A typical gun owner enjoying his collection.

Mass shootings and gun rights have been in the news and the court of public opinion for quite a while now, but it seems like the arguments surrounding these events have really heated up recently.

People I normally like (on both sides of the issue) turn into raving assholes whenever the question of America and guns comes up. I tend to play Devil’s advocate a lot, and to also try to look at any issue from as many angles as possible, so I tend to draw a lot of fire (clever gun funny there) from people on both sides.

Many of my passionately anti-gun friends seem to think that the only solution to violence in America is a total ban on all firearms. Meanwhile, people I know that like guns for one reason or another seem to loathe any suggestion that maybe there are some problems with gun culture that should be dealt with.

Like most controversial issues, the people on the farthest extremes are not likely to change their minds no matter how persuasive the argument, or how compelling the evidence given. They’re extremists, whether they want to cop to it or not. The dude living in a concrete bunker with 200 guns and 10,000 rounds of ammo is not going to change his mind about his need for all of those guns. He’s already invested too much of his life to a rather extreme lifestyle.

The anti-gun person, who thinks the good ‘ol U.S. Of A can and should adopt a total gun ban as soon as possible, regardless of the millions of guns already out there, is not going to be swayed by evidence that gun violence as a whole is actually declining in this country. They also have invested too much emotion into their position.

It’s a sad bit of human nature, but we tend to distrust anyone and anything that is different than ourselves and our own experience.

Me? I have mixed feelings on guns and their place in this country. Guns are as much a part of the culture of the USA as muscle cars and baseball. The history of the gun is inextricable from the history of this country.

I grew up around guns, but no one in my family was the stereotypical “gun nut.” I lived on a farm for a few years, and a rifle under my mom’s bed was just another tool, and one us kids never touched. We didn’t hunt, so that wasn’t part of my background, although I had friends that did. Weirdly enough, I don’t remember guns being as divisive an issue as they seem to be now.

Mass shootings certainly aren’t new. You can still see a few bullet holes from Charles Whitman’s psychopathic 1966 U.T. Tower rampage on the buildings along Guadalupe Street here in Austin, if you know where to look. And mass shootings in America weren’t new even then. School shootings weren’t either.

So why does it seem like these mass shootings are occurring more and more often?

The Washington Post and other researching entities have found that there’s been no major increase in the frequency of mass shootings since 1980 or so. So what’s happening?

This is just my opinion, but I think there are several factors at play here.  The population keeps increasing, we have almost instant media coverage, and with the Internet people on all sides of the issue can howl endlessly at one another. It gives the appearance that these events take place more and more often, when in fact they are probably just more widely reported and given more media attention than was possible in earlier generations.

That doesn’t mean that mass shootings shouldn’t be an issue that we as a country try to address, but it does help to have some perspective.

The thing is, the right to bear arms is enshrined in our Constitution, and it’s not going anywhere soon. The Supreme Court has pretty consistently supported the interpretation of that Second Amendment as meaning that a person has the right to own guns and defend themselves with them.

The hardcore gun people are not going to give up that right simply because a lot of people don’t like the fact that they can own them. They’re not likely to give up that right simply because others think it would make society a safer environment for all. Many of the gun rights people equate being allowed to keep guns as FREEDOM (in all caps), and any infringement on those rights is seen as a draconian overstep of the government’s power. Quite a few of them extend this opinion to the point of thinking that they could somehow keep the government at bay in case it veered towards totalitarianism.

This is of course absurd, as a handful of clowns armed with AR15’s could be almost instantly vaporized by the might of the U.S. Military.

It seems to me that there are plenty of people with stupid ideas and faulty logic on both sides of the issue, and more concentrated towards both extremes.

But guns aren’t going anywhere in this country. They’re just not. Unless they can be magically “poofed” away in a cloud of “never existed”, there are so many guns in circulation already that it would probably be hundreds of years before they were all discovered and rendered inoperable. Also, guns are old technology. Most people with simple tools could probably build one if they wanted to.

