Anti-Gundamentalism

Oh my goodness, I actually laughed out loud when I read the latest post from the God Not Guns Blog (tinyURL used to weaken their googlefu). It’s called Gundamentalism, and it’s really, really bad. Basically, she’s comparing pro-gun groups to religious fundamentals, but the problem with her comparison is that it’s so loose that it could be applied to any group that is fanatically devoted to their cause, like, oh, I don’t know, anti-gun advocates. I took her entire post and changed just a few words, I call it “Anti-Gundamentalism”.

 

In her book,

Battle for God, Karen Armstrong says that fundamentalism in every religion encourages a sense of crisis among its believers, fostering the conviction that they are the first and last defense against the corrosion of crucial values. Armstrong says that because fundamentalism is rooted in a profound fear of annihilation, its adherents see themselves in a fight for survival against society at large. I believe that this is precisely how gun control proponents portray themselves.

I believe that

America’s anti-gun culture is marked by zeal closely akin to that of religious fundamentalism. The gun control movement is built upon a system of belief that is both absolutist and aggressive. It has its sacred text, its creed, its icon and its ideology. According to its doctrine, only the government offers protection against tyranny at the hands of criminals, foreign terrorists, even our own government. Its followers believe they are in a cosmic struggle to protect
America’s most cherished value: safety. I call this movement “Anti-Gundamentalism.” In my next several entries, I’ll be talking about this movement and its ideology.

I changed maybe three or four words, that’s how poorly written this post is. If she actually starts comparing pro-gun advocates to religious fundamentals, please make sure to come here the day after for my critique. What Rachel fails to understand is that while the pro-gun movement is undeniably passionate about our cause, comparing us to religious fundamentals fails on many levels, not the least of which is that the gun rights movement is predicated on logic and reason – if anyone could be accused of having a religious fervor about their cause, it would be the anti-gun crowd who believes that inanimate objects have some sort of malevolent will to cause violence.

4 Comments

  1. not the least of which is that the gun rights movement is predicated on logic and reason

    While parts of it are obviously more reasonable than others, I think it would be a mistake to claim the entire movement is rational. How many of us know or have met people who justify things with some vague paranoia about “the gub’mint” being out to get them?

    And as I’m sure someone will eventually argue, a number of fundamentalists consider fundamentalist thought to be completely logical.

  2. No, I do agree that there is an irrational component to some of the pro-gun movement, usually the black helicopter people. However, most of the mainstream pro-gun advocates arrive at their “point of advocacy” via the Tunnel of Logic.

  3. Google-fu is the ability to search google for information. What you’re really affecting/denying is their PageRank.

  4. It’s another fill-in-the-blanks commentary from God not Guns. Any hobby, belief, sports team, etc. has its “fundamentalist” followers, texts, icons, etc. and the article at best shows that gun lovers are just like everyone else…

    Besides, Transformers are way better than Gundam any day! 😉

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