Sunday, January 9, 2011

A Shooting War

Over at The Politico, a well-timed metaphor:
Friction between parts of the social conservative and libertarian wings of the conservative movement has escalated into a shooting war in the run-up to the Conservative Political Action Conference, with accusations of embezzlement (true), homosexuality (true), and creeping sharia (disputed) hurled against the 38-year old conservative institution.
Hey, you know what would constitute a shooting war? People getting shot.

8 comments:

mikey said...

And sick, and blown up, and buried alive, and tortured, and burned, and displaced and starved and frightened and raped and basically ALL the things you can think of that armed men can do to each other and the population when there is no law.

That's what war is. It is the ascendency of force and violence over society and culture. It is the rule of the gun. It is one twenty year old making life and death decsions about entire communities. It is chaos and brutality. It is not anything that most Americans can understand, but it is something that America and other "enlightened democracies" has unleashed upon millions, if not billions, in some kind of horrific game where power is never challenged, but the weak must suffer and die nonetheless...

M. Bouffant said...

It's only "real" if conservatives are the ones getting metaphorically shot.

Substance McGravitas said...

I am quite pleased to imagine that I will never know war, but I think I have some time left. Fingers crossed.

tigris said...

I thought the whole point of the phrase "shooting war" was that real, non-metaphorical bullets had been fired, in contrast to a mere "war of words?" Sounds more like this war of words has escalated to, well, a war of slightly harsher words, I suppose.

Substance McGravitas said...

In a non-shooting war you're somewhat cranky but keep your mouth shut. In a shooting war you SPEAK ABOUT WHAT'S BOTHERING YOU and the bodies pile high.

tigris said...

So THAT'S why biathletes stopped carrying those stupid rifles and just started yelling at the targets!

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

I believe S_McG has known Gwar.
~

NutellaonToast said...

Look here, at Gifford's, smiling widely as she poses with her favorite long time advocate of pacifism, the F16: http://giffords.house.gov/