The Right to Bear Laptops
From behind his shrapnel pitted monitor, Rob Port, a Pajamas Media blogger commented on the 'cowardice' of the Northern Illinois University students that were present during last Thursday's shooting tragedy:
In a recent post about the campus shooting at Northern Illinois University one reader, who lives near the campus, posted this:
I am discouraged that no one took their books, laptops, anything and just threw it at the guy, no one fought back. It’s that passivity that troubles me.That’s a great point. It seems that far too often modern Americans have an instinct to cower or run away when threatened instead of fighting back.
In the spirit of the show Myth Busters we decided to test the 'school supplies vs. gun theory'. At OYE's Headquarters we tracked down a Playstation 2 and the game Grand Theft Auto. Having completed the game years earlier, we were familiar with which characters were short tempered and armed. Since school supplies were not an optional weapon for us to use we chose the closest match: a stolen Police batton. . . . . . . .our character, Carl Johnson, went right to work. We followed a known thug up the block and, unlike the slain NIU students, we used the element of surprise. Carl pulled out the batton and administered a 'wood shampoo' to the gang banger's head. The banger turned and unloaded his glock into Carl's midsection. Game over. After 4 more attempts we concluded that Mr. Port's approved theory is a bust.
OYE Comment: It would seem that Mr. Port would not be relevant to OYE since he didn't make mention of being for The War he's unwilling to serve in. However, a little research revealed comments like "Its unfortunate that any soldiers have to die in order to defend the world from terrorism, but lets keep these death counts in perspective." As well as countless other times he spoke of his 'support' of war just as long he remains a distant spectator.
In a post responding to an OYE E-mail, Mr. Port was candid in not serving Our Country in uniform: "No, I have not served in the military. No, I’m not in the ROTC or any sort of military training program. No, I have no plans to sign up with the military at any point in the future. No, I’m not particularly ashamed or troubled by any of this."
You gotta give it to him. There is at least a little courage involved in basically saying "I'm for The War just as long as other people actually fight in it". And who knows? Maybe Mr. Port does possess the brevado he alluded to. Perhaps if he had a little encouragement Rob will decide to Be A Man! Enlist!
H/T: Sadly, No!
posted by Wek @ 2/17/2008 10:36:00 PM
16 comments
16 Comments:
"Bush has accomplished a lot", c'mon. Mr. Port need only look at these Iraqis who have looked terrorism in the face and reacted quickly to prevent further calamity. I think they used AK-47s, not a laptop and office supplies though.
My favorite part is when you inaccurately and dishonestly quote me as calling the Northern Illinois students cowardly.
Nowhere, in any of my posts or comments, have I used the word "cowardice" to describe then. But you quote me a such anyway. Probably because you didn't actually so much read my post as just went with your knee-jerk reaction to it.
Maybe trying thinking next time.
Regardless, enjoy obscurity!
Rob,
Please try to pay attention. As I explained to you on your blog I spelled it like this: 'cowardice'. Not with "quotes". Big difference.
I believe you need to re-read your own post. The armchair woulda/coulda/shoulda attitude you project doesn't exactly accuse the NIU students of bravery or even neutrality. And again, if you do have the "take command attitude" you alluded to there is no question you would be an asset if you served Our Country.
Well it all goes back to the Walter Mitty/Rambo fantasies about "defending Western civilization that are so dear Yellow Elephants like Rob.
These guys don't want to ahve go to Iraq in order to be able to menace people with firearms. They want to be able to do that on their own campus. They want to be strapped when they are going to class.
Let these moonbat socialists, peace creeps and feminazis run at their treasonous mouths then heh,heh,heh.
About the only time I could see being a good idea allowing firearms on campus.
We would have to get in the Way-back machine and Yale Business School circa 1968..
Perhaps an inebriated George W Bush
would have accidentally splattered what little brains he possesses during some drunken fraternity hijinx.
It would certainly have saved the world a lot of trouble.
This sort of 'Well, if I was there, I wudda'....' bravado is something seen in small children.
