Let me paint a picture for you. There’s a man lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to wires and hoses. There are machines beeping around him, and nurses are quickly moving in and out of the room as he holds his wife’s hand. Other family members and friends are also in the room. Then the doctor walks in, stands next to his bed, and begins talking to him. We can’t hear what he’s saying, but the man in the bed begins sobbing uncontrollably. So do his wife and others who are gathered around the bed.
What is the man in the bed thinking at this moment?
What if I told you that the man in the bed was not crying tears of sadness or fear? He was crying tears of joy because at that moment, the doctor gave him the information he had been praying for. He was told that he would enjoy a full recovery.
Perspective is everything. We can only see the world through our own eyes. We see the World through a filter created by our own experiences. We also cannot tell what others are thinking because we cannot watch their thoughts as if they were on a TV screen. You may have thought you knew what the man in the bed was thinking, but you didn’t really know. We might think we know the thoughts or intentions of others, based on evidence and data, but the truth is, we never really know.
What we are doing when we assume we know what the man in the bed was thinking is a strategy called projection. Projection is a term coined by Sigmund Freud. It’s when we “project” our thoughts onto others and assume (and often believe) that we know what the other person’s thoughts or intentions are. Projection is somewhat of an arrogant behavior. It’s also something we do to protect our own ego. In other words, we might have bad intentions, but when we project those thoughts onto others and blame them for the same thoughts or intentions, we can avoid responsibility. We all do it. I’ll explain it with gun control.
Why is it that when we talk to gun owners and we ask them why gun ownership is so important, the answer is always attached to good intent? In other words, many gun owners will say something like, “I want a gun so I can protect my life and defend the lives of the people I love.” Often, gun owners will tout statistics like those from defensive gun use studies and proudly declare, “Guns are used millions of times every year to stop acts of violence.” Gun owners typically speak this way about gun ownership because they truly believe that guns are good. When our intentions are noble and moral, we tend to believe others’ are the same.
So, why is it that when we ask an anti-gunner about guns, we typically get a completely different type of answer? They will often say guns should be banned because they are used for killing people. They’ll say things like, “The only reason someone needs an AR-15 is for killing a lot of people at once.” Or “Anyone who carries a gun in public is just looking for the chance to shoot someone.”
What is the difference between the gun-owner’s perspective and the left-wing anti-gunner’s? The gun owner or pro-gun advocate sees firearms as a tool to save lives. The anti-gunner sees firearms as a tool to take lives; therefore, the anti-gunner does not want you, or anyone else, for that matter, to have a firearm. They are projecting onto others. Pro-gun advocates do the same thing. Yes, we project as well. The difference is that the pro-gun advocate will see a handgun on the hip of a fellow gun owner and will assume they are in good company and likely much safer by simply being around that fellow gun-owner.
One person sees guns as a tool to save lives, and the other sees them as a tool to take lives. It’s all a reflection of what is going on in the mind of the observer. How the anti-gunner comes to believe the things they do stems from a long history of anti-gun propaganda and media conditioning implemented upon them for the purpose of getting them to support gun-control legislation. We all project our thoughts onto others. So, the next time you blame someone for having specific intentions, ask yourself if you really know what they are thinking or if you are projecting your own thoughts onto them.
I once had a conversation with an anti-gun acquaintance. She told me she was very disturbed because she saw a man in line at the bank with a gun in a holster. He was a security guard and was likely depositing his paycheck. I asked her why that upset her so much, and she told me that it was very dangerous to allow people to have guns in public because she could’ve easily grabbed the gun out of his holster and started shooting people. Don’t forget, for her to make this accusation, she had to visually imagine herself, grabbing the gun out of the man’s holster and shooting people. Was it fair of her to assume that people would actually grab a gun out of someone’s holster and shoot people just because they could? Was she really that arrogant to believe that she could read the minds of others and know their intentions in the given scenario? Who was she really describing, and who should we be more concerned with, those who carry a gun to save lives or those who envision themselves using guns to take lives? Who would you trust more with a gun, the security guard or the anti-gun woman?
Sigmund Freud discussed projection for the purpose of identifying a psychological tactic, where the person using projection places his or her own thoughts and intentions onto someone else. Often, we will be in a bad mood and assume that other people are also in a bad mood. We may see someone crying in a hospital bed and assume that they just received bad news. We may also assume that when we see someone with a firearm, that person has bad intentions.
Here’s the dirty little secret the anti-gun crowd doesn’t want you to know… The anti-gunner doesn’t trust you with a gun because they don’t trust themselves with a gun. And it’s no surprise as to why. They have been indoctrinated. They have been conditioned over a long period of time to see guns as dangerous, scary devices owned strictly for the purpose of taking lives. Many believe that guns cause people to commit acts of violence. Some might call it brainwashing, but regardless of how it happens, it is something we need to be aware of, especially when we are debating with an anti-gunner and they make the accusation that the only reason people have guns is to kill people.
Don’t forget, those who have been caught up in the anti-gun narrative and have been convinced that the propaganda and rhetoric created by left-wing politicians and anti-gun lobby groups are true, are seeing the world through a fabricated lens created specifically for them. They constantly surround themselves with this type of narrative and propaganda. Human beings often resort to the same media as a way of justifying our current beliefs because looking at ourselves critically can be painful at times. Left-wing media outlets are more than happy to keep serving up the same manipulative, mind-bending anti-gun propaganda menu because they know that repetition will anchor beliefs and the anti-gun crowd will always be hungry for more.
If every day I put a very thin layer of paint on your window, at some point, you will no longer be able to see through that window. Propaganda is used in the same way. Every time the terms “assault weapon,” “weapons of war,” or “gun violence” are used, they further solidify a negative thought process in the anti-gunner’s mind. The intent of the anti-gun lobby is to convince the entire country that guns are dangerous and should be completely banned. But they have a problem. Real Americans, who understand the importance of firearms and who cannot be manipulated or persuaded to believe things simply because they’re repeatedly pushed upon us.
Every time left-wing media capitalizes on a school killing by showing footage of grieving children and then rolling an AR-15 across the TV screen, they are contributing to the manipulation of the anti-gun thought process. Pretty soon, people automatically associate killing and violence with guns, and those who don’t know any better are very quick to support the first politician who promises them safety.
Everything about the left-wing gun perspective is in some way manipulated or skewed. It’s difficult for the average anti-gunner to see firearms from an honest perspective, which is why the debate continues year after year.
The Second Amendment is not a privilege. It’s your right.
