I love Dan Savage’s Podcast, it’s one of the best sex podcasts out there. I even like it more that he’s switched to a subscriber based system, because now the free podcast I listen to is just Dan answering phone calls, which is what I want to hear, and all his “Special Guests”, many of whom I don’t enjoy listening to are on the pay broadcast.
Still one thing that bothers me about Savage is as liberated as he is about drugs, marriage, and, of course, sex, he’s a standard “Progressive” on every other issue. I can almost excuse (as unbecoming as it is) his seething hatred for religious people. He grew up gay and Catholic, I can see where that might make some scars. Of course if some sex-positive “Progressive” comes on his show and wants to sprinkle a little Jesus in with the blowjobs and pegging, Dan thinks that’s just fine and Dandy…which is less becoming.
He’s a revolting Obama apologist, who has ignored our President’s anti-gay views, and now that he has done some good actions for gays, saying “See this is how he felt all along!”, and of course he HATES guns and the 2nd Amendment.
So if you want to listen, the latest show starts off with a rant about the poor girl in Arizona who had the Uzi mishap, and he prattles about how we need to get rid of the guns and the 2nd Amendment (hey at least he’s an anti who has the balls to attack the Second Amendment, rather than being like most of them who claim to support the Bill of Rights while burning it), and even mentions how he watches scenes from prank shows in other nations, and notes that they can’t happen in America because the pranksters will get shot here. He references this bit. Yeah, look at the mark! He’s RUNNING FOR HIS LIFE! He’s TERRIFIED! Why, because he thinks he witnessed a murder, and may get killed himself.
Dan thinks this fear is funny, probably because HE knows it’s fake, so the poor dude crapping in his pants is just collateral damage.
I’ve had exercise induced asthma my entire life. I don’t run. The last time I ran hard was in High School doing drills for the tennis team. I had to spend the rest of the practice laying in the grass waiting for my breath to show up. It wasn’t bad enough to call the medics, but it WAS bad enough that my lungs couldn’t process my inhaler. I knew I was going to be OK, but I also knew I couldn’t do ANYTHING else but lay there quietly until things got better.
There have been a few times when I’ve cut the train a bit close and had to jog in attempt catch it before it leaves the station. Thankfully I haven’t had an attack due to those quick sprints, but the fear is always there. I may, for all I know, have out grown it, but I really don’t want to test it just for “fun”. I also know because of this A) I am in EXTREME danger if my only resort is “Running for my life”, and B) because I don’t run for sport or fun, I’m not very good at it. Anybody who played a field sport in school can probably easily outrun me.
That’s why I carry a gun.
Hey, but I’m a white man in good physical shape. I’m not an ideal mark for an attack. It’s not like I’m a woman, or an effeminate homosexual. You know, the type of people who are often concerned about being jumped or attacked. The type of people Dan loves and supports.
Still the show gets worse. The VERY FIRST CALL he takes is described in the show notes as this:
What do you do when your potential new roommate comes with his very own stalker?
So the gist of the call is a woman has recently broken up with her boyfriend. They bought a house together, and it sounds like the boyfriend decided to let her keep the house, mortgage and all (they had only been dating for 8 years, and I assume they didn’t buy the place in the first few years of dating, so it probably has zero equity, or is underwater), her ex is being nice and helping her with the first 6 months of mortgage payments so she doesn’t simply lose the house to the bank (nice guy, I bet 90% of the dudes out there would just say “good luck!”) but she’s also cool in that she doesn’t WANT to take his money if she doesn’t have to.
She has a friend who is going to break up with his crappy boyfriend and move out, and would love to move in with her and pay the other half of the mortgage. Only problem is he broke up with this turd once before and the guy started stalking him, and made him very concerned for his safety. She’d love to take him in, but doesn’t want to take in the stalker.
Now Dan’s advice is this: A) Yes he thinks it’s an awesome idea to get the guy to move in, it’s a win-win for both parties….but B) A potentially violent stalker is BAD news, so she needs to make a judgement call on how legit she thinks the stalker is before following option A.
Now, gunnies, what would YOU recommend?
Duhh! There of course is NO possible way you can tell if somebody making violent threats is just saber rattling, or is legitimately going to do horrible things. Hell the STALKER might not know what he plans on doing. He may want to just cause lots of discomfort until he gets his way….but then maybe one night he gets drunk and lets his inhibitions off the chain.
There’s the nice thing about owning and carrying guns, you don’t HAVE to do shit with them. Hell I was carrying a gun all day today, and it was little more than a bulge in my pocket until just now when I locked it up. Still in the event that some crank decided to do something VERY stupid, I HAD A GUN! This is just me, I don’t have a stalker, and I haven’t had any threats cast against me (ok I’ve been threatened, but I don’t take them very seriously). Still with the “Carry Everyday, all day” philosophy, in the unlikely event one of my stalkers decides to act, I’m better off than this poor woman and her friend.
Also WTF Dan? Why is it not surprising that somebody who hates the 2nd Amendment and armed self-defense seems to know NOTHING about the other sides of personal protection.
For Dude breaking up with his boyfriend. Break clean and unambiguously, preferably with all you stuff moved out BEFORE you break the news to him. Also CLEARLY state you want NO FURTHER CONTACT and ANY FURTHER CONTACT, due to past issues will be referred to DIRECTLY to the police. He may need to wait for that first police report to be filed before a restraining order can be done, as he IS dating the guy currently, so that can be assumed he doesn’t feel threatened by him RIGHT NOW….still if any threats or violence have been made leading up to this break-up, report them to the judge.
Of course restraining orders are just pieces of paper then GET A GUN! GET TRAINING, and get your carry permit. Make sure roommate knows the action plan if shit goes sideways.
For those not into guns and personal protection, this can seem REALLY scary, and in this situation it IS really scary, but rather than drastically altering your life due to the behavior of an asshole, you take steps against danger, and then start living your life. Soon the situation will De-escalate, and you’ll start getting the idea if this jerk is all talk or REALLY means you harm.
What’s nice about a restraining order is that it gives the cops more to work on. If the dude is doing all sorts of obnoxious posturing, that, under normal circumstances can simply lead the cops to tell him to move on. If he’s violating a restraining order, well then he can go to jail. That can deflate many stalkers, which is awesome, because it means not shooting anybody. If it just isn’t enough, you always have the gun to fall back on!
Dan essentially is suggesting this woman cut her poor friend loose, when things could go REALLY well for both of them.
I suggest both people refuse to be a victim, and live their lives how they damn well choose, and WITH who they choose!
Oh us nasty “trigger-happy” gun owners!
