Truly bizarre NRA ad...

[LittleRaven]

So yesterday, I came across this ad that the NRA put out last April.


youtu.be/XtGOQFf9VCE

I....am very confused. As someone who generally supports the right of Americans to own firearms, I've long considered the NRA to be on par with the ACLU - an advocacy group that is utterly committed to a single principle. That kind of devotion always ends up putting you on the awkward side of some fights, but I admire the consistency and honestly believe that advocacy groups play a vital part in any well functioning democracy. The first and second amendments both end up being used by some very bad people to do very bad things, and I'm glad that there are groups that will step up to defend them regardless of the optics of the moment.

But not only does this video seem to lack any argument about constitutional rights, it seems utterly devoid of any commitment to any principle at all. It's a...warning? A call to action? I dunno. What the hell is the 'clenched fist of truth' and what does the Second Amendment have to do with Samantha Bee and rowdy crowds on college campuses? What, if anything, does this video advocate for?

I feel like our country is turning into a very strange place. I'm starting to get on board with Chuck's whole 'mirror universe' theory.

[The Romulan Republic]

Its simple: this is a far-Right propaganda piece which uses Trumpian rhetoric about fake news to overtly attack the Left, the education system, and the media for disloyalty to the President and for exercising their right to protest; accuses them of violence; and basically says that it will be necessary for the government to use the police to put down the Left by force. All in the name of "Freedom", of course.

And while they stop short of saying it outright, the NRA knows who their base is, and that many of them will take this as a call to arms against the Left.

This is, in summary, fascist propaganda, and should be absolutely horrifying to anyone who believes in actual freedom. Because to the people who made this, freedom is just a buzzword (or a word which exclusively means "the freedom to have and use guns"). Since it openly advocates the violent suppression of the Left for exercising our right to freedom of speech and protest.

Edits: The NRA is not, and has not for a long time been, simply a gun rights advocacy group. They are a propaganda tool and potential militant arm of the Republican Party, nothing more nor less, and this video could have been written by one of Dickless Donald's writers.

Also, marvel at the irony of the NRA making a propaganda piece advocating the violent suppression of political dissidents and condemning those who speak out against the Furher... um, President. They have become advocates of the very thing the 2nd. Amendment was intended to be a last resort against.

[LittleRaven]

The NRA is not, and has not for a long time been, simply a gun rights advocacy group. They are a propaganda tool and potential militant arm of the Republican Party, nothing more nor less, and this video could have been written by one of Dickless Donald's writers.

That's....most unfortunate. But it would explain why this looks more like a marketing video than an advocacy one.

And I confess, my first interpretation of this ad was that she was calling for the viewer to get ready to wield the 'clenched fist of truth,' whatever the hell that means. And that had me super confused, because while I know there are people out there who would desperately love to get Civil War 2.0 underway, I have absolutely no clue what that would look like in practice. But if you look at the video as a primer on how to cheer when the state starts smashing unruly heads in, then it becomes a lot more coherent. I still disagree with it, obviously, but at least there's a certain horrible logic behind it.

Let's hope they reverse that whole Y2K bug things soon. Mirror universe as a television show is a good time. As reality it kinda sucks.

[GandALF]

Its simple: this is a far-Right propaganda piece which uses Trumpian rhetoric about fake news to overtly attack the Left, the education system, and the media for disloyalty to the President and for exercising their right to protest; accuses them of violence; and basically says that it will be necessary for the government to use the police to put down the Left by force. All in the name of "Freedom", of course.

And while they stop short of saying it outright, the NRA knows who their base is, and that many of them will take this as a call to arms against the Left.

This is, in summary, fascist propaganda, and should be absolutely horrifying to anyone who believes in actual freedom. Because to the people who made this, freedom is just a buzzword (or a word which exclusively means "the freedom to have and use guns"). Since it openly advocates the violent suppression of the Left for exercising our right to freedom of speech and protest.

Edits: The NRA is not, and has not for a long time been, simply a gun rights advocacy group. They are a propaganda tool and potential militant arm of the Republican Party, nothing more nor less, and this video could have been written by one of Dickless Donald's writers.