I was talking to a 2nd grade teacher a few weeks ago, and she was flabbergasted by the reaction that many of her children had during a lockdown drill. She reported that many of them talked about how they would attack the person*, use karate on them, punch them in the face, etc. When she explained that it would be very dangerous to do so, they just didn't get it. They were, after all, second graders, and probably therefore do not understand the real dangers of such situations.
But an adult, advocating the assault of a gun wuielding maniac by throwing books and laptops...
I guess one will not know how they would really react in a situation unless you are actually in the situation.
Reminds me of that lady that testified before congress many years ago, advocating for loosening gun control laws. Apparently, she had been in a fast food joint when some gun-wielding nut came in and started shooting up the place. Her fatherf ended up getting killed, and she lamented that had she been allowed to carry a concealed pistol, she would have, I don't know, had some sort of shoot-out wiht the guy and her father would still be alive.
Because after all, the Wild West was much safer than, say, your typical Japanese city of today, where gun control is MUCH stricter than it is here...
*If you don't know what a lockdown drill is, our schools now have to have drills to practice what to do in case some gun wielding nut enters the school...
An awful lot of brainwashed idiocy at the linked to right wing blogs.
People told not to defend themselves since childhood?
Tough guys bragging about how if THEY had been there, things would have been different.
What a bunch of fantasyland gibberish.
Well, I think we're going to have a large military for a long time now and it's not just because of Iraq. China is rebuilding its military with new infrastructure. It's building a sophisticated submarine fleet. Russia is prosperous and beginning to rebuild its forces as well. I think conscription might have to be considered...even passing strong laws that require employers to give preference to veterans.
Do you guys know that the Army is starting to offer $40K bonuses to new recruits to use to buy a home or start a business when they finish their term of enlistment?
I don't think the military old guard would like to hear that new recruits are being bought with money. We are all fine with getting our just dues but this is getting to be too much.
this notion that anybody there was ready/capable to fight a man with a shotgun and multiple handguns (and rifles?) is ridiculous.
and to suggest they'd be capable of doing such with laptops, books, etc., is something a borderline retard would think up. yep, that's right, you can quote me on it, rob... i called your opinions retarded. rhymes with retarded, is spelled retarded.
but...
just imagine where you are right now-- anybody-- and imagine someone storming into wherever it is you are and opening fire on you. now, how many people out of a thousand possess the ability to fight and win over that person with whatever they have within arms reach? short of him being the absolute worst shot in the history of humanity?
okay, rob's probably never been in a college lecture hall, but everybody else imagine a professor standing on stage, and how many tries it would take you to hit him with a text book... now imagine how many tries (of the times you actually hit him) it would take you to injure him... then (of the times you injure him) to incapacitate him... then incapacitate him long enough for someone to subdue him.
okay, now imagine him firing a weapon directly at you.
okay, now imagine doing all this while you are simultaneously experiencing the biggest amount of shock, horror, and fear you have ever experienced in your life.... and the largest amount of desire to run away.
all these armchair quarterbacks (the same people who were out during virginia tech) would have you believe that anybody with any guts could, but the sad reality is that 99 out of a hundred would be dead meat... regardless of how many laptops they were typing on or how many cellphones they were yapping into.
let's face it, this guy started shooting the way he did because he knew he'd probably have 10 seconds where everybody was stunned and sat there figuring out what their eyes and ears were taking in to pick people off... before they started trampling over each other.
it's amazing he was only able to kill as many as he did.
why don't you throw your laptop in the direction of a military recruiter, rob, and then follow it.
I visited Rob's blog, and I had a huge laugh at the number of cro-magnons excoriating "leftists", "liberals", "socialists", "leftist-liberal-socialist nancyboys", etc.. I'll bet my bottom dollar that every single one of these good folks ("Neiman"= Ted Nugent. BELIEVE it!) would do one thing, and one thing only, in the face of an armed gunman: Deposit semi-digested Cheetos into their already-stained tighty whities.
Semper Fi, tough guy! Fucking pathetic Silent Bob lookalike.
