The Gunfighter Myth

Posted on March 12, 2003 in IRC/Chat Myths & Mysticism Peace

Nearly every time I surf into #travel at irc.icq.com these days, someone who knows that I am an American asks me “Why do you support George Bush?” or “What’s this about March 17?”

Last night, after I invited a Russian woman living in Holland to visit the country, I got this response:

[00:42] [RussianLady] Emperor:-)i ve 2 problems))first of all i ve visa to the USA,it s not easy to get it,second one-ur president:-))i ve so negative emotions about him,that i dont wanna visit any state in the USA)….and i think if Bush ll use his way more and more u ll get worse system then communism and sosialism togather

Many people have told me that they voted for Bush because he would make the United States more respected in the world. What has happened is that we’ve become more and more isolated. The other night at the writing group, a Marine who buzzes up from Camp Pendleton told us about a seminar he went to back East at the Pentagon. Participants were asked to draft a statement of United States’ defense policy. He came up with “Don’t fuck with us.” The others said “We need something more than that.”

I’m not sure if he was making a sarcastic remark about our policy or if he was trying to be tough. I don’t recall anyone laughing. I found myself staring at the bulging veins in his otherwise lean arms.

Too many people in this country think the attitude of “Don’t fuck with us” promotes “respect” in other people. Attilla the Hun thought this way. So did Napoleon and many others like them through history. The bedtime stories and legends of these men are not complimentary. We — the sane people — don’t respect them. We’re glad that nature worked for them like it worked for everyone else, we’re glad that they’re dead and not abusing people any more.

Fear is not respect. As long as we style ourselves as the guy in the bar who you don’t want to pick a fight with, other people will sip their booze and think of ways to knock us off. Can we stand doing this to ourselves, can we stand living in the fear of being the fastest gun in the West, wondering when the next guy who is going to try to take us down is going to show?

Fast guns rule our mythology these days, but history shows that the West was won by the peaceable farmers and ranchers who made it home. They are the history of the true West, the majority. When it stands like the gunfighter, the United States is in the minority. Everyone else in the world wants to go on making things, eating, drinking, sleeping, going places, fucking, and doing similar things. Only the United States puts the first priority on polishing its guns, stocking ammunition, and, from time to time, using them. In the meantime, while we declare our independence from the world, we eat a lot of cold beans, grown and canned elsewhere.

If no one sells us the beans, what then?

Believe me: if the farmers and ranchers of this world get sick enough of us, they will take us down. I am sure that plans are being conjectured for neutralizing our nuclear threat as I write this. I suggest we adopt a new defense policy: get along. When no one’s gunning for you, you live a lot longer.

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On another tack, I’m getting a little tired of my foreign friends asking me “What are you going to do about this Bush lunatic?” I told RussianLady this:

[RussianLady] Emperor…i think one day 11 september ll happend again…and i worry about my friends,who lives in the USA


[00:56] [EmperorNorton] If you want to do this AMerican and others like him a favor, you must start demanding that your governments refuse to go along with Bush. Demand that he step down from the presidency because he is not the man the people elected in 2000.


[00:56] [RussianLady] and i think american to ve wake up first..not rest world


[00:56] [EmperorNorton] I worry about something far greater than that, RussianLady.


[00:57] [EmperorNorton] Don’t go along with the US in the UN.


[00:57] [RussianLady] most govermants kiss some place of the USA..Like Toni Bler


[00:58] [EmperorNorton] Do not deal with America until Bush is out of office and after the American people have ensured that something like him will never happen here again.


[00:58] [EmperorNorton] That’s my point. Tell them to stop doing it.

The United States is sounding more and more like South Africa under apartheid. I propose that the same solutions and pressures be brought to bear on the USA until our leaders and our citizens get the message that we must cease our bullying.

This is loyalty of the highest order. It is no more disloyal to say that the nation need aspire to the a higher loyalty towards the world than to suggest that the pancreas need to support the body if it is to survive.

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“Tony Bler” or “Tony Blur”. I like it!