Fixations

The thing about freedom is it simultaneously allows one to have whatever beliefs one wants but also creates the potential conflict of freedom versus freedom

The ability of “intelligent” individuals to deny the obvious seems inexplicable to others who don’t agree with them for one or for many reasons. But the explanation can usually be found in fixation — defined as an obsessive preoccupation. Fixation is single-mindedly validated and defended by insisting what the issue isn’t while pointing to whatever else can be used as a substitute. The lengths to which this use of distraction can go is inversely proportional to the truth and credibility of the issue being denied.

An unfortunately common example is when an individual uses a firearm meant for killing humans to shoot and kill/maim four or more other people — often far more. Conservatives simply deny that these weapons are the issue, as if such acts would be possible without them. They also deny the need for universal background checks as well. And why is this?

Well, the real issue is a fixation on the second amendment, which the NRA and others insist applies without exceptions or restrictions when it comes to firearms. A majority of scholars note that this interpretation of the amendment is contrary to what it actually says, but the issue of importance here is why the obsession regarding this amendment. To understand this, one has to look elsewhere for other examples, and the Libertarian party provides insight into the psychology of an obsession with freedom and the purported antithesis to it, government.

There is a pervasive — uniquely to our culture — distrust of government by a small percentage of the population that has become part of the current extreme version of the Republican party, along with its demented cousin, the Libertarian party. How demented? Well, although there are moderate libertarians, many are much further to the right, and despite their seemingly innocuous motto of fiscally conservative, socially liberal, the talking points of libertarian ideology are batsh*t crazy. They are, for example, incensed that government requires drivers licenses. Yes, you are reading this correctly. True personal freedom, according to them, dictates that one can drive without requiring a license from the state to do so.

Now, you can easily think of many reasons why a system of drivers licenses is essential to society, but you also don’t have a deep-seated anger toward government. You also are unlikely to feel you do not have sufficient freedom. And you are also rational, well-balanced individuals. The same cannot be said for most libertarians, who believe the “free market,” not government, can keep food and drugs safe, protect consumers from financial fraud and eliminate unsafe products such as poorly conceived children’s toys. In other words, in fixating on personal freedom, true believers will concoct a matrix of absurd beliefs and principles to justify that preoccupation.

Let’s now refocus back to gun “rights” obsessives. The similarities are not coincidental. They too create an improbable matrix of principles to justify their fixation on firearms. The predictable results are the assertions that guns don’t kill people (people do, although the guns really help) and more guns makes us safer (even though the U.S. is statistically far less safe than most other developed nations). So the insistence that assault weapons and “terrorism” (of any kind) are unconnected is just another deranged aspect of fixation.

Those most fixated on guns also have an innate animosity and distrust of government. They are convinced liberty is only ensured by a heavily armed populace that keeps government in its place. This leads to the path of conspiracy theories about government and the tyranny that has replaced true freedom. From there it’s but a short path to how civil rights for minorities has curtailed yet more personal freedom. Yes, the freedom to discriminate is actually considered a right — be it race, ethnicity or sexual/gender orientation. Government is always the enemy, a mindless abstraction that easily leads to libertarianism and even anarchy.

The thing about freedom is it simultaneously allows one to have whatever beliefs one wants but also creates the potential conflict of freedom versus freedom. That’s the intrinsic reality and irony of democracy and of liberty. Tyranny of the majority meets tyranny of the minority. Some kinds of freedom are antithetical to other kinds of freedom. It all works, more or less, when society knows, understands and can balance freedom with what is necessary for polite society to sustain itself for the greater good. You may tire of reading it, but moderation and centrism are how this works.