![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Guns, Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs
Aug. 2nd, 2013 09:23 amA prevalent meme in conservative circles is that people can be categorized into three classes: wolves, or those that prey on others, sheep, or the prey, and sheepdogs. Sheepdogs are here defined as scary people with a capacity for violence who protect the sheep from the wolves. But, as the saying goes, “The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence.” Perhaps left unspoken is that many conservatives see themselves as sheepdogs.
In any event, the meme is not without merit. I do, however, have some concerns about this meme in practice. One of those concerns is that some people think they are sheepdogs when they are really toy poodles.
Take George Zimmerman. Per his statement, a 158-pound kid walked up to him, gave him some lip, then laid him out on his back with one punch. Zimmerman is just over 200 pounds. One would think that somebody with any training, if not common sense, when confronted by a person who was perceived as a threat, would have assumed a defensive posture. This sheepdog apparently wrote a check his body couldn’t cover.
I would hope that, if somebody is breaking into my house, the neighbors would call the police. I would hope that, would I need help, it would be offered, and I hope that I would see when others needed help and offer it. Yet I detect in some human sheepdogs the same sort of over-eagerness that leads border collies to try and herd geese. They are not just willing to help, they are looking to help whether I need it or not.
When the final rules on concealed carry are issued for Illinois, I will probably get a permit. Having gone 40+ years without carrying, I see no reason to start now, but I would like the option. (Call me a porcupine.) My concern is that some number of concealed-carry permit-holders think they’re sheepdogs but are really toy poodles looking to herd some geese.
In any event, the meme is not without merit. I do, however, have some concerns about this meme in practice. One of those concerns is that some people think they are sheepdogs when they are really toy poodles.
Take George Zimmerman. Per his statement, a 158-pound kid walked up to him, gave him some lip, then laid him out on his back with one punch. Zimmerman is just over 200 pounds. One would think that somebody with any training, if not common sense, when confronted by a person who was perceived as a threat, would have assumed a defensive posture. This sheepdog apparently wrote a check his body couldn’t cover.
I would hope that, if somebody is breaking into my house, the neighbors would call the police. I would hope that, would I need help, it would be offered, and I hope that I would see when others needed help and offer it. Yet I detect in some human sheepdogs the same sort of over-eagerness that leads border collies to try and herd geese. They are not just willing to help, they are looking to help whether I need it or not.
When the final rules on concealed carry are issued for Illinois, I will probably get a permit. Having gone 40+ years without carrying, I see no reason to start now, but I would like the option. (Call me a porcupine.) My concern is that some number of concealed-carry permit-holders think they’re sheepdogs but are really toy poodles looking to herd some geese.
