I write a lot here. You know that. I know that. Some of my longest posts range up to thousands and thousands of words, with numerous trains of thought running throughout, tied together by the overarching desire to make myself explicitly, perfectly clear.
But, sometimes, that degree of verbosity is not strictly required, as this comment from Rob Crawford indicates:
I quit reading TTAG when it became clear that the editorial stance is one of contempt for gun owners.
Robert Farago may be a firearm owner. The Truth About Guns may be a weblog about firearms. But the disdain that man and, by extension, his site has for gun owners shines through in every single “Irresponsible Gun Owner” post, every time he includes a criminal’s use a firearm in what was supposed to be a review, every time he imposes arbitrary and discriminatory requirements on firearm ownership, every time he aids and abets those who would deprive us of our Constitutionally-protected, natural rights.
I only have so much time during the day, and none to waste on reading people like that.
[Update] Looks like the number of bridges Robert Farago is burning are growing by a daily basis. This is me, not being surprised. [/Update]
You and I have spoken on this topic before and you know that I’ve recently become aware of Robert’s antics. I still read TTAG but I’m taking a more scrutinizing look at it when I read it. Interestingly enough there are some good posts there… some.
I do think that it’s interesting that you criticize TTAG’s “Irresponsible Gun Owner” feature. Is it not fair, is it not prudent, to take a critical look at other gun owners who have acted in obviously irresponsible ways?
Yes, Robert’s IGO post have gone to far – criticizing posed pictures, for example – but I think that there is some value in looking at people who do dumb irresponsible things so that others who don’t know better might learn.
Of note – in today’s IGO post there were some decidedly anti-gun comments posted.
I will completely agree that there are a few good posts to be found at TTAG – Nick Leghorn’s reviews, to be specific – but I think that is one of those “in spite of” scenarios.
Regarding the IGO idea, as you say, there is a lot to be learned from the stupid things that stupid people do, and learning through their misfortune can prevent us from echoing their circumstances ourselves. HOWEVER, I find Farago’s execution of that idea to be wholly lacking, and amounting to be nothing more than a schoolyard point-and-laugh fest… “Hey, look at that idiot doing something I think is dumb!” See my ‘low-hanging fruit to bump traffic’ comments before on this topic.
And, likewise, as you say, it is incumbent upon us to be critical of ourselves before anyone else does, and to a greater extent than anyone else does, but I would point out the one-sidedness of that criticism – sure, Farago rips those he considers to be “irresponsible” new ones, but how often does he give credit where credit is due? Surely not on a daily basis!
And then there is the whole “owning firearms without a Fort-Knox-caliber safe is ‘irresponsible’” crap…
*shrug* I guess I figure there are enough anti-rights sites willing to pillory folks over arguably “dumb” videos and pictures… why give airtime to a supposedly-pro-rights site following much the same tactics?