There’s also vastly different attitudes towards guns depending on location. People living in rural environments tend to have a different view of guns compared to folks living in densely populated  cities.

People tend to simplifying views and vilify people that live differently than themselves. The old stereotypes of evil southern rednecks and out of touch liberal pussies isn’t accurate, but it sure gives both sides of this debate people to hate on. Viewing people as cartoon characters accomplishes nothing.

So what CAN change?

I honestly don’t know. Attempts at making the laws stricter seem to consistently fail, so I don’t see that working. I think the root of the problem isn’t so much the guns themselves, but problems and attitudes within our culture.

I think it’s odd that so many people equate freedom with their right to own guns. Not because I don’t think they shouldn’t have that right, but because freedom conditional on having a gun doesn’t seem that free to me. My own brother was an avid gun collector, and seemed to harbor a mild case of that sort of “Come and take it” mentality. He died at home alone of natural causes. All those guns did nothing to help save his life or freedom.

Why are so many people so paranoid?

Sure, there are times when a person’s paranoia is justified, but if I had to own an arsenal just to feel safe or secure, I sure wouldn’t feel too good about that.

For the record, I DO own a few guns, including the scary “assault rifles” that the anti-gun folks focus so much attention on (“assault rifles” are used in a tiny percentage of crimes, compared to handguns, but seem to get the most attention), but I don’t go through my daily life in fear of…I don’t know…criminals?

I just think that living like that wouldn’t be much of a life.

But we’re also bombarded with violent movies and video games these days. I happen to like those things. I wish someone would invent a modern video game where the player is a clown driving around in a van murdering people, but that hasn’t come out yet.

I can separate myself from the fantasy violence, and I don’t look at that stuff as a reflection of reality. You’ll never see me arguing for censorship of any kind. Ever. But it probably wouldn’t be a bad thing for society if more people could step away, and realize that Grand Theft Auto isn’t a realistic depiction of inner city life. At least violent media probably shouldn’t be routinely enjoyed by little kids.

I just don’t feel like it’s all that likely that I’ll be attacked by some random criminal at this point in my life. If I was, I’m pretty sure it would happen so fast I wouldn’t be able to react anyway.

That wouldn’t stop me from carrying a gun if I thought it necessary, I just think the fantasy of repelling an attack is a lot more unrealistic than a lot of people think.

Another part of the problem is that guns are cool in this culture. I don’t know how many young guys I’ve known that immediately went out to buy a hand gun as soon as they were old enough. Not because they “needed” one, but they wanted one because of the cool factor.

And that’s pretty dumb when you think about it.

So perhaps, if the perception that guns aren’t all that cool was to grow, we’d see a lot less in the hands of people that probably shouldn’t have them. I don’t know.

What I do know is that this issue isn’t going away. Both extremes should probably relax a little, and at least try to understand each other a bit more. In the cases of people that have been personally affected by gun violence, or who have used a gun to thwart an attack, neither side will ever give an inch. But there are a lot of people that might be open to some sort of compromise if they could just listen to each other without all the screaming.

I think the country would be a better place if fewer people chose to own guns, and we treated criminals that used them more harshly.  That’s my opinion, not something I wish to impose on everyone.

Now someone go make that Killer Clown in a Van game for me please….

I grew up going to big rock shows at an arena in Houston called The Summit. In fact, the very first big rock show I ever went to was held there – Billy Squier on the “Emotions in Motion” tour with Fastway opening. My mom took me and my brother. I was 11 or 12.

For years after, any big rock or metal shows in Houston were held there. I saw everyone from AC/DC to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest to Motörhead at that huge venue. It was big, loud, and not particularly comfortable, but it was the scene of a lot of great shows over the years.

It’s still the scene of a big show of sorts. It’s currently the headquarters of Joel Osteen Ministries and his enormous Lakewood Church. I suppose that certain Christians would find this turn of events to be some sort of victory for their religion – God’s Army occupying a former stronghold of Satan’s music of choice. Judging from a quick perusal on the Internet, lots of Christians still think that Satan is in control, as Joel Osteen is not universally popular among the ranks of the faithful.

