American Boys' Bill of Rights

[On the Road]

I’m not saying it’s the be-all / end-all of ideological tests, but you can tell a lot about a person by their reaction to this ad.

That was then, to understate the case. Nowadays we’ve done away with these dangerous violent antisocial pseudo-guns, and replaced them with merry-makers like Nerf guns and Supersoakers and other items whose makers encourage you to point them at your friends. This does not seem like an improvement, if you ask me.

Obligatory disclaimer: I am not a gun enthusiast, any more than I am a hammer enthusiast or a potato-peeler enthusiast; they’re tools, albeit tools you should use with the utmost of confidence in a narrowly prescribed set of events. I support the Second Amendment, it being part of the Constitution and all that, and I support concealed carry laws and stand-your-ground laws. I don’t like guns, but I don’t hate guns. Some people admire them for the craftsmanship and styling, but that leaves me cold. But I have no problem with those who do enjoy the aesthetics. I grew up around guns; my Dad was a hunter, and he had a pistol and a shotgun, there were rifles racked on the basement wall. Including my Daisy. I still have the little vial of oil that came with the Daisy, and I still remember pumping that thing up until it could shoot a BB through a box of phone books. (Or so I swore.)

Once while hunting in the woods with my cousin at the farm, he shot me in the arse with his BB gun, an event I put in my first novel. (To everyone’s amusement: never forgot that, did you, now?) Obviously having a Daisy did not magically impart responsibility. But I’ll bet that the number of kids who got a Daisy, and later turned into homicidal fiends, was about 200,000 to 1. Why?

http://www.lileks.com/institute/funny/comicads/guns/index.html

Posted just to stir the pot a little. And because I love Lilek.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. You love Lileks?

That man is a serious Freepazoid.

I used to read his stiff. He is an excellent writer. But on 9/12/01, he became one of the many 9-11 Patriots whose number includes James Woods, Toby Keith, and Christopher Hitchens.

Don't believe me? Check out some of his http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/index.html">Bleats starting with October 2001 (his last pre-attack Bleat is dated 9-11-01, but was obviously written a day or two before that).

--d!

[On the Road]

5. I Have No Political Screen

for nonpolitical reading. He makes me laugh. Plus on occasion, I have stayed up into the wee hours and entered a kind of a sublime alternate reality looking at pictures of old diners and motels.

[Dogmudgeon]

8. Lileks' conversion was a shock

I was a fan of his from shortly after he started writing. He eventually published a collection called Memoirs of a Nervous Man which I thought made him king of Minnesota humor. (Sen. Franken was still doing the NYC thing.) He didn't do too much of the '50s-pomo-irony stuff back then, and was only really starting it in 2001.

He and his wife had a new child -- a girl, I think -- and he wrote a lot about that. He and I are the same age, so it was interesting being a "bachelor" reading about a noveau Dad.

Then 9-11 happened.

In short order, he began to rant like Limbaugh. Some of it could only be described as hateful. A lot of it was "You're-either-with-us-or-with-the-Terr'ists" stuff. Generally, I don't discriminate, say, about actors who are Republicans and/or Conservatives. Hopper, Duvall, Silver, Grammar, Locklear -- 's alright. But Lileks' conversion was fast, hot, and bitter.

He may have calmed down in the past several years, I'll grant. The amount of writing at his site is much less than used to be, and his Bleats are no longer as prominently displayed. I should probably give him another look these days.

Plus, I grew up in a big Populuxe area north of Philly. I used to work next to not one, but TWO http://home.comcast.net/~levittownrelics/postcards/card_main_biz_2.htm">fairly famous restaurants (here's one) http://home.comcast.net/~levittownrelics/">in Levittown. So I'm probably too jaded on that account.

--d!

[On the Road]

9. I Didn't Know of the Site in 2001, Never Followed the Bleat Regularly

and so missed those particular events. People certainly had some extreme reactions to Sep 11.

In general, I've survived better by trying to get past people's political pronouncements and appreciate whatever they have to offer that's worthwhile. It's a good check on dogmatism and groupthink as well. But what you describe would have been very troublesome.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rd_kent]

3. I have no problem with it

except the part that reads "the right to training, thoughtfully planned by parents, school and church". Remove church and incorprate what a "thoughtfully planned" training course should be, and we are set! Oh, and include girls in the title, because not only men are gun users.

[Glorfindel]

4. Thanks...that brings back a lot of memories for me

It was a different world 'way back then.

[On the Road]

6. If You Want More of the World "Way Back Then"

visit that site (www.lileks.com).

James Lileks is a commercial artist from North Dakota who dredges up tons of old advertising, comics, motel postcards, cocktail lounge matchbooks, cookbooks, and all kinds of other ephemera. To see dozens of these all at once can result in an out of body experience. He also posts the most ridiculous examples with acerbic commentary.

Be warned, because as Dogmugeon notes above, he is not a Democrat. But on most of the site it's not apparent other than in his hatred of 70s kitsch.

[Glorfindel]

10. Well, I've found a new obsession

I actually remember some of these comics, heaven help me. Thanks once more for sharing a great site.

[X_Digger]

7. My first rifle was a daisy marksman 77.

That brings back memories.