Duane's Response To: Real Men Crack Heads...

[As we are in the process of testing our new blog, and working out the kinks, my brother Pat comes up with this. It is a perfect starting point for “The WolfPack Journal”]

Pat, right off the bat, you start with a point of view that is not sustainable logically.

You say, ”Violence, it seems, is the universal answer to all American problems?” My response is: “Yeah, says who?...! I know that if you listen to the local news you will find a healthy share of car accidents, hit and runs, 3 alarm fires, and “shots fired” stories and you won’t hear about too many boy-scouts out picking up trash in the streets, but that is because of human nature. Newspapermen have long used the maxim: “If it bleeds, it leads” and that little phrase, true or not, explains a great deal about people and what gets their attention. The incidence of violence in the US is not exceptionally high. The US simply has an exceptionally high profile. It is a disservice to Americans to make the claim that they are violent people.

Gun ownership

Once my brothers get me cornered on the subject of “guns” the windows in the kitchen steam up like an old car at a drive-in movie. They all know that the logic behind the NRA on this subject is impeccable but still they close their eyes and hold their ears when I say ”If guns were outlawed, only outlaws would have guns.”

It's not about guns, it's about control.

There is no mystery about guns in America. Americans, for the most part understand that there are dangerous people everywhere and to stumble upon such a person intending to do harm is commonplace, just as a demonstrator urinating in the street is commonplace. If you aren’t prepared for the one you could get your shoes wet; if you aren’t prepared for the other, you could get stabbed or shot.

People who believe that guns cause problems as opposed to solving them are likely to spend a lot of time at Disneyland. It’s a fact that the security at Disneyland is so good that it is unheard of for someone to be mugged or injured by their fellows in the park. The sad thing is that those people blandly wearing their Mickey Mouse ears, don’t even know that Disney spends millions each year assure that those 160 acres are as secure as a fortress. And many of the security personnel at Disney are "packing heat" as a last resort in any crisis. It just makes sense to be prepared.

Mark Twain

Pat, It's clear that Samuel Clemens was a pacifist and I think that you were right when you said that "still he admired the people of the Old West." What made them admirable? I don’t know what Sam thought but I think they didn’t let the concept of pacifism interfere with their actions when the family was in danger. They lived in places where there was but little law to abide by, so they took it upon themselves to reject anarchy starting at the front gate of the homestead, and that was what made them both unique and admirable.

OWS

Vandals and Malcontents

One last note about the OWS: It’s strange to think that police brutality played any part in the demonstrations. It is the sworn duty of the policemen to protect law-abiding citizens and private property. In San Diego where I live there were dozens of incidents reported from many sources of innocent local people being humiliated, manhandled, and even spat upon for attempting to keep their businesses closed to wandering vandals and insulting malcontents who were claiming to be in a struggle to make the earth a “better place”.  What drivel!