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Old August 11, 2009, 07:00 PM   #1
pendennis
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From A Liberal (?) Feminist

This article appeared in a blog on the Seattle Post Intelligencer site. This woman really gets it!

http://blog.seattlepi.com/civicfemin...ves/175714.asp

The writer, Erin Solaro, is a self-described feminist. She has presented a detailed essay, which describes the responsibility women have to maintain their positions in society. It goes right to the core of the Second Amendment, and the right (also responsibility) to keep and bear arms. She's a firm believer in self-defense, and well understands the core concept to insure our continued civilization.

These were the concepts our Founding Fathers embraced, and knew that each citizen must understand to establish and keep our republic.

She addresses the usual propaganda espoused by the antigun socialists/collectivists, and takes apart those arguments in detail. She's also used statistical data to support her argument, and she shows that she really understands the concept of individual rights and responsibilities.

She may identify herself as a feminist, but she clearly writes like a libertarian.

I was impressed with her writing, and I sent her the following response:

Quote:
Erin, this was a well thought out and written piece; and obviously comes from your heart. Bravo!!

As humans, we're required to rely on ourselves for our own safety and security. To do otherwise, makes us indebted and enslaved to another.

The late Colonel Jeff Cooper, who founded the Gunsite Academy in Arizona, and was a prolific believer in self-defense, wrote -"Fight back! Whenever you are offered violence, fight back! The aggressor does not fear the law, so he must be taught to fear you. Whatever the risk, and at whatever the cost, fight back!" (November 1993).

Last edited by pendennis; August 11, 2009 at 08:05 PM.
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Old August 11, 2009, 08:02 PM   #2
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That's an outstanding piece. Thanks for posting the link. I've bookmarked it, and will be passing it on to various anti-gun friends.
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Old August 11, 2009, 08:02 PM   #3
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I really liked that article. It was a very powerful presentation as to why self-defense and guns go not to just a civil right, but to civilization itself.

Thanks, Dennis, for posting this.
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Old August 11, 2009, 08:16 PM   #4
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Quote:
She may identify herself as a feminist, but she clearly writes like a libertarian.
The two terms are not mutually exclusive.

Great article. Thanks for posting it.

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Old August 11, 2009, 08:41 PM   #5
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Excellent, extremely well written article. She presents a very logical, well thought out position in defense of gun ownership.

Certainly not something I'd expect in a Seattle newspaper.
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Old August 13, 2009, 12:24 PM   #6
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Wow! what a great article!
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Old August 13, 2009, 03:43 PM   #7
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That's an amazing article, definitely one I'm saving and posting everywhere I can.
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Old August 15, 2009, 06:44 AM   #8
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Thanks for sharing
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Old August 15, 2009, 07:31 AM   #9
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Best line in the article.....

""There is a rule about being killed: being killed clothed involves far less suffering and humiliation than being killed naked. You get bonus points (in terms of reduced pain and degradation) if you die standing.""

Amen sister!

Pendennis.......... Great find. Absolutely best written, researched, and thought out article I've read in a long time.

This touches my heart as I know 2 ladies very close to me who've suffered abuse. One stopped it with a .38. The other moved in with me.
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Old August 15, 2009, 09:26 AM   #10
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What a well thought out commentary!
I hope we see Erin joining TFL... PAX, Tamara and the other gals need their numbers grown with like minded quality thinkers!
As my momma once told a friend that saw her pistol in her purse... "No one ever raped a .38"
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Old August 16, 2009, 10:40 AM   #11
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It is beyond me that a lot of women are either indifferent to or against guns. You'd figure it'd be the answer to their prayers, especially feminists. Great article!
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Old August 16, 2009, 10:50 AM   #12
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Quote:
It is beyond me that a lot of women are either indifferent to or against guns.
If you considered the paternalistic and sexist nature of American society then it wouldn't be beyond you (or anybody else)

WildasyesowsoshallyoureapAlaska TM

If you are interested in a well recognized femininsts view on guns...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c...&aq=f&oq=&aqi=
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Old August 17, 2009, 05:18 PM   #13
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Like a breath of fresh air.

I am slowly but surely dispelling some of the various myths she mentions with my girlfriends. One even agreed to go to the range with me sometime soon so that she could gain at least basic familiarity with a firearm. Thanks for posting this!
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Old August 18, 2009, 01:10 PM   #14
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Excellent piece and thanks to the OP for the link ... my wife, who has shown little interest in guns, recently said out of the blue that she might like to train for a CHL ... after I picked myself up off the floor, we scheduled a day at the range in a few weeks ... I just emailed her the link to that piece ... she carries one of those Kimber pepper spray gizmos, but I worry every day she's at work, in a big office building in an otherwise rural area near the junction of two major freeways, perfect for getaways ... women need to be just as concerned as men, and probably more, about defending themselves from the scum with whom we share this planet ...
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Old August 25, 2009, 05:27 PM   #15
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I am glad that this spoke to people.

If I had this to write over again, I would have emphasized how very close the assailants of many women are to their targets. I would also have emphasized that in such situations, defense of property is less about theft and often about , "You like that? That's important to you? Well, I can do this to you, too." Then there are the legal issues, but this was very much a philosophical piece.

And yes, I am, more or less a liberal, not that that word has much meaning these days. I am not under any circumstances, by any stretch of the imagination, a libertarian.

Best,
Erin Solaro
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Old August 25, 2009, 05:44 PM   #16
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Welcome. We need more classic liberals and feminists here.

WildyipeeAlaska ™
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Old August 25, 2009, 05:47 PM   #17
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Another good feminist that makes for a good read is Wendy McElroy at ifeminists.com.

She often writes for Fox News and probably other outlets as well.

