Trump, guns, Parkland, Pavlov, and character(s)

In the real world, people tend to be true to their nature. Good writing reflects that, and characters act in ways that are internally consistent and believable. You may or may not like the characters, but if the various players in the story each are true to their own worldview, education, upbringing, etc., they are believable. In much the same way, various actors on the world stage – politicians, bureaucratic organizations, lawyers, televangelists, etc. – all play sadly repetitious, if not completely predictable, parts.

The Fable of the Scorpion and the Frog comes to mind. For better or worse we keep acting like ourselves. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes just… the way it is. Like Pavlov’s dogs, we react to some things very predictably.

So… There was a shooting at a school. Predictably, the FBI ignored warnings (whether by incompetence or malice is a story for another day). Predictably, the local cops / sheriff’s deputies didn’t save the day (whether by incompetence or malice is a story for another day, yet again). The media spatters it all over the screens, with monotonous predictability, followed by the canned political speeches calling for banning various guns, and harass the President with leading questions about if he wants to save lives and ban guns, too.

Unexpectedly, Trump made noises about being open to talking about some types of gun control. The pro-gun right freaked out. The phones in DC lit up. Calm down, guy. It surprised me at first, but upon reflection, I realized: The God Emperor and Supreme Troll-meister extraordinaire was just doing his thing – he’s making noises that the Dems and media will glom onto and run with, hopefully, and make a central part of their ad campaign for the 2018 election cycle. Gun control is a toxic place for Dems, a minefield loaded with nukes. Trump is rope-a-dope-ing them like he did with DACA – he’ll sign something “good” if they can get together and pass something, but he knows they can’t without ripping their masks off in the process and loose YUGELY. It’s like a script: the media is playing its part as predictably as always, while Trump is playing them like a fiddle. He rings the bell, they salivate like Pavlov’s dogs. They are scorpions – it’s in their nature to take too much and hurt themselves.

By all means, call and write your congress critter – let them know your displeasure. By all means go to the range, and maybe take a noob with you. Post. Call. Write. Pray. Show new people Jordan Peterson, Vox Day, StyxHexenhammer666, etc videos and blogs.

But also – sleep soundly. God’s got this. And his current chosen implement of destruction has fabulous hair, a load of White Hats who remember their oath, and a magazine full of high-octane negative-press covfefe ready to unload.

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