Despite that, he IS incredibly popular with millions of other Christians, so why is this guy so polarizing?

Well, he’s one of the more successful proponents of the “Prosperity Gospel” or “Word of Faith” movement, a relatively recent religious theory that claims that God wants his flock to become wealthy and successful. In fact, faith can be measured by the devout’s worldly successes if one buys into this line of superstition.

Despite never having stumbled across anything in the Bible that backs this weirdly magical connection between wealth and faith, it’s a very popular idea. That popularity makes sense if you look at basic human nature, as most of us do want to become successful and financially secure, and most people seem to have a basic need to feel like they’re good people. For those with an inclination towards religion, it must be comforting to think that God wants us to be successful and comfortable, and in fact will reward those that are devout enough.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing that really backs that idea anywhere in scripture that I can think of, and Jesus in particular seemed to have a dim view of those that coveted money too much. It seems that the canonical references to wealth are used as cautionary tales, not an enticement to greater depths of faith.

But charismatic modern preachers have carved out very successful careers for themselves, promising their followers that God wants them all to be prosperous. Not just spiritually, but also financially.

Some of these mega-preachers are outwardly so slimy that it’s difficult to understand how much of anyone could be taken in by their obvious quest for personal riches. One of the techniques they claim garners the Lord’s favor is (of course) by their followers filling their churches coffers through donations. Pretty much all churches ask for donations, but hucksters like Oral (The Lord will call me home if you don’t donate enough $$$) Roberts, or Robert (speaking in tongues) Tilton took this greedy form of faith up several notches by telling their followers that God expected them to plant “seeds” of faith in the form of money sent to their ministries. These financial “seeds” would then in turn bloom, rewarding the faithful with worldly and other worldly successes.

As a general rule, it’s probably prudent to not trust multimillionaire ministers. But people continue to do so, despite the almost inevitable scandals that reveal their character.

The Prosperity Gospel has a decidedly dark side, and not just because it breaks from what the Bible actually says. It’s extremely popular with lower income folks and minorities, people that probably can’t afford to endlessly plant financial “seeds” to prove their faith to God. If their seeds don’t result in greater success (and they won’t) then those people just end up further down the hole, perhaps spending money on the outward signs of success (Since God’s favor is tied so closely to worldly successes), when they could be spending that money more wisely.

For religiously-inclined people that are financially secure, the message must be a popular and comforting one. God favors them, and has shown his approval of their lives by rewarding them with financial success. Who cares if some of them might be awful people? God doesn’t think so. It might be less convenient for them to remember that Satan is supposed to be “lord of this World”, and the dude more fitting to ask for money.

Joel Osteen seems like a nice guy. Why would I pick on him? He’s not so obviously insincere and sleazy as people like Benny Hinn or other wealthy televised purveyors of faith. Heck, Osteen might actually believe the crap he’s spewing. It’s not based in anything I get from the Bible, and sounds more like something out of a self help book, but why should I feel so strongly about him?

Well, he’s from Houston, and he’s set up shop in a place I used to enjoy going to. I guess that’s part of it. Maybe I just work for the Devil, and live to knock down incredibly rich televangelists. Or maybe I just don’t like smarmy rich fucks that take advantage of people looking for a positive message. I don’t know.

I like to think that maybe I just don’t buy into hogwash and bullshit that easily, and don’t like to see others taken in by it either.

From a purely selfish angle, I just don’t like the idea of millions of people walking around perhaps thinking that they can act like creeps as long as they follow the Prosperity Gospel “rules” and are rewarded by God.

In any case, I say it again. If you’re looking for someone to follow, perhaps a multimillionaire religious figure is not the person you should be considering. Something about a camel and the eye of a needle.

Joel ” I’m a soulless money Demon” Osteen

I was at this show.

