There is so much to say/write about this sentence alone. Humans have a tendency to assume that all other humans are like them. More specifically, they tend to ascribe to anybody else the same values and intent that they themselves possess.
In 2004 I recall having a discussion with a woman with whom I worked. She was more conservative than liberal and asked me "How can people vote for John Kerry?" My response flummoxed her. "It's easy, actually. You go into the voting booth and you press the button next to his name." I knew that she was not expressing disbelief about the mechanism of voting, but this answer forced her to begin (and only begin) to confront a disturbing reality: other people are vastly different than she.
I'm a hyperanalytic. I view everything through the intellect, teasing it into ever finer pieces of information and reasoning until I believe I have a complete understanding of it. Despite my arrogant thought that the world would be better were everybody like me, the truth is that the vast majority are far, far different from me. I'm married to one such woman, who lacks the "quantitative circuit" and cannot use precise language to describe even the simplest of concepts. It's maddening at times (for both of us) but enlightening as well.
Upon recognizing differences, one can begin to understand others with basic imagination. How are their views different? Which set of principles validate those views? How do those people think/emote/act differently than do I? At some point you will freely acknolwedge those differences, though you may never truly understand how another person can accept/embrace/espouse those principles and views.
Perhaps nowhere is the recognition of difference more important than in self-defense. When confronted with an armed assailant, we tend to think they are "having a bad day" or that they are just temporarily nuts and can be easily nudged back to reality. T'aint so. The assault begins because the assailant has already decided that your health and/or life are worth less than whatever he intends to take from you. You can't dislodge him from this position with anything except the credible threat of force against his person, and even then you might not succeed, giving rise to the mantra "Get violent enough, early enough."
Imagine now the utter lack of perception of these transplanted east coasters. First, they failed to recognize the diversity of people despite being of a persuastion that "celebrates" diversity. (Big lie, I think.) Second, when they were told of the diversity, they refused to believe that it really existed. Third, commensurate with this lack of intellectual and emotional impotence, they cannot recognize or believe that there are evildoers who are *intent* upon forcible removal of their property and/or harm upon their person.
Imagine how this new culture looks to them. People are armed to counter a threat that they do not even know really exists, and those people are comfortable with the means to project lethal force! Oh, the insanity!
Faulkner, you are doing God's work. (Another concept which they probably deny and cannot understand how others accept.) I've got a rapidly-devaluing five spot that says in due time these people will be gun-toting freedom lovers and will be marked as "those weirdos" by the family and friends back east.
