The Narcissism of Small Differences
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There’s a documented phenomenon where pilots under stress will become fixated on one instrument or control and fail to take action that might have saved his plane from disaster. Silly to think it only happens to pilots.
Seventeen high school kids murdered last week is a tragedy. Twenty-eight people were shot on New Year’s day 2017 in Chicago. Did you forget? Drive-bys and stray bullets kill a lot of kids and young people almost every day in certain neighborhoods.
Few of us outside of Chicago are moved to tears, thoughts or prayers. We seem to defend failed efforts instead and find people to blame. Still too many guns? we can think up all sorts of excuses why and no factual support is required.
On the whole, the gun violence problem is hard to understand. Illinois has long been a strict gun-control state with gun owner registration and background checking and a required photo ID. Handguns were banned entirely for a long time and no carry permits were issued unless you were a friend of the police chief.
Related: On Guns the Truth is Rarely Pure and Never Simple
Sure we get as many excuses for the disparity between efforts and results as Donald Trump has for packing his cabinet with Russian agents, but the proof of gun control is how well it controls guns.
People will point out one single correlation between laws and results and sell it as causation, and defensive arguments abound, but it remains that we’re not doing a good job with our gun laws. Other factors seem to predominate when we talk about murder. Can we talk? Probably not. Ego defenses get in the way.
The narcissism of small differences. It was, I think, coined in German of course, by Freud to describe the exaggerated response to small details between people who may be alike but for small details.
Before I get in over my head, all I’m suggesting is that people who share a very similar goal are making it harder to work toward that goal because of the animosity and belligerence resulting from minor differences in terminology or accepted facts or dogma. Divide and conquer. It’s a self-inflicted wound. Can we talk?
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Prohibition of many drugs started on the heels of the repeal, thus preserving a whole lot of jobs and a whole industry. The process included forged documents allegedly from the AMA and was supported by racists trying to foment anger against Mexicans in some areas and the Chinese in others.
It has cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars and has done little more than make crime a lucrative business, corrupt law enforcement and put everyone in danger.
Facts have never been a significant influence in the US We talk about liberty but we really don’t allow it.
One must consider the demographics of the Chicago situation. Chicago has a long history of gang violence going back to the prohibition era. I wonder what Al Capone’s toal was before they got him on taxes.
Yep. Capone and his crew killed hundreds of folks, mostly bad folks, but still, a kill is a kill, and the same shit is happening now with the gangs.
I wonder if the turf wars between gangs that finance themselves by dealing don’t account for most of the carnage. Perhaps that’s why we don’t have drive by shootings in places where some drugs are legal. And by the way nobody shoots anybody because they’re addicted to weed.
Turf wars and petty differences do account for the majority of the shootings. Disrespect can get you killed.
Drugs are crazy and getting crazier and all you have to do is watch the news and you will see how these addicts will kill to get their fix and laws don’t matter.
There are all sorts of drug laws yet addicts seem able to get drugs. If a person is committed to a task, even those that are harmful, will likely be successful I would think. How about you? Do you agree with me? I’m not self-actualized so I need affirmation 🙂
I agree with you, and that commitment to getting what one wants or needs, something that is unlawful, is precisely why there are black markets. I hope this “affirmation” makes you feel really good 🙂 🙂
Prohibition is a prime example. The things people would go through and risk to get their booze is mind-boggling.
The Volstead act, 1919, no booze say the ladies of the temperance movement and that’s what happened. The prohibition period when no could drink but everyone drank. Want it bad enough? You’ll get it. Up the government. Fuck the Prohis!
The majority of gun crime in Chicago is a result of gang violence and random criminality. No amount of gun laws will prevent this, although aggressive enforcement can reduce the number of guns on the street as demonstrated by New York’s former Stop and Frisk program.