Also, marvel at the irony of the NRA making a propaganda piece advocating the violent suppression of political dissidents and condemning those who speak out against the Furher... um, President. They have become advocates of the very thing the 2nd. Amendment was intended to be a last resort against.

Fascism is an actual political philosophy, not generic despotism, its like calling Obama a communist for Obamacare. Firstly he's too much of an isolationist, trying to take over the world is still engaging with the international community and Hitler never wanted to withdraw from anything Parisian. It is also a bit hypocritical considering how much he was criticised for being a politically incorrect asshole when members of his family are Jewish. Calling him a fascist probably helps him as it makes the Left seem hysterical.

[Arkle]

The head of the NRA said: “academic elites, political elites, and media elites. These are America’s greatest domestic threats”

This should trouble you - especially the academic elites part - as most horrible authoritarian governments begin by targeting intellectuals

Mao bragged, “Emperor Shih Huang of the China Dynasty.. had buried alive 460 scholars only, but we have buried alive 46,000 scholars.”

The Khmer Rouge murdered anyone who wore eyeglasses on the assumption that they could read and were an intellectual

Franco was violently anti-intellectual, which is why your favorite writers were all off fighting the Spanish civil war.

The Night of the Long Batons where libraries were burnt, and academics ousted from housing ushered in Onganía’s dictatorship in Argentina

And I forgot the best one of all - “When I hear the word culture I reach for my revolver.” (By Nazi playwright Hanns Johst.)

And, because this isn’t coming up on the thread, Lenin’s regime began by exiling 220 prominent intellectuals on “philosopher’s ships.”

- Jen Ashley Wright

And that's all I'm going to say about this.

[Admiral X]

The intro is entirely on point. As for what this video is advocating, honestly this is exactly what I'd feared and warned about as far as having our own version of Italy's "Years of Lead." By engaging in or encouraging violence as the regressive left has been doing, they've shown their mirror image on the right that violence is on the table. It doesn't help that in Berkley, for example, that the police seemed to be in on it and basically let the antifa types have their way until they started meeting resistance. It was just fists and blunt objects then. Lately they've suddenly embraced the concept of an open carry protest. It's only a matter of time until the other side starts doing the same thing, and at that point I feel sorry for anyone who happens to be between the two groups of armed, pissed off morons.

[Draco Dracul]

I'm personally disgusted that I ever went to bat for the NRA.

Its simple: this is a far-Right propaganda piece which uses Trumpian rhetoric about fake news to overtly attack the Left, the education system, and the media for disloyalty to the President and for exercising their right to protest; accuses them of violence; and basically says that it will be necessary for the government to use the police to put down the Left by force. All in the name of "Freedom", of course.

And while they stop short of saying it outright, the NRA knows who their base is, and that many of them will take this as a call to arms against the Left.

This is, in summary, fascist propaganda, and should be absolutely horrifying to anyone who believes in actual freedom. Because to the people who made this, freedom is just a buzzword (or a word which exclusively means "the freedom to have and use guns"). Since it openly advocates the violent suppression of the Left for exercising our right to freedom of speech and protest.

Edits: The NRA is not, and has not for a long time been, simply a gun rights advocacy group. They are a propaganda tool and potential militant arm of the Republican Party, nothing more nor less, and this video could have been written by one of Dickless Donald's writers.

Also, marvel at the irony of the NRA making a propaganda piece advocating the violent suppression of political dissidents and condemning those who speak out against the Furher... um, President. They have become advocates of the very thing the 2nd. Amendment was intended to be a last resort against.

Fascism is an actual political philosophy, not generic despotism, its like calling Obama a communist for Obamacare. Firstly he's too much of an isolationist, trying to take over the world is still engaging with the international community and Hitler never wanted to withdraw from anything Parisian. It is also a bit hypocritical considering how much he was criticised for being a politically incorrect asshole when members of his family are Jewish. Calling him a fascist probably helps him as it makes the Left seem hysterical.

