The Radical 1%

I did not decide to write this in light of recent events, this has been in my library of topics to touch on for quite some time now. However, there was more motivation to write about it now because of what has happened in the past week.

Of course I am talking about the awful tragedy in Orlando.

Now after this terrible event just like most others, people come out and start spouting their opinions and smearing them all over social media. Which can be a good thing as long as you can find a way to debate respectively and not yell at each other about why their opinion is “wrong.” It’s not wrong it’s just different from yours.

But I digress.

This post is about how you and whatever group, religion, race, etc. you belong to are and forever will be defined by the radical and super-vocal 1%.

I will start off by saying what terrible form of judgement by the rest of us, and most of us are guilty of it.

African Americans? Defined by the radical 1% that perform violent crimes. Islamic people? Seen as terrorists because of awful tragedies such as this one. Americans? Perceived as ignorant, arrogant, unappreciative, privileged humans because we have pride in our country. Police? All people see are trigger happy, racists with a gun and a badge. Gun owners? They are all hillbilly, rednecks who want guns for shits and giggles according to everybody else.

Now, these all couldn’t be more wrong. And keep in mind those are just a few generalizations of groups; there are so many perceptions for countless organizations, religions, etc. The amount of people that do not possess these attributes yet associate those groups belittles the amount of people that do possess the attributes.

The two I find most fascinating are the perceptions of police and gun owners. And I simply could not hold my tongue any longer.

I see videos all over the internet (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) of people trying to disobey and disrespect police officers just for the fun of it. For example, I saw an awful video of a man who had been tasered by a police officer because he refused to get out of his vehicle. As a result he may have permanent brain damage, which is terrible. However, when a police officer asks you to get out of the car, why in all of hell would you say no unless you have something to hide? I know you have your rights and I respect that, but they are simply trying to do their job. Which by the way in case any of you forgot is to PROTECT AND SERVE not beat and kill. Help them help you and the rest of the general public.

Another cop hating video surfaced this week of some guy at a DUI checkpoint claiming to not answer any questions until he can speak with a supervisor (watch it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dh9Za9M1HQ). Again, if you have nothing to hide, what the hell are you doing? You are full-on being a legitimate piece of sh!t and I really do not have any other way to word it. I wish I did. Just let the guy do his damn job. There are no cops that will walk into a McDonald’s and tell the employees they can’t make the food for other customers. It’s just dumb. Don’t argue with the cops. Unlike many of us who do our jobs simply to make our lives better, they do their jobs to make all of our lives better. It’s a very lost opinion in our millennial generation and I think we need to step up our level of respect for those who serve whether it be police officers, fire fighters, or those in the military.

On to the gun owners who have come under a lot of recent fire ((p)unintended) (I hate myself sometimes) because of the recent events in Orlando. Gun owners are now being seen as trigger-happy psychopaths because of a few certain idiots.

Responsible gun owners from all over are voicing their outrage towards those calling for gun banishment which is extremely reasonable. What is unreasonable, is gun banishment. One, it will never happen. Two, it will never work.

I have heard gun owners of all shapes and sizes and be all for a form of gun control that will not allow people who have been investigated by the FBI to buy a gun. There can be an agreement that the laws behind purchasing a fire arm need to be stricter in some if not most states. It is when the people that lean too far right or too far left argue that their ideas are better when in reality, meeting somewhere in the middle is more than likely the right choice.

This about where most people will come in and argue “Why do you need an assault rifle?” Why do you need a 70 inch TV? Why do you need shoes that cost over $200? Why do you need bottled water when you can get it for free from a tap?

Because this is America and we want it and our capitalistic society allows us to indulge ourselves to satisfy our wants and needs whatever they may be.

You want to go shooting for sport and for fun in a safe, controlled environment? That’s awesome I know plenty of people who do that. There should not be anything stopping a completely sane person from indulging themselves in their desires. If you try to prevent them from doing that and then go indulge yourself in clothes, movies, and other materialistic goods, you are no better than they are and are, in fact, a hypocrite.

So to sum it up, look past the few vocal minorities of a group to see the good-practicing members of that group because there are almost 482 times as many good people in any group as there are bad people. Whether it be for a religion, an association, political party, race or whatever, take the time to get to know more than the bare minimum about them. Only after that should you make judgements.