So. I have some friends in an Internet chat room. It's a fairly close knit group, and I enjoy going there.
Well, at least, I used to. The woman who runs the chatroom and the subsequent forum is a lady I've known for years. I love her dearly, and almost view her as a second mom.
However, she's...an extreme conservative, as are several others in the room.
I haven't visited there ever since before the Sandy Hook shooting. I was even less inclined to visit after it happened, because I knew what I would hear. In spite of the fact that twenty children and six adults were massacred in a horrifying way, I knew that they would all be discussing it. I knew that they would stand in defense of gun rights. I knew they would in all likelihood agree with arming teachers to the teeth in the schools, since the only way to prevent government fascism is to have a well-armed populace. And of course, Obama's going to take away everyone's guns and leave us all defenseless. Or something to that effect.
The honest truth is this.
I don't want to hear it.
I don't care to hear it.
I don't want to listen to their paranoia when I am sick of hearing of innocent people being shot to hell at least once a month or more in the national news, or of hearing of an abusive boyfriend on my local news who shot and killed his ex girlfriend and her toddler in cold blood, which is a story that's sadly all too common.
I'm tired of being mocked for my liberal beliefs, or of hearing Obama trashed while Romney's held up as some kind of job creating saint. I'm tired of being silenced and shut down at every turn. I'm tired of feeling like I'm the only sane voice of reason in a sea of blind stupidity. I'm tired of being told I'm a sheep because I voted for and supported Obama. I'm tired of being talked down to and dismissed.
I've put up with such things from them for awhile while biting my tongue, however...I think this might be the final straw for me. I'm done. There's no way I'm going to listen to a bunch of right wing supporters shriek at me about gun rights when twenty children lie cold in their graves, leaving grieving parents and shattered lives behind that may never be put back together. I don't want to hear them try to justify their position to me when I suggest that we need reasonable regulations and tell them that no, Obama isn't going to take away all the guns and melt them into scrap metal, and how there is no damn good reason for civilians outside of the military to have access to extremely high-powered fire arms. And perhaps there'd be fewer shootings if there were fewer guns. I also don't want to hear the excuse about how it's not guns that kill people, it's crazy people that kill people. While yes that may technically be true, I think we could go a long way in keeping the public safer by taking steps to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of the mentally deranged. This is where background checks could be extremely effective, as well, might I add.
However, if you still stand in defense of the second amendment rights and the NRA even as the body count continues to climb because of madmen with machine guns, then I only have this to say in closing.
I don't want to hear it.
11:55 PM PT: EDIT: Holy crap, Rec list? I'm amazed and flattered. Thank you! I never expected this!