By introduction for the rest of the world that does not live in the very red land of Mohave County and the tri-state listening area: Luca Zanna is the survivalist, weapons-enthusiast, right-wing
musician and talk show host who leads the attack on liberal values, in our area on his gun-focused radio talk-show, Love, Guns &Freedom.
If you would have asked me to talk about guns I would
generally say I am not interested, especially if you asked me to speak about
them politically. As a Christian I gave up my guns in my mid-20s and haven't
been interested since. But as a citizen I am already sick of politicians trying
to enforce their religious values on others.
As far as I am concerned, Guns Rights in America are NOT a
crisis, but instead are a falsely hyped political topic devised by the Right to
destroy the Left. They are constantly a source of right-wing agitation and the
GOP fixation on the issue churns up profits of the gun industry while promoting
a toxic atmosphere of fear and anger that keeps the attention away from the
true issues: injustice, inequality, improving opportunity and improving life in
general. (You know, the “provide for the common defense” and “promote the general welfare” stuff the Right
are always too busy to work on?) So, I was somewhat uneasy about the idea of
doing a whole talk show on a subject that is not something I personally am into
and I felt was intended to trap me.
The rightwing have turned their obsession w the bounds of
personal freedom into a borderline public menace. The extremist language they
use to whip their supporters into a frenzy, generally goes unchecked in a crowd
fueled by testosterone, misinformation and rage.
I figured it was time someone put a stop to it, or at least went on record as calling them on their crap.
So I went into battle.
In all honesty, though I was more than 50 miles
away from Zanna and the KTOX studio in Needles, CA (the photo of us clowning is
from my earlier interview
taped 2/23/14—available here),
though I was snuggled in my office in a comfy chair w a laptop and a cell
phone, the intensity of this experience was as physical exhausting and
exhilarating as if we had wrestled no holds barred for the whole two hours. No
matter what you may think of Luca’s opinions, you can’t fault the man for
facility, tenacity or inventiveness. When he realized I’d kept him buffaloed for
the whole designated one hour time slot, he brought on two extra guests to try
& corral me, but I buffaloed them too. I tell ya, partner, w three of them
gunslingers, all w itchy trigger fingers, it took some doing to dodge their
figurative bullets, especially when literally discussing ammo.
Zanna may have lost this round in our ongoing debate, but it
wasn’t for want of trying. This interview was the hardest and best political
war of words I have faced so far and hopefully will stand as a record of my
positions on gun control and/or the culture of violence America must overcome
if we will ever have true liberty for any of us.
Liberal listeners, take notes of the arguments of the Right
and the ways to derail them. (NOTE: in the 2nd half of the episode
where I have three of them kept confounded.) Conservatives, catch a clue: argue
the real issues, don’t waste everyone’s time screaming about boogeymen that
aren’t actually out to get you. Democrats don’t want your guns, we have our own.
We also have the sense to realize we have other problems we HAVE to solve and don’t
want to spend all our time reassuring you we aren’t your enemy on this issue.
If we are going to battle, let’s take on the real enemies,
the folks who pit us against each other for their profit and our destruction. That
is a war worth fighting (though obviously, as a man of peace, I am not
advocating violence.) When we stop squabbling country mouse v city mouse and
get the cat belled, then we’ll start getting somewhere.
In the meantime enjoy this two hour adventure in telling the
right they’re wrong, taped live in high wire talk show techno-color.
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