KISS played The Summit on the Love. Gun tour

The Who played the too.

Lately, I’ve become aware of sexism and misogyny in the most unexpected of place – geek fandom culture.

I admit that I was largely unaware of this phenomenon simply because I’m not really some uber fan of much geeky stuff in the modern sense. I grew up reading super hero comic books, and even worked in a comic shop and at a comic distribution center at one point, but I don’t read super hero comics, and haven’t in almost thirty years.

I like technology and video games, but I hate online playing (of anything) and I don’t hang out on Internet forums discussing those things. I suppose that the geeky stuff I DO like is enjoyed in a solitary way these days. I don’t generally feel motivated to hang out with other fans, nor do I generally go to places where other fans congregate.

So you’ll have to excuse me for thinking that fandom stuff was still primarily the territory of awkward, but mostly benevolent, too-fat or too-skinny nerds that are persecuted for their interests. See, that’s the thing. I grew up as one of those people, and most of my friends were into the same role playing games, comic books, and horror movies that I was. Some of them were also early computer nerds, so fascinated by the possibilities of the extremely primitive home computers they had at the time, that they were willing to spend more time practicing old timey programming languages instead of hanging out with the cool kids at school.

And that wasn’t going to be happening in most cases, even if they’d wanted it to. The cool kids weren’t exactly embracing many of the terminally nerdy back then. People like that were generally outcasts among the majority of their peer group, and without the benefit of the Internet, being a nerd was often a lonely existence.

Finding friends, or anyone really, that would accept that you were into entertainment and activities that marked you as a weirdo to everyone else, felt special way back when I was a youngster. That’s why I find it troubling that misogyny and sexism seems to have exploded along with the mainstreaming of fandom.

I know I’m late to this party. This phenomenon has been getting a lot of press for awhile, with women being mistreated for being “fake geeks” and treated poorly if they are brave enough to stumble into the shitacular, still mostly male-dominated world of online video game play.

It makes me sad that hobbies which once marked a person as a weirdo, but were generally open and welcoming to almost anyone willing to pursue them, have attracted a hateful minority of men that think women are only valuable to be humiliated or as a sexual reward to losers like themselves. What the fuck, guys? That’s the kind of shitty behavior that many of us old school nerds witnessed from our jock tormentors. Why indulge in that shit?

Maybe part of the answer to that is the fact that geek culture has become a lot more “acceptable.” This mainstreaming of traditionally outsider activities has made those activities open to the types of males that might not have once been attracted to them. Being a computer nerd these days is seen as cool, it’s not the life sentence to “Never gets laid” island that it might have seemed to be in the early 80’s. Playing video games is popular with all sorts of people now, and I see more asshole “bros” talking about their passion for games as commonly or more so than “nerds” these days.

A lot of those dipshit bros are the types of guys that probably think taking a woman to the movies means they’re entitled to a blowjob at the end of the night, so it’s not surprising that online game play with jackasses like that might get nasty quick. And since adolescent boys are almost universally into video games these days, it’s also not surprising that an age group not often noted for its sensitivity might make online play or certain types of enthusiast online forums abusive places for a woman to venture into.

I recently encountered a manturd that was apparently an online gamer, who admitted to making “rape jokes” and being pretty shitty online. His defense was that there is no longer a line of any kind as far as humor goes, and that his online persona did not reflect who he was in “real life.”

What this brainless shitfuck failed to grok is that while there may not be an uncrossable line in regards to jokes anymore, consistently mean-spirited or abusive “humor” marks the person making those jokes as a complete asshole. He didn’t seem to get the fact that, yes, the way a person acts online IS a reflection of who they really are in “real life.”

In the end, I was left with the disquieting feeling that maybe the Internet has really poisoned the well of geekdom, and that some good old fashioned ass beatings might actually make some of these fuckheads a little more sensitive to the feelings of others.

But, online abuse and rape culture aside, is there some other force at work that makes a lot of these geek men so antagonistic towards women?

