First of all I appreciate the quality of your statements and I should thank you for being a real person and engaging with me in this way, thank you.
The original posting was most likely a fake story from 4chan about a southern cowboy father giving his trans child a gun so as to defend themselves against any sort of bigoted violent attack. We’re all supposed to feel good about this loving caring father figure, and presumably lament the fact that our own parents weren’t as supportive of our own eccentricities growing up.
Simultaneously we are expected to implicitly accept that guns are solution to anything, that possession of a gun will prevent violent bigoted attacks by being a form of “self defense,” and that this father raised their child in an environment where there would be susceptible to such attacks and that’s fine and not to be questioned.
Guns are machines designed to kill people. If self defense was really the goal why didn’t the father gift their child a bullet proof vest or a shield or pepper spray or a taser or any other of the myriad options that exist in the real world to defend yourself from attackers?
In my mind the reason the posting has a gun as the gift and that the responders in this thread love the posting so much is because guns are for killing and this satisfies the very fantasy and desire that any angry repressed person has which is to kill their oppressors. It’s a simple fantasy where there’s the hero with the gun and quickly they just shoot and kill the person or people that’s causing them all their problems.
This is not a good psychological situation. I grew up physically and emotionally abused to the extent where I fantasized killing my parents and others often. I have anger and other emotional issues to this day. I know very well how this feels. Being much older and much calmer now I know how bad it was to be this way; I was a victim. So forgive me for coming off like a far right troll I promise you I’m not. I’m a solidly left leaning atheist with a PhD and I work in a research lab. I don’t want people to fantasize about murder it doesn’t lead to anything good it doesn’t solve any problems and this post has an implicit murder fantasy that’s why I’m spending all this time to argue with people that it’s not good and to find other ways to deal with these feelings.
Thank you for that response I appreciate that! I’m glad you are in a better place now and I completely understand where you are coming from. I agree that fantasizing about murder is harmful and that the first option should never be to result to violence.
I also understand where the OP and many of the comments are coming from too. I think many, myself included, are very frightened about what direction the US and many other countries today are going towards. I don’t own a gun nor do I ever intend to, but I have friends who are trans that wants to own one. Not at all due to anger but just because they are realistic about the situation and knows the importance of self defense for them and their family.
I am a strong proponent of forming strong communities based on self defense similar to what the black panthers did. I interpret the way people are responding as a call towards that type of organizing not as some form of vigilante justice. Maybe that’s wrong idk but I think when people post stuff like this it comes from a general sense that people don’t take the threat that marginalized groups face seriously and this is a way of increasing awareness towards that. And yeah I’m sure for some it comes from a place of anger but if you are trans you might fear for your life just going outside. When other people don’t recognize that fear as legitimate or aren’t finding ways to make you safe, anger is a understandable reaction I think even if it isn’t the best response. I just think that we shouldn’t focus so much of our attention on that reaction and more towards preventing what is triggering it.
First of all I appreciate the quality of your statements and I should thank you for being a real person and engaging with me in this way, thank you.
The original posting was most likely a fake story from 4chan about a southern cowboy father giving his trans child a gun so as to defend themselves against any sort of bigoted violent attack. We’re all supposed to feel good about this loving caring father figure, and presumably lament the fact that our own parents weren’t as supportive of our own eccentricities growing up.
Simultaneously we are expected to implicitly accept that guns are solution to anything, that possession of a gun will prevent violent bigoted attacks by being a form of “self defense,” and that this father raised their child in an environment where there would be susceptible to such attacks and that’s fine and not to be questioned.
Guns are machines designed to kill people. If self defense was really the goal why didn’t the father gift their child a bullet proof vest or a shield or pepper spray or a taser or any other of the myriad options that exist in the real world to defend yourself from attackers?
In my mind the reason the posting has a gun as the gift and that the responders in this thread love the posting so much is because guns are for killing and this satisfies the very fantasy and desire that any angry repressed person has which is to kill their oppressors. It’s a simple fantasy where there’s the hero with the gun and quickly they just shoot and kill the person or people that’s causing them all their problems.
This is not a good psychological situation. I grew up physically and emotionally abused to the extent where I fantasized killing my parents and others often. I have anger and other emotional issues to this day. I know very well how this feels. Being much older and much calmer now I know how bad it was to be this way; I was a victim. So forgive me for coming off like a far right troll I promise you I’m not. I’m a solidly left leaning atheist with a PhD and I work in a research lab. I don’t want people to fantasize about murder it doesn’t lead to anything good it doesn’t solve any problems and this post has an implicit murder fantasy that’s why I’m spending all this time to argue with people that it’s not good and to find other ways to deal with these feelings.
Thank you for that response I appreciate that! I’m glad you are in a better place now and I completely understand where you are coming from. I agree that fantasizing about murder is harmful and that the first option should never be to result to violence.
I also understand where the OP and many of the comments are coming from too. I think many, myself included, are very frightened about what direction the US and many other countries today are going towards. I don’t own a gun nor do I ever intend to, but I have friends who are trans that wants to own one. Not at all due to anger but just because they are realistic about the situation and knows the importance of self defense for them and their family.
I am a strong proponent of forming strong communities based on self defense similar to what the black panthers did. I interpret the way people are responding as a call towards that type of organizing not as some form of vigilante justice. Maybe that’s wrong idk but I think when people post stuff like this it comes from a general sense that people don’t take the threat that marginalized groups face seriously and this is a way of increasing awareness towards that. And yeah I’m sure for some it comes from a place of anger but if you are trans you might fear for your life just going outside. When other people don’t recognize that fear as legitimate or aren’t finding ways to make you safe, anger is a understandable reaction I think even if it isn’t the best response. I just think that we shouldn’t focus so much of our attention on that reaction and more towards preventing what is triggering it.