No, These Do Not Constitute 'Similarities'

This guy is apparently both a Ph.D. and a "retired senior military officer," so he claims.
Contentious as it might sound, there are significant similarities between the Islamic State terrorist organization, ISIS, and the National Rifle Association (NRA). Of course there are differences as well, but examining issues of congruence adds another dimension to the gun violence controversy.

The most important parallels between ISIS and the NRA are:

- Institutionally, both organizations are remorseless about the deaths of victims
- Both use fear and intimidation to obtain their objectives
- Both assume their ideology is superior to the wishes of the majority of citizens
- Both have intensely loyal followers
- Both recruit and indoctrinate members who are ignorant of the basic facts
- Both are relatively small organizations that have impact far beyond their size
- Neither organization will apologize for the harm they cause
I hardly know where to begin. Fear and intimidation? Defy ISIS and they'll murder a hundred people in cafes in your peaceful city. Defy the NRA, and you'll get lots of angry postcards.

At one point I had a computer program glance over the page, and it found that less than 1% of the posts and commentary in the Hall included profanity. My capacity to keep up those standards is being intensely pressured by nonsense like this.

5 comments:

Eric Blair said...

Here, I'll do it for you. He's a fucking crank.

"John B. Alexander is a retired U.S. Army infantry officer and colonel and a leading advocate for the development of non-lethal weapons and of military applications of the paranormal. He has written and lectured on the reality of UFOs."

Born 1937. 79 year old crank.

Eric Blair said...

And it's the Huffington Post.

That's like reading Der Sturmer to find out about Jews.

Grim said...

Heh.

jaed said...

Simplified:
- One organization kills people. The other does not. The End.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

"Both have intensely loyal followers" may make it up over half-true. None of the others.