While down on the Mall after the ride, we also visited the Natural History Museum. I thought the dinosaur displays were fun, but my comrades inexplicably wanted to spend all their time in the fossils and gems section. Rocks are not nearly as exciting to me.
I will note that both of these museums had what they were pleased to call a "full security screening," which entailed me having to be front-and-back wanded after emptying my pockets at both locations -- even though I had fully disarmed before entering the building. These practices serve no purpose, I think, except to accustom citizens to the idea that they have to accept being subject to being treated as a potential criminal according to the demands of authority even when they are suspected of no crime, no warrant is possessed against them, and so forth.
What did they think I was going to do? Rob them at gunpoint and walk out with the Space Shuttle or a Tyrannosaur on my back? If you're worried about me shoplifting the Hope Diamond, you need to search me on the way out, not the way in.
You might say, "Well, they are worried about mass shootings," and perhaps they are; however, the data show that armed citizens are much more effective at stopping such shootings than police, with fewer wrong people getting shot to boot. There's no rational reason for the government to treat American citizens as a threat except to accustom citizens to the idea of subjugation.
4 comments:
The subjugation is in at least two steps, and cleverer minds might think of more. The don't actually want to think of themselves as subjugating people, which is why they recoil in horror when anyone accuses them of it. They are not quite correct, but they have successfully shielded themselves from the harsh truth. What they want is for the Authorities to feel comfortable that things are safe, and that includes the police and security officers. What makes Authorities feel safe? When the populace is nice and orderly and they know what's in their pockets because...You Never Know.
It is not about us being safe, it is about them feeling safe.
I think you are surely right. To be clear, I had fully disarmed before entering _the District of Columbia_, not just the Museum of Natural History.
That district's laws governing weapons are blatant violations of the 2nd Amendment, in the district where the government allegedly founded on that amendment inter alia among its constitutional obligations is located. Long experience has taught me that the right is not merely abridged but completely suspended there, and the least tool of self-defense in the hands of a citizen makes them feel very unsafe.
Wrt the exhibit: Milwaukee has a diorama similar to this: https://i0.wp.com/www.otheplaceswego.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/milwaukee-public-museum-dinosaurs-trex.jpeg?resize=700%2C525&ssl=1
Life sized.
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