Whether it be in the home, the community, the state or between countries, it starts at home. Without the means to defend yourself you become the prey, whether that predator be your neighbor or your government.