Day: February 28, 2017

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Nobody ever really talks about the first part: A well regulated militia. While there is a natural focus on the ‘right of the people to keep and bear’ not much focus is listed towards the regulation. I get it. The regulations are what people are mad about. The voice of the NRA, representing a section of the American populace, is vocal about no restrictions whatsoever to the right to keep and bear arms. Sites like the Institute for Legislative Action serve as a megaphone for NRA propoganda, promoting the idea that the second amendment is under some sort of legislative attack. Is it?

If we are to speak to the letter of the amendment, then we need to speak to the idea of a well regulated militia, which means governmental regulation. In other words, we need to regulate guns in some measurable fashion–specifically to keep an eye on how they are used and who is using them. This is important, considering that the Gun Violence Archive has cross checked and verified almost 9500 gun in 2017. It is February. Of those incidents, nearly 2500 resulted in deaths, with most of those incidents happening in the South, which is where the NRA is strongest.

This is a complicated issue riddled with fallacious thinking and motives that are often inspired by financial gain. It is no secret that Glock and other gun manufacturers regularly donate to the not-for-profit NRA organization and often cover lobbyist fees. So the gun makers are, rightfully, making sure anyone can get their product. Might we want to consider the motives behind this stuff?

It took about three minutes for me to get hooked on the original 24. That obsession lasted multiple seasons–one of which I binged over the course of two days. two days to watch 24 episodes. Yeah, it was that good. The new one is not. The new 24 is limited, with a hero who lacks the depth and violence of Jack Bauer and a B-story that is about as close as it gets to blacksploitation in the modern TV era.  The story follows a young special forces/JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) soldier as he works with the CTU to thwart a terrorist threat. Yeah, boiler plate. The way a story like this avoids being rote is to have compelling, compassionate characters who have lives beyond the story that need to be addressed through the story. Unfortunately the lives in this story are weak. The lead character doesn’t have much of a life outside of his military service. We know that he has a wife and that he has a drug dealing brother. Both are highly involved in the storyline, and the two of them also have a past relationship, which impacts the story in borderline salacious ways.

The B-story is quite literally high school level. There is, however, more intrigue in that than in the rather obvious ‘deeper plot’ of the main story. Unless they do something really fast to jumpstart the thinking part of this series, 24 might just be 12.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. The term ‘honeypot’ is compelling. I feel like I have a story living in that term.