Number 1 Bigot of 2012
This year’s nominations for Bigot of the Year were pretty remarkable, as you have no doubt noticed over the past few days. Thanks again go to all the TSM readers who took the time to recommend their choices for awful behavior and social injustice. It was a bit of a surprise with all those great nominations to have someone come out of nowhere and grab the top spot. With the insane rantings of its VP Wayne LaPierre and its manic worship at the altar of firearms in the wake of Sandy Hook, however, the NRA managed to do just that.
The shooting tragedy in Newtown was among the worst in U.S. history. Children of 6 and 7 were being buried as LaPierre broke the NRA silence and made his now infamous speech.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
How about not letting the “bad guy” have a gun whose only purpose is to destroy human flesh? How about really enforcing the lamentably weak gun laws we already have? How about not using racism and class warfare to scare people into thinking they need to carry a gun wherever they go?
The NRA’s general behavior as one of the largest and most feared lobbying organizations was bad enough. Over the past year or so, however, they’ve upped the ante significantly. Apparently fearing action in the courts that might result in support for reasonable gun laws, the NRA has begun meddling in judicial appointments. Justices Kagan and Sotomayor are the first two ever “rated” by the organization, clearly targeting votes in their favor as being anti-gun, something many Senators fear. NRA operatives are also working hard to scuttle an arms trade treaty in the U.N.
They’ve also launched a sister organization, the American Silencer Association, to push sales of the one legal firearm enhancement that might have made Adam Lanza’s attack more devastating. The sales pitch? Silencers make guns safer for children’s hearing. Really.
Congratulations, NRA leaders. You’ve demonstrated such lack of compassion and judgment that LaPierre was billed on the New York Daily News as the “Craziest Man On Earth.” Sadly, far too many in power listen to the kind of crazy his money buys.
Dishonorable mention goes to the NRA’s partners in tastelessness. Mike Huckabee already came in at #5 for the year, partly on the strength of his screed about putting “God back in schools” to avoid another Sandy Hook. The American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer gets a nod for similar words, delivered in his own inimitable crazed style. Last but by no means least, the National Review for its misogynistic editorial that just having more men in schools would butch them up enough to stop potential killers. Let’s try to learn from the real lessons of Sandy Hook, and not from these ranters and opportunists. Now is the time to look at gun control, racial profiling, and angry white men.
Social Justice For All 
Oh how the NRA pushed my buttons. They blamed everyone and everything BUT guns. I’ll never understand the “logic”.
Sadly, I’m not sure there is logic involved, just fear. I’m surprised they have not recommended we arm each student with a gun. I would suggest we put a teacher in every gun store rather than a gun in every school.
Ha ha ha yes I would have to agree with you on that one!
I forgot to wish you a Happy New Year and keep up the wonderful work on your blog, for it is much needed!
Thank you very much! Happy New Year too you and keep up all the great work you’re doing 🙂
Thank you, dear heart!
Sandy Hook brought out the worst in an already bad bunch. I have always been a staunch supporter of the second amendment, but I have been rethinking that the last several weeks. Sadly it has not been the words of gun control advocates or the tragedies the last month but the behavior of gun advocates that has changed my mind. The endless barrage of hate mongering, fear mongering, false equivalencies and outright lies to come out of EVERY gun advocates mouth of late has me wondering if anyone is sane enough to own a firearm.
Christine,
You make very good points here, as usual. The NRA was not even on the radar for Bigot of the Year, but, as you point out, their behavior in the past two weeks catapulted them into the Number 1 Spot. The hate and fear they are spewing is simply unconscionable and sociopathic.
On a different note, Happy New Year to you, dear heart. Keep up the good work of social justice on your blog.
Thank you for giving this “award” to such a heinous group.
I am still shaking with rage after the NRA’s comments about bringing guns into our schools. My New Year’s resolution is to become as active as I possibly can in pushing for gun control. As a Mother, as a teacher, as a citizen, I think its my duty to do that.
One thing that really scares me: I don’t believe that La Pierre, or his fellow NRA mouthpieces, are “crazy”. I believe that they are evil, self-serving and deceitful. Their ONLY goal is to increase the sale of weapons. Crazy would be much easier to take, to be honest.
We need to thank you for being a teacher, mother, and social justice activist! Yes, let us use our individual and collective voices to those in power to make serious gun control a reality!
Thought I had no more tears left! Those children (including the ones that survived and witnessed), the teachers, the parents and families… I am still raw from the church and Colorado tragedies!! Are they really “angry white men” or rather resentful, paranoid white males needing a false sense of machismo in the form of a gun(s), etc? What is it about really? We need to get to the core of it all. And Bloomberg and the LARGE soda and racial profiling jokes. Really? Just stupid!
Yes, we certainly do need to get to the core issues at hand. I don’t know what Bloomberg said, but it sounds like I need to be grateful if I missed some racist microaggressions he may have served up.
Perfect choice, Michael. Let us hope that they have truly overstepped this time and will help the national conversation move in the right direction at last. These monsters sadly point to FBI statistics showing that clubs and knives resulted in more deaths than any one specific brand of rifle — how is that for disingenuous. Meanwhile, the gun death toll mounts up…
Lex,
I’m glad you approve of the Number 1 Bigot of the Year. Yes, I am consistently in awe of how the NRA and other folk become amazing spin machines. They are so good, they probably could have sold a gun to Mother Teresa.