If my memory is correct the following was originally broadcast on August 5, 1995 on the Swine Before Pearls television show (also a band) in Seattle, Washington. About the only things I can now find on the web about the show are here and here. I still have the CD from the band that has my picture from that evening on the cover.
I was going to save the video for the 15 year anniversary but there was renewed talk of an “Assault Weapon Ban” today.
I can’t watch it. It is embarrassing to me but nearly everyone that has seen it thinks it is good. They may just be attempting to make me feel better. The mangled words, the error with “three items” rather than two, other minor errors, and the obvious signs of discomfort are magnified 100 fold in my mind when I attempt to watch it.
My intent was to progress from the most extreme stereotype to something very normal to show the error of the viewing people exercising their rights in the stereotypical fashion.
Regardless of the efficacy of my effort and my comfort level this was one of my first public attempts to make a difference in the war on our right to keep and bear arms.
Maybe this will serve to show I can post really terrible pictures of myself as well as Caleb.
You’re a brave man, Joe. Also a decent job done. As a full-fledged gunnie I’d pick nits on the whole “They regulate these guns that aren’t being used in crime, but not these guns that are” is an argument that COULD be responded to with simply more draconian bans.
That being said it was EXACTLY this argument that started to sway me on the whole gun-rights thing back in my liberal anti-gun days. That and I had relatives who hunted with .30-06, .30/30, and 12 gauge hunting guns with wooden stocks and pretty looks, so I felt THOSE guns were fine. Then a quick crunch of the muzzle energy numbers of those rounds vs. “Evil” rounds like 9mm,7.62x39mm or 5.56x45mm, suddenly those people who say “High-Powered Assault Weapons” sound a LOT like liars to me.
Sadly that FNH SCAR I man-handled at the show, which is in 7.62x51mm is also considered an “Assault Weapon” by Massachusetts definitions. Its OK I’ll need to save my milk money for a good while to buy one of thems…
That’s okay Joe, I liken it to watching the plays I was in growing up that my parents video taped. They’re buried in a box to be viewed at my funeral to inspire people to laugh, smile, and be happy.
While you may be upset, I would like to remind you it seems at times you have a drive towards perfection that some would say borders on the obsessive compulsive. Take it as a compliment, it couples with many other valuable traits, including developing boomerite without loosing appendages. Usually though we all have that drive towards perfection when we end up in the public eye. The key to achieving perfection is getting out and doing it. Besides, after what Barb said at the end here, I’d say you’ve done very well at becoming a Pro-gun spokesman. First traversals into new territory, you did great. Better than I probably would have done.
Don’t focus on what you did wrong, look at how much you’ve improved. Are you going to cringe when you see your interview with Michale Baine? 🙂
Oh Dad, I get vicariously embarrassed watching this. You look like you are going to throw up from being so nervous.
There are people who act, and do things, and there are those who sit on the sidelines and criticize.
The best way to guarantee zero mistakes is to do nothing (but some would say doing nothing is the biggest mistake you can make).
I recently delivered a credenza I built for my mother’s new desk. I spent a lot of time on it, trying to do the best possible job, only to have the final varnish coat go wrong. I was sick just looking at it. It was a failure. My mother couldn’t have loved it more though, saying that it exceeded her expectations (‘course I replied that she must have had little faith in my abilities) and a friend of hers was very impressed with it, saying how “professional” it looked (well of course that was the idea, but “professional” finishes don’t have blotches in them). I’m still sick about it, but would I prefer not having done it at all? Hell no!
Joe, you started off on the right foot and have gotten better along the way. Nothing to apologize for there.