I posted before about the futility of using firearm statistics to try to win over gun rights advocates to gun control. Different language, different priorities.
Right now there is something quite a bit different going on as UT Austin. Students are carrying around sex toys in protest to new rules that allow open carry of firearms on campus.
Though this criticism of gun culture works well on several levels, it also seems unlikely to win over gun rights advocates. Can it still be a useful tactic? It seems to depend on how it impacts people who are not passionate about guns either way. If teasing successfully marginalizes the rights folks, it can work, even if it further motivates them.
At least it is something new. Curious to see if this sort of thing catches on.
It is excellent political theater, but one side of me now worries that the coordinators of Campus (DILDO) Carry may be in danger for their lives. They should not have to be. I guess political theater needs to be harnessed somehow to some plan to undo the stupid policy that prompted the theater.
Thanks for the comment!
I agree that it is theater, and that’s an accomplishment right there that stats and charts can’t claim.
But the question for “winning” is who is the theater for and how might they react, and can that shift the situation? No answers here, but would be interested to find out of history has examples of political movements that were mocked and derided out of existence, or at least into darkness.