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The Time for Politics

2022-05-27 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:55 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook, heavy topic

After a new elementary-school shooting, Hank looks back at his Sandy Hook video from ten years ago. He argues that leaders who say 'now is not the time for politics' are refusing to govern while playing politics as theater, and that politicians and pundits have answered parents' fear for their children by promoting fear of the government, a wedge that delegitimizes government.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Sandy Hook ten years ago and now: a shooting everyone had imagined; schools cannot be made safe by precautions

  • ★★ Hank recalls that about ten years ago he was due to make a video on 14 December 2012 and had an idea for it, but the Sandy Hook attack happened, so he made a short, honest video instead; he has just rewatched it. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank says that in 2012 a young adult walking into an elementary school with an AR-15 was unimaginable; this time everyone had imagined it, after ten years of preparing children for it. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ After a school letter about its precautions, Hank says there are no real precautions: schools cannot be made responsible for men with weapons of war, and children cannot be educated in bank vaults. — 00:00:34

00:00:56 — 'Not the time for politics': governing versus politics as theater; matching the biggest fear

  • ★★ Hank says the country feels constantly re-traumatized, made worse when leaders asked for solutions answer that now is not the time for politics. — 00:00:56 · United States
  • ★★★ Hank says that if politics means the work of governing, this is certainly the time for politics, because political leaders are elected to implement policy. — 00:01:18
  • ★★ Hank says a majority of Americans want meaningful policy changes on gun safety. — 00:01:18
  • ★★★ Hank says the other meaning of politics is the game (jockeying for favour, theater, manipulating voters, fundraising); this is not the time for that, but for politics that does things. — 00:01:18
  • ★★★ Hank says that leaders who say it is not the time for politics are doing the second kind: waiting until people get over it and the news cycle moves on. — 00:01:48
  • ★★★ Hank calls it disgusting that the same leaders say Americans concerned about gun safety are not worried about kids but just playing politics. — 00:01:48
  • ★★★ Hank says fear of a child not coming home from school is about the biggest fear, so opponents of gun-safety laws, or those using it as a wedge, have had to match it with an equally big fear: losing everything. — 00:01:48

00:02:36 — Guns and fear of the government as a wedge; the worst kind of politics; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank says their argument is often literally that Americans need guns to fight against their government. — 00:02:36
  • ★★ Hank says guns are now the number one killer of people under the age of 19. — 00:02:36
  • ★★★ Hank says that after Sandy Hook, when assault-rifle bans and universal background checks were proposed, fear of losing a child was countered with fear of the government as an untrustworthy menace that people must arm against. — 00:02:36
  • ★★★ Hank calls this a fringe belief promoted by politicians and pundits to create a wedge that helps them win elections. — 00:02:36
  • ★★★ Hank says that politicians and pundits who used Americans' legitimate interest in gun-safety laws as a wedge to delegitimize the government they are sworn to uphold are the very worst of the second kind of politics. — 00:03:16
  • ★★ Hank tells such politicians their job is to take the country's problems seriously, not to drum up fear and make people hate and fear their fellow citizens and government to win a primary. — 00:03:16

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description says saying these things into a camera overwhelmed Hank, so he said them into his microphone instead. — video description
  • ★★★ The description says universal background checks are opposed for very small, unimportant reasons, which makes Hank believe this is more about playing politics than policy-making. — video description
  • ★★ The description says those playing these politics have been well rewarded for it, and Hank is honestly not sure what can be done. (unsure) — video description
  • ★★ The description says 41% of Americans live in a home with a gun, a share that rose quite a lot during the pandemic. — video description
  • ★★★ The description says America is not going to ban guns: some may want it, but it is impossible. — video description · United States
  • ★★★ The description says many strategies could actually make guns safer, as other countries have done. — video description
  • ★★★ The description says the only thing stopping the US is wild, unfounded fears manufactured and sold by people trying to consolidate power. — video description · United States

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: gun control · politics · Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

Also: AR-15 · Assault weapons ban · United States · Universal background check · wedge issue

Also centred on gun control: Trump, Guns, and Net Neutrality...With Governor Steve Bullock?! · My Governor is Weirder than Yours

Also centred on Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: I Got Nothin…

Replies to

  • continues · I Got Nothin… — “i made a short video trying to be honest about where i was in that moment and i just went back and watched that video”

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