Gun Ownership≠Racism

Last week was Fox News and this week is MSNBC, but both involve Democrats, and unique ways of expressing their opinion. The gist of this video is that Michael Moore believes that people who own guns, own the guns based on some sort of racist grounds. This video circulated around a few political blogs I read, and was discussed a lot. Now, to begin I must first say that I am both a Republican and my family owns a gun, so I clearly disagree with Michael Moore's statement. I should also state, that we own a Glock 23, but not for home security. Shooting is something that is challenging and an activity that people can do with other people. When I got to be about 17, my dad and I didn't really do anything together in terms of having a catch or playing sports. However, my dad knew that I wanted to work in law enforcement and would like to try shooting a gun. One day, my dad surprised me and said he had gotten a gun. It kind of just sat hidden in his room, but then one day we finally got a chance to go to the range and we took turns getting used to shooting a gun and even tried trap shooting that day. We keep going because it is a competition between the two of us and it is engaging to keep trying to get better and get closer to the bulls eye as best we can.

Michael Moore, uses a racist argument for basically no reason. It brings attention to his view, but it seems like a poor basis. I think there are plenty of valid arguments against gun ownership, but this really was the first time that I heard racism used as the reason that people own guns. I think almost everyone who uses a gun goes to the range and shoot it to have fun and hone their skill. There is probably barely anyone that keeps their gun locked up in their home, only to be used for the safety of the home.

Kind of a Strange Way to Get a Point Across

I do not want this video to be looked at politically in terms of whether you agree with Rep. Jackson Lee, Fox News, or neither. Instead I want to just discuss the elephant in the video, and by that I mean the intern who had to hold that sign behind Rep. Jackson Lee. It certainly is a bold move and also controversial to hold up a picture of a woman in her hospital bed for political gain.

When I watched the video, it started out fine and then all of a sudden when they show Rep. Jackson Lee, there is suddenly a bar that appears on the right of the screen that looks like something not associated with the picture. It was at that point that I realized that the background was actually just a big picture being held up. First, that is pretty funny because the picture is literally moving behind the representative. It was here that the picture became distracting for me, the viewer.

The worst part for Rep. Jackson Lee was that the background she chose became its own sideshow and distracted everyone from the point she was trying to make. Further it hurt her case in that the Fox News host was obsessive over it and Rep. Jackson Lee basically told him that he was right.

Instead of the two discussing the issue of healthcare, they spent the time battling over the picture. This incident hardly would help any neutral viewer watching Fox News to side with Rep. Jackson Lee. Her background certainly would help stir up a debate and it was a bold background, but it was just too blatant and absurd. It was also pretty weird. Isn't that probably someone's grandmother being used as a backdrop? It's just a little bit too much for me.