I really should be working but something about my most recent post on Randy Pullen’s awful tweet bears mentioning. Pullen himself along with two other people have weighed in to comment that Pullen was “just joking” and how humorless liberals should really lighten up blah blah blah…
Here’s the thing: Randy Pullen’s stated intention of the tweet is irrelevant to it’s offensiveness. It was an ugly, bigoted statement even if it was offered tongue-in-cheek, intended to highlight what he sees as liberal hypocrisy on guns.
Something all of us, wherever we fall on the political spectrum, would do well to understand is that intentions are not magic.
Intentions.
Are.
Not.
Magic.
Intention is irrelevant.
The only reasonable way to read Pullen’s tweet is to believe that the speaker considers taking guns away from Blacks an acceptable response to violent crime among African Americans. Such a response argues in a racially selective manner that gun control reduces violent crime, the opposite argument presented by conservative Second Amendment supporters.
If Mr. Pullen does not believe all this, he should not have sent that inflammatory and prejudiced tweet. Perhaps he’ll be more careful in the future.
It is not the “only reasonable way to read” his tweet…it is just the only way you choose to read it. Your own message demonstrates it was done tongue-in-cheek because Mr. Pullen has repeatedly stated that less guns will not necessarily equate to less crime. Why would he suddenly change his mind in a single tweet?
Donna, intentions may not be magic but they do make all the difference in the world. In criminal law, your intentions can determine whether you are prosecuted for violating the law or not. In civil law, your intentions can determine if you are held liable for damages or not. In real life, your intentions can determine whether you keep or lose a friend, whether you divorce or not, whether or not someone trusts you again, and a thousand other situations. Human beings are not two dimensional…they are complex and intent is a major factor in that complexity. You are choosing to see it as you do because it is convenient to do so. I can guarantee you that if a leftist had said something similar, you would be bending over backward to explain that it was meant to be humorous.
You are spending a lot of pixels defending a racist comment, Steve. You might want to ask yourself why.
Pixels are cheap, Donna, and it wasn’t a racist comment. And since it touches on gun control it is of great interest to me.
The FBI puts out statistics about such things just about every year. And an overwhelming number of murders committed (mostly) by young black men involve black victims. When Pullen says most black murder victims were killed by black murderers, that’s true.
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded homicide/expanded_homicide_data_table_6_murder_race_and_sex_of_vicitm_by_race_and_sex_of_offender_2013.xls
So, what, Barbara? You agree with Randy’s statement now? No longer claiming it’s a joke?
An overwhelming number of murders committed by white men involve white victims too. What’s your point?
How are we to be judged if not by the words we speak and the actions we take?
Actions always speak louder than words and Pullens actions have never indicated a willingness to take guns away from blacks. His words indicate a sardonic sense of humor AND a distinct lack of sense of humor by other posters on this blog.