On Zimmy's statement to the court [View all]

[nadinbrzezinski]

It reveals the underside of the culture. When he said, "I thought Trayvon was slightly younger than me, and did not know if he was armed," he revealed a dirty secret for all those who carry concealed.

If you carry concealed, and you are a cop and you assume everybody you come in contact with you is armed... potentially, well that is training and it makes some sense. In training they are told assume everybody could be a danger to you. Treat all like the Mayor, but be on your guard.

But if you are a civilian and you carry concealed you start thinking everybody you meet is armed... that is when things get out of whack since you do not have the training a police officer should have. You may know in theory, perhaps, what the escalation of force matrix is.. but in reality you really do not, nor are trained to do silly shit like follow up, and things like that.

But think about it... if you are armed... stands to reason everybody else is. This is a hell of a cultural imperative which destroys all sense of potential community.

Yes, that is a problem... a serious problem. But this has been bugging me, what all this carry concealed is doing. One stat I heard over the weekend, and no, have not bothered to confirm it, but if even close, points to this problem even better. If you go to a theater in the state of Florida to watch a movie, an average sized theater, and it is full... twenty of your fellow theater goers ARE indeed packing.

Now let's assume for a second this is the case... and this stat is correct... think about that for a second. A place that I go for entertainment, might become the Hollywood version of Dodge City on the drop of a dime. Hell, at least to me it makes going to the theater less than appealing at this point.

And this is what it is doing to society, we are becoming paranoid... and it is not really paranoia. The person in front of you at the supermarket might be packing... that will go a long way to create community, really.

Why his statement really bugged me... divide and conquer has taken on a new dangerous turn.