Very "classical liberal" rather than the modern bastardization of the term to mean "socialist."
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Old August 25, 2009, 06:59 PM   #18
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I'm not a "classical liberal." Really.

Civilization is a collective, joint, social, group (pick your adjective) endeavor, and to borrow from Ortega Y Gasset, who is a conservative icon, the aristocrat knows that civilization must be maintained, not simply enjoyed until it is used up, and picks the contribution she wishes to make.

I have no idea where that fits on the American political spectrum.

Feminist because until such critical issues as maternal mortality (high rates of which drive a society mad with grief and shame and hate: see Afghanistan for exhibit A) are seen as important as they actually are in, say, foreign aid to developing countries, and not "women's issues."

And I wrote this essay because I was very tired of being treated as if I have suggested barbequeing (sp?) babies for breakfast, that it is time women who claim to care about the freedom and dignity of other women started encouraging those at risk of murder and torture from probably-known assailants, to effectively defend themselves.

Anyhow, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Last edited by WarMare; August 25, 2009 at 07:02 PM. Reason: grammar and spelling
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Old August 25, 2009, 07:05 PM   #19
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Quote:
And I wrote this essay because I was very tired of being treated as if I have suggested barbequeing (sp?) babies for breakfast, that it is time women who claim to care about the freedom and dignity of other women started encouraging those at risk of murder and torture for a probably-known assailants, to effectively defend themselves.
Against men I may add.

Isnt it more than just self defense though? Isnt there a nedd to fight that deeper, more ingrained sickness in virtually ALL societies wherein women are viewed as objects, rather than people.

WildanduntilthenwomenshouldarmthemselvesAlaska ™

PS...how do you feel about Lautenberg laws?
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Old August 25, 2009, 07:26 PM   #20
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Glad to see you made the trip to TFL, Warmare....
don't them folks realize that men run the b-b-q? Babies or burgers, the grill is the "man stove" Seriously, you kicked some serious butt with your editorial!
Like i said before... we have a few very vocal gals here... PAX and Tamara both are moderators but full willing to take your PM's as well as posts...
Have a ball...
Brent
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Old August 25, 2009, 08:01 PM   #21
Evan Thomas
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Eh, welcome, Warmare... it's always nice to have another woman turn up -- and such an articulate one! Yeah...

Quote:
If I had this to write over again, I would have emphasized how very close the assailants of many women are to their targets.
Yes. I keep meaning to start a thread on this, or hoping someone else would. It makes a huge difference, I think, in the meaning of self-defense for women. Not something I can speak to from personal experience, however.
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Old August 25, 2009, 09:10 PM   #22
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Wildalaska:

I don't know that "fight" is the right idea, although I'm a big proponent of the shadow war, rather than invading countries. Rather, I would say that an aweful lot of societies need to raise the standards by which human beings treat each other, and while I do not think America should be in the business of nation-building, I do think we should be in the business of directing foreign aid to the people in those countries engaged in that effort.

Vis-a-vis women per se, the real sexual dimorphism is not height and weight, or testosterone (estrogen is also an anabolic steroid, and it produces far more powerful effects than T at far lower blood levels), it is that women die in childbirth at, as it were, the hands of men. And that conditions everything: how we think about our own bodies and those of the other sex; in what context is force and violence acceptable, by whom, with what repurcussions; the meaning, even the nature of sex itself. Until you bring down maternal mortality rates (in Afghanistan, a woman has on average, about a 1 in 7 chance of dying in childbirth or of delayed complications; in remote areas, it'a virtual certainty) from the very common to the very rare, it is economically unwise and emotionally insane for men (and women) to invest in their daughters as they do their sons, or value the full worth and dignity of women. When life is at the direct and literal cost of the life of the one who gives birth, people are conditioned to see everything as zero sum. They learn it at home, as it were, and they take it out into the world.

And it takes several generations for a society to really understand this and begin to move beyond it. We're not there. Afghanistan can't be. Congo can't be. Even without the catastrophic wars they have suffered through.

I don't know if that's the answer you want, but it's the answer I have because it's the only answer I've found that makes sense across cultures and throughout time.

From what I know of the Lautenberg Law and without being a lawyer, it is overbroad, not in its lack of exemption for police and military (because if you misuse the training society has vested in you to protect it by harming another member of that society, you have harmed society itself and it cannot trust you) but in its imposition of lifetime penalties for misbehavior that does not have remotely lifetime consequences. That is simply wrong.

Hogdogs, my husband has a recipe we call steak scorched earth. I'll leave it to your imagination.
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Old August 25, 2009, 09:16 PM   #23
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Welcome!

Glad to see you accepted my invitation, even before it was issued! How'd you do that?

Nice to have your voice added to our forum!

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Old August 25, 2009, 09:27 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WarMare
Civilization is a collective, joint, social, group (pick your adjective) endeavor, and to borrow from Ortega Y Gasset, who is a conservative icon, the aristocrat knows that civilization must be maintained, not simply enjoyed until it is used up, and picks the contribution she wishes to make.
Welcome to The Firing Line, Erin.

Civilization, as we know it in America, is more than a simple collective group. The same elements that comprise our governments (shared sovereignty), also comprise our actions and responsibilities as individuals, with respect to society as a whole.

Moderates (both left and right) know this, sadly, those on the far side of center seem not to see it. All of one, and not any of the other.

Glad to see you here, and I hope you stick around a bit.
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Old August 25, 2009, 09:56 PM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vanya
Yes. I keep meaning to start a thread on this, or hoping someone else would. It makes a huge difference, I think, in the meaning of self-defense for women. Not something I can speak to from personal experience, however.
Start that thread. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on it. There's been something related to it that I've been toying with in the back of my mind for awhile, but -- given my congenital tendency to see things in black/white rather than shades of grey with occasional rainbow specklies -- haven't come to any very articulate conclusions.

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