The company that makes the sights in question, Trijicon (another triangle logo!) makes no bones about the fact they put 'em there. Which is their prerogative, of course. But Bible verses on guns? Doesn't do much to counter the charges that the US is on a "crusade" in the middle east. (Remember the claim that Blackwater (now Xe) are Christian supremacists?
I dig the "about" page:
TRIJICON'S VISION
Guided by our values, we endeavor to have our products used wherever precision aiming solutions are required to protect individual freedom.
and
• Morality
• Morality
We believe that America is great when its people are good. This goodness has been based on biblical standards throughout our history and we will strive to follow those morals.
Praise the lord and pass the ammo!
I suppose this is where Pat Robertson would have bought his gun sights if he were on a mission to assassinate Hugo Chavez....
I've heard that during the Civil War there were companies that made these special Bibles clad in metal binding that were meant to be kept in the breast-pocket for protection against shots to the heart--and that at least one of them took a bullet for a soldier, saving his live.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning (for about 2 years now) to write up a LoS posting on the topic.
Your post, Daurade, of course, is the opposite: a blessing intended to kill rather to protect.
Here's another tale from the Civil War--this one I heard from my 6th grade English teacher (I like to think she had a crush on me)!
Supposedly some fellow was struck between the legs with a bullet; the bullet picked up some sperm and carried forward striking a young lady between the legs. She was impregnated. "At least that's what they told their parents!" was the punch line my teacher confided, twittering.
The sperm one is easy, Snopes traces this back to a joke article published in the American Medical Weekly in 1874. Follow this link and they even provide the original text. How it became accepted as fact is a good story in and of itself:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.snopes.com/pregnant/bullet.asp
Bullets stopped by Bibles must also be in some cases an urban legend, but several versions exist.
This woman claims a Bible and a watermelon (!) saved her great granddaughter:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25710198/
This guy mentions the metal bible in the WW2 context, and then proceeds to shoot through a stack of books with various arms to see if they can stop bullets. They can, up to a point.
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot31.htm
So your teacher was Twittering, eh? Without PC's and cellphones, who could read the Tweets? ;)
I think the triangle in the logo and the "tri" in the name has something to do with the optics that make the sights work and that their "self-illumination" comes from tritium. Obviously I know nothing about it!
ReplyDeleteParanoiacs take note: triangles and illumination in the same sentence!
Also, just to bring this back to past LoS themes, Trijicon founder Glyn Bindon--apparently a brilliant engineer and decent bloke--was born in Pretoria, South Africa, where the previously discussed Voortrekker Monument can be found.
I should probably add that though I think Bible verses on guns are a bit odd, the company certainly has a right to do whatever they want with their products. I don't think it's appropriate for the US military though. Church and State for one thing, propaganda opportunity for Jihadi recruitng for another.
Ethical objection or realpolitik, take your pick. Leaving aside the ethics of war and the arms industry in general, of course. That's another story and anything I say won't change it.
Just rffing on the facts, ma'am.
Praise the lord and pass the ammo!
ReplyDeleteMaybe military folks are always superstitious. But the christian business in the military could be the sign of different things. One would be that the republicans and evangelicals have a cult of the military. another slightly more disturbing possibility is that we as a people are sliding back into a tribal mentality, a desire for charismatic leadership, desire for a magical king to make all things better, and the use of talsimans and magic formulae to protect us in battle. fighting for a police state, for a petro-state is desultory business, empire building and protecting. but fighting for god, a magical god, a god who wants to slay our enemies, now that's exciting. it is one thing when these things play out as symbolism and propoganda, but from here anyway it is beginning to look like we are as mad as we appear to be. obama's been in office for one year and people here are literally angry because he hasn't solved every problem he inherited. maybe he should tattoo some Koran verses on his ass and pray to the devil.
Yes, this cult of the military is weird, coming from the evangelicals. Definitely the Old Testament wrathful god, not the sissified New Covenant bullshit!
ReplyDeleteFortunately, growing up in the military demystified the military for me. My father, being in intelligence circles, knew the rep of guys like Ollie North and dismissed them as "zealots." When I used to coo over his medals he told me: "It's just a job, son."
"but fighting for god, a magical god, a god who wants to slay our enemies, now that's exciting."
I can actually see the attraction, can understand it. Totally batshit insane by my standards but in a way makes more sense than fighting for merely human leaders, their temporal ideologies: fighting for the almighty, eternal god? Exciting indeed.
Great observations. Mad and disturbing. I've been disturbed for some time now....
Ever see The Atmic Café? Great documentary about how religion and politics bleed together. In this case about how God and the Atomic Bomb fused into One.
Good lord, but this is either super funny or super scary or super sad. Anyhow, it's, like super, you know?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/03/500-ak-47s-please-art-imitates-blackwater/
Why did he use a false name? Oh yeah, he was running guns! These Blackwater/Paravant/Xe fuckers are sinister indeed....
ReplyDelete