I don’t know. Even twenty years ago, when I helped run a comic book store, I noticed a lot of misogyny. There were guys that ate up the hypersexualized depictions of women in comics and other media, but who seemed distrustful or hateful towards real women. One regular customer of ours even suggested that the comic shop should be off limits to women, and open to men only, sort of a Taliban outpost of stinky man nerds that probably masturbated to She Hulk comics. He was sadly not alone in that sort of extreme opinion.

I personally feel that the typical classic comic mythologies are partially to blame. Most of the Silver Age comics that still seem to steer comic fandom’s boat started out as wish fulfillment fantasies for powerless teenaged boys. There’s a deeply rooted idea that a formerly weak and ostracized protagonist can earn the romantic attention of the girl he wants if he just is heroic enough, in essence “earning” her affection.

The problem is, real women and real romance doesn’t work like that. It’s why being a woman’s close friend doesn’t ensure that the friendship will ever blossom into romance. I think a lot of men have a serious problem understanding that, and accepting that scenario when they encounter it.

Instead, they complain about being permanently “friend zoned”, and I think that the comic book myth of being the helpful supportive male in a woman’s life being enough to “earn” her as a romantic partner is at least partially to blame.

Also, it’s been noted by others that male nerds were often told that all the abuse they were enduring as kids would eventually be worth it. Their tormentors would be reduced to horrible menial jobs while they would be rewarded great gigs as computer programmers, and the attractive females that weren’t interested in them in high school would be lining up for their favors later in life.

I suppose that, for some of them, that DID come to pass, but to expect some sort of almost karmic force to punish ones enemies and to reward a nerd with a hot romantic/sexual partner, seems pretty messed up to me. It fosters certain expectations with those guys, and a woman that doesn’t play into those expectations is likely to be treated like she’s a “bitch.” Maybe she’s just not interested in a guy only because he has a good job and seems nice.

There’s a sense of entitlement I see with a lot of these guys. Perhaps it’s an extension of Internet culture, where porn fantasies are readily available, but no one is entitled to a woman as if she is a “prize” or product. I see a weird attitude with males of a certain age, as if they can look like a bag of fail, but somehow deserve a hot sexual partner on demand.

The idea that a guy can “earn” a woman’s affection in some predictable fashion is ridiculous. Women are individuals, and it’s insulting to assume they’ll all like the same thing or respond to a male’s actions in the same way. Spider-Man be damned, maybe it works occasionally, but a guy can’t count on winning a woman over by pretending to be her best friend or being there whenever she needs something.

Comic books and other fandom pursuits rely to a certain degree on wish fulfillment. If a guy believes that shit enough, it’s not surprising that he might think that a woman who spurns him is a “cunt.” It’s also not surprising that he, and others like him, might make geek culture very unfriendly towards women that don’t fill the role they want them to, or who don’t think rape jokes are funny because “anything goes for a laugh” or whatever it is these creeps are telling themselves.

Any dude that tries to project comic book reality into real life interactions with females, then who gets angry and bitter when they don’t play along? That guy deserves to get his ass kicked a few times. He deserves to be called out and humiliated for being such a prick.

There’s no excuse for treating women as either bitches for not being interested, or as a sexual prize for a worthy male nerd. Fuck that, women and people in general are a lot more complicated than that.

So asshole male geeks, shape up. More people are onto you and your bullshit. That stuff isn’t going to be tolerated indefinitely.

If you want a compliant female that will fawn over you and submit to your sexual desires without question, build yourself that long promised “girl robot.” Make her look like She Hulk if you want. Whatever. Just quit treating the real women out there like they don’t belong in fandom if they expect to be taken as equals.

Don’t bring back systematic bullying of male nerds. It could happen. Let’s not pull that trigger.

This REALLYIS what a sizable percentage of comic book fans look like. Naturally, they’re entitled to sex with super models.

The comic book work camp I was sentenced to labor at years ago.