Comments on: Labels

By: SayUncle

SayUncle — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:46:29 +0000

I don’t see Mr 9 commenting anywhere here.

By: MS

MS — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:43:42 +0000

Probably because you are gun nuts and you, Mr 9, are just a nut. Embrace that.

By: Mark Alger

Mark Alger — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 01:15:49 +0000

Quote from Tolkien:

Hobbit 1: That was an insult, if you like!

Hobbit 2: It was a compliment, and so — of course — not true!

By: Xrlq

Xrlq — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 00:27:57 +0000

I like it, it basically renders us insult-proof. As an added benefit, the antis don’t stop trying, so they keep coming back with insults that are even more over the top – and eventually make them look like the idiots instead of us.

By: AlanDP

AlanDP — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:52:42 +0000

Because we all like a shootin’ irony.

By: Linoge

Linoge — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 20:25:42 +0000

I think Breda hit it… That, and “People of the Gun” just sounds cool.

By: Les Jones

Les Jones — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:24:58 +0000

Same for Quakers and Shakers.

By: Kirk Parker

Kirk Parker — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:17:49 +0000

Such various labels as “queer” and even “Christian” were adopted in the same manner.

By: JustDoIt

JustDoIt — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 17:17:35 +0000

It’s not unlike Euroweenies calling Americans “cowboys”. To them it’s intended as an insult, to most of us (at least where I’m from) it’s a badge of honor.

By: Phelps

Phelps — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:02:00 +0000

I think it is because the majority of those aren’t considered negative to us. Gun nut? No problem. Call us something that we actually do consider a negative (psychotic, deceitful, unpatriotic) and we sure as hell do get riled up.

By: Rustmeister

Rustmeister — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:06:02 +0000

It’s partly what is said above, then there’s the “insider-outsider” rule we have in society.

We call ourselves those things in order to take away their power over us, much the same way minorities (racial, ethnic, etc) do.

However, if someone outside the gun nut group were to use those terms, we’d more likely take exception.

It’s just part of human nature.

By: Sailorcurt

Sailorcurt — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:37:29 +0000

I’m with Breda. I know what and who I am and it really doesn’t matter to me what others think. It’s funny when I refer to myself as a gun nut around people who know be as a decidedly un-nutty kind of guy. They look a little incredulous, and then they start thinking…”if this solid, honest, forthright, kind, gentle, helpful, Christian man is a ‘gun nut’…maybe all my preconceptions about what constitutes a ‘gun nut’ need another look.”

Besides, there is nothing that annoys someone who is trying to “get your goat” and be insulting to you more than refusing to be insulted.

By: Kevin Baker

Kevin Baker — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:30:17 +0000

“Sticks-and-stones”?

By: Breda

Breda — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:09:37 +0000

I think its because the majority of us are secure enough to be able to laugh at ourselves.

By: triticale

triticale — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:41:18 +0000

This is common among any out group. “Hippie” was originally a beatnik insult for the youngsters hanging around their scene, the “1%” patch worn by outlaw bikers was a label applied by the clean-cut responsible riders in an effort to distance themselves, and so on. One might go into the use of the “N” word in hip-hop culture, but we aren’t supposed to.

By: _Jon

_Jon — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:37:32 +0000

Actually, self-deprecation is one of the worst things anyone can do (individual or group).

I suspect we do it because we are so starved for attention from outside groups that any attention is better than none.

We would be far better to use a few self-positive references and stick with them.

Let those who would be negative use the negative terms. It would show where they come from.