Doppleganger:
> Reminds me of that lady
> that testified before
> congress many years ago,
> advocating for loosening
> gun control laws.
> Apparently, she had been
> in a fast food joint when
> some gun-wielding nut came
> in and started shooting up
> the place. Her fatherf
> [sic] ended up getting
> killed, and she lamented
> that had she been allowed
> to carry a concealed
> pistol, she would have, I
> don't know, had some sort
> of shoot-out wiht [sic]
> the guy and her father
> would still be alive.
Not just her father -- both her parents were murdered that day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luby%27s_massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanna_Hupp
It was legal to carry a firearm in your car in Texas at that time, but not to carry it concealed on one's person. She obeyed the law, leaving her pistol in her car.
She was trained to use her firearm, probably as much training as some police officers have. Several times during the hostage situation, as he kept control over everyone in the cafeteria (not a fast-food joint, as you mis-state) Hennard turned his back on her, leaving himself wide open to be stopped. She couldn't do it. She had obeyed the law, leaving her pistol in her car.
Obeying that unconstitutional law enabled her parents' murderer to kill them.
Next time you want to /s/p/o/u/t/ /o/f/f/ /i/n/ /i/g/n/o/r/a/n/c/e/ express an opinion, get your facts straight first.
Yes, Mr. Port's attitude toward the NIU students is contemptable. So is yours towards the 23 dead and twenty wounded in Killeen.
>> "No, I have not served in
>> the military. No, I’m
>> not in the ROTC or any
>> sort of military training
>> program. No, I have no
>> plans to sign up with the
>> military at any point in
>> the future. No, I’m not
>> particularly ashamed or
>> troubled by any of this."
Then, Mr. Port, you have no conscience, no soul, no shame. Such an attitude is monstrous.
You're a Stooge, and not in the good sense. You're Moe saying about Curley "I'll fight to the last drop of his blood!"
Real Men stand up to the courage of their convictions, they don't hide behind the blood and lives of others, which was Moe's (the real person, Moses Horwitz, not the character) point.
Rob Port wrote here:
...my father tonight (himself a Vietnam veteran decorated with a silver star -- pinned on by Patton’s son -- four bronze stars, four purple hearts and various other commendations) told me...
That he found your decision to hide behind braver men than you "pretty lame", too?
"passivity" in the face of lethal violence might not be cowardice. If so, what would you call it, Rob?
If it's not something like cowardice, it must be something like... stupidity. I think cowardice comes closer to describing it than stupidity, don't you agree?
LibVet
So, what do you have to say about your use of the word "passivity," Rob?
Surprise me.
Klaus writes:
"Obeying that unconstitutional law enabled her parents' murderer to kill them.
Next time you want to /s/p/o/u/t/ /o/f/f/ /i/n/ /i/g/n/o/r/a/n/c/e/ express an opinion, get your facts straight first.
Yes, Mr. Port's attitude toward the NIU students is contemptable. So is yours towards the 23 dead and twenty wounded in Killeen."
Well, Davey, you might want to look into a little thing called "context." You were oh so good at pointing out my typos (oh thank you!), but your overall comprehension skills seem lacking.
I was operating from memory, for starters, and did not think I would need to consult, um, Wikipedia, for all the facts. And what of my incomplete memory altered the essence of my opinion ? Do you really think a Tex-ass style shoot out would have saved the day?
Her 'I could have shot the guy' armchair gunslinging is the same type of after-the-fact false bravado we see from the Yellow Elephants.
Oh -
Unconstitutional? Was Mrs. Gunfire a member of a well-regulated militia? Again, you were so good at spotting my typos - apparently the use of commas and colons and the like is a bit over your head.
My attitude? What was my attitude, pray tell? What WAS my attitude toward these Texans? Was it so terrible that I don't think a shoot out in a hostage situation is the best bet? Silly me...
It is VERY easy to be the hero when the event is over and done with. Being in the situation is something ewlse altogether.
And I left in the typo to give you something constructive to do.
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