Hoplophobia

A while back I had the pleasure to view a presentation by Phil Davis, a militaria collector and reenactor. He focused on WWII era British reenactment which meant that he occasionally became involved in work for documentaries.

He told a story about a BBC documentary focusing on D-day in which the filming crew was not permitted to film him or his unit. Why you ask? Because they didn't want to show British soldiers and apparently didn't want to talk about their involvement in D-day. Upon hearing this I thanked my lucky stars that I didn't live in England, because it's one thing to be in a hoplophobic atmosphere (afraid of tools - in this case guns) but it's completely mind-boggling to think that people would want to completely isolate themselves from their heritage.

Worse yet, whoever was in charge of this BBC project seemed to think that it was bad for the British to use violence against the nation that was committing some of the most despicable acts of the century. Could you imagine avoiding all mention of Americans fighting in the Civil War? Yes it was violent, but the result was the end of an oppressive and often cruel system. I'm proud that people in the US are not the type to simply hide their past because of political motives or squeamishness about the topic.

At least I was until I found out about this little incident. Apparently some Hoplophobic decided that it wasn't acceptable for a school to display a picture of a marine holding a *gasp* GUN! "You mean the people who are trained and paid to protect the nation from military threats have to use g-g-g-guns!!??"

Let's face it folks, the world is not a nice place, and sometimes the only way to protect people is to use violence against others. It isn't pleasant, but sticking your head in the sand and hiding from such a simple and basic truth is preposterous.

Of course it's deliciously ironic that the school's mascot is a soldier carrying a sword.

Do I sense mixed messages here?