The Ultimate Answer to Kings: Won't somebody think of the poor hoplophobes?

They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means "The Ultimate Argument of Kings," and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. "We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it's about: You'll do as I say or I'll send my goons to kill you."

I thought about that for a long time. If there's an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I've got bullets - he's got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that's not going to happen. So if there's an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain't bullets.

It finally came to me - and that's when I left the city, abandoned a goodly percentage of my goods, and gave all that was behind me a good, stiff Randian Shrug.

The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Won't somebody think of the poor hoplophobes?

Seriously, I hope this guy thought to rig a lamp under his bed, where he'll be hiding for the rest of his days. It can get boring under there without reading material.

H/T to Tam.

4 comments:

Brian Dunbar said...: I'd say he's an anomaly but there are a ton of guys like this up here.

'It was such a beautiful place and now it's all ruined.' and 'I can't take guests on a tour of our lovely capitol because I'm scared'.

Meanwhile three guys last week in the office were discussing what they're going to carry to work each day. Not gun nuts, just fellas.; November 11, 2011 at 7:16 PM
Kevin Wilmeth said...: I just left a job in which personalities of this sort are the norm rather than the exception, and I could absolutely imagine the same sanctimonious histrionics coming from a good number of folks that have known me for the last two and a half years...were the institution to suddenly drop its policy* prohibiting weapons and especially (gasp) guns on campus.

The irony would thicken noticeably because most of the afflicted would probably go out of their way to offer the opinion to any and everyone that would listen, especially all their fellows, who are (of course) presumed to be members of the choir. According to pattern, I'd get a hefty dose of this evangelism personally, because people find me so easy to talk to, friendly and personable about just about everything. (And they're not wrong in this.)

What I think would rattle them more than anything, is to discover that over the last coupla years that they'd known me, not one of them had ever, not once, seen me unarmed.

To complete the irony parade, that single realization should cover multiple profoundly valuable "teaching moments"...but if the mind is not willing, no learning can occur, now can it?

"Ain't I a stinkah?" :-)

_______________
* which is, in case it matters to anyone (buh-zing!) in direct conflict with state law. This is, last I checked, a public institution.; November 11, 2011 at 11:32 PM
The Grey Lady said...: I've decided to take a page out of their book, from now on when males argue against guns I just call them misogynistic a-holes that want to see their women barefoot, pregnant and trapped in their own homes for safety.As a woman who is 5 foot and a smidge, 100 and something pounds I have almost no chance against an aggressor, that makes me a professional victim for a certain class of inhumanity.

These types of men just do not know what to do with that accusation.; November 12, 2011 at 5:24 AM
MamaLiberty said...: Had an interesting conversation... A guy asked me why I carry a gun. (It's in the open most of the time, remember). I asked him why he didn't! He said he didn't need one. I asked him what he would do if someone tried to rob us right then. (We were standing in a lighted parking lot at the time.) He looked down at my gun, and then away toward the highway. "I guess I see what you mean," he said. And walked away. He's a good man, and I like him very much. I hope he will give our conversation some thought.

It's not just the hoplophobes and idiots... it's the conditioning that's been forced on so many perfectly good and rational people so that they just don't see what's plainly in front of their faces.

Somewhere, down deep, this journalist actually does realize that when people are armed, society changes. He said it very clearly: he'd have to be more polite and aware of his surroundings. Exactly! An armed society is a polite society. He's just got the reason backwards.; November 14, 2011 at 8:28 AM