While Trump does not have enough of a coherent ideology to be fascist, this ad hits many, but not all, the major pillars of fascism.

[GandALF]

I'm personally disgusted that I ever went to bat for the NRA.

Its simple: this is a far-Right propaganda piece which uses Trumpian rhetoric about fake news to overtly attack the Left, the education system, and the media for disloyalty to the President and for exercising their right to protest; accuses them of violence; and basically says that it will be necessary for the government to use the police to put down the Left by force. All in the name of "Freedom", of course.

And while they stop short of saying it outright, the NRA knows who their base is, and that many of them will take this as a call to arms against the Left.

This is, in summary, fascist propaganda, and should be absolutely horrifying to anyone who believes in actual freedom. Because to the people who made this, freedom is just a buzzword (or a word which exclusively means "the freedom to have and use guns"). Since it openly advocates the violent suppression of the Left for exercising our right to freedom of speech and protest.

Edits: The NRA is not, and has not for a long time been, simply a gun rights advocacy group. They are a propaganda tool and potential militant arm of the Republican Party, nothing more nor less, and this video could have been written by one of Dickless Donald's writers.

Also, marvel at the irony of the NRA making a propaganda piece advocating the violent suppression of political dissidents and condemning those who speak out against the Furher... um, President. They have become advocates of the very thing the 2nd. Amendment was intended to be a last resort against.

Fascism is an actual political philosophy, not generic despotism, its like calling Obama a communist for Obamacare. Firstly he's too much of an isolationist, trying to take over the world is still engaging with the international community and Hitler never wanted to withdraw from anything Parisian. It is also a bit hypocritical considering how much he was criticised for being a politically incorrect asshole when members of his family are Jewish. Calling him a fascist probably helps him as it makes the Left seem hysterical.

While Trump does not have enough of a coherent ideology to be fascist, this ad hits many, but not all, the major pillars of fascism.

It's an absurd zombie apocalypse fantasy about lone individuals fending off mindless hordes, its the complete reverse of the fascist new man subsuming his individual identity into the national will. It peddles just as much empty rhetoric as the uptight college brats its railing against.

[The Romulan Republic]

The intro is entirely on point. As for what this video is advocating, honestly this is exactly what I'd feared and warned about as far as having our own version of Italy's "Years of Lead." By engaging in or encouraging violence as the regressive left has been doing, they've shown their mirror image on the right that violence is on the table. It doesn't help that in Berkley, for example, that the police seemed to be in on it and basically let the antifa types have their way until they started meeting resistance. It was just fists and blunt objects then. Lately they've suddenly embraced the concept of an open carry protest. It's only a matter of time until the other side starts doing the same thing, and at that point I feel sorry for anyone who happens to be between the two groups of armed, pissed off morons.

Go fuck yourself.

The NRA puts out an add openly characterizing the Left collectively as terrorists and advocating our violent suppression because we aren't loyal to the "President", and what do you do? Why, say how its the Left's fault for driving the poor innocent Rightists to violence, of course.

You've got it backward. There was not major Left-wing support for violence until very recently. But after a decade of hearing about "Second Amendment Remedies", and militia occupying government property with human shields, and Trump, now "President" of the United States, openly advocating for violence against protesters and banning religious minorities from the country, some on the Left have, regrettably, begun to conclude that violence is justified, or their only recourse.

The gun nut militia types the NRA panders to, however, are the ones who started this. Not the victims.

You will be an apologist for anything the Right does, absolutely anything, be it rape, or jackboots on the throats of everyone who doesn't think like you.

Edit: I will add that, if this seems an overreaction, I consider your shameful attempt to shift blame onto the Left to be simply fuelling the fire, stoking the very fires of partisan hatred that the NRA add is- while two-facedly pretending to deplore that we have gotten to this point.

If things keep going the way they are going, a lot of innocent people are going to die, and people like you will bear the lion's share of the blame.

Moderator: User was given a warning for this post. Keep the tone of debate respectful. Attack arguments. Do not make attacks on or defame the character of other forum members.

[Steve]

It's not going to matter to the dead who started it, unfortunately.