JOINING THE FRAY: GARRET KEIZER’S LOADED LIBERAL WAKE UP CALL
Published in Harper’s Magazine, Garret Keizer’s “Loaded” uses race as a way of demanding that, as citizens of the United States, we wake up from our progressive indifference. The brilliant author flips his intended audience’s liberal beliefs and uses it against them to successfully prove his point. The majority of Keizer’s essay is seemingly about the gun debate. The lefty audience is likely to have strong anti-gun opinion, whereas Keizer subtly shares that he is pro-gun and owns a shotgun. The author compares the gun debate to another controversial debate—abortion—in an attempt to reveal the absurdity of “yelling to deaf ears.” He relates to his audience using race, an issue liberals feel strongly about, and its probable involvement in the creation of the second amendment. As the essay concludes, Keizer encourages us to move past the firearms debate and take a stand for the …show more content…
He clearly points out that to “talk about guns in America is inevitably to talk about race” (Keizer 138). The Second Amendment calls for “a well-regulated militia” and although the author explains that the framers of the constitution wanted defense against enemy armies, he also mentions that some historians came to the conclusion that a probable function of this “well-regulated militia” was to “keep slaves in their place” (Keizer 138). One major question in Colonia times was “what, if any, access slaves out to have to guns; what if any, role free blacks ought to have in the militias” (Keizer 138). Keizer plays on the Liberal’s belief that guns should be kept only to the military, but with this possible truth being presented, it conflicts with their beliefs about equality between races. He also argues that if the Second Amendment is okay to be attacked, why not just attack the Third, Fourth or Fifth as
Published in Harper’s Magazine, Garret Keizer’s “Loaded” uses race as a way of demanding that, as citizens of the United States, we wake up from our progressive indifference. The brilliant author flips his intended audience’s liberal beliefs and uses it against them to successfully prove his point. The majority of Keizer’s essay is seemingly about the gun debate. The lefty audience is likely to have strong anti-gun opinion, whereas Keizer subtly shares that he is pro-gun and owns a shotgun. The author compares the gun debate to another controversial debate—abortion—in an attempt to reveal the absurdity of “yelling to deaf ears.” He relates to his audience using race, an issue liberals feel strongly about, and its probable involvement in the creation of the second amendment. As the essay concludes, Keizer encourages us to move past the firearms debate and take a stand for the …show more content…
He clearly points out that to “talk about guns in America is inevitably to talk about race” (Keizer 138). The Second Amendment calls for “a well-regulated militia” and although the author explains that the framers of the constitution wanted defense against enemy armies, he also mentions that some historians came to the conclusion that a probable function of this “well-regulated militia” was to “keep slaves in their place” (Keizer 138). One major question in Colonia times was “what, if any, access slaves out to have to guns; what if any, role free blacks ought to have in the militias” (Keizer 138). Keizer plays on the Liberal’s belief that guns should be kept only to the military, but with this possible truth being presented, it conflicts with their beliefs about equality between races. He also argues that if the Second Amendment is okay to be attacked, why not just attack the Third, Fourth or Fifth as