THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,The passage above can also be quite neatly summarised as "United we stand, divided we fall" or any number of derivatives and even through modern times still rings true.
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
Recently on a photography website, a blog title caught my attention: "We're Photographers, Not Criminals!" It caught my attention because for so long shooters, as a somewhat semi-organised group, had been trying to get the same message through about them.
I clicked and started reading with interest.
"Join... some of Australia’s leading photographers at an Arts Freedom Australia Protest Rally to demand fair access for all to iconic public locations like Sydney Harbour, Bondi Beach and Uluru. " (Source)
The parallels to our (Shooters) cause was uncanny!
As photographers have suffered a major image blow (excuse the pun) with the increasing association between them and any host of shady characters or downright criminals (terrorists, paedophiles etc), shooters suffered (and continue to suffer) following the Port Arthur massacre and any other incident with a firearm.
And though the reasons are somewhat different, the fight to retain access to "public" lands is again common to both. For photographers the excuse of 'National Security' and 'child welfare' are the cloaks behind which the assumption of guilt until innocence is proven lie. World famous landmarks are slowly becoming out-of-bounds for professional and amateur photographers alike. While for shooters, public safety (speaking of which, I don't think it will be long before the first fatal wild dog attack occurs on public lands) does the job of shutting down access to vast tracts of so called public lands; the assumption being we're all a bunch of malicious, negligent and drunken morons.
Like the photographers plan to, the shooters attempted to bring home a contrary message to the public; that we are not malicious or negligent or lay-about drunks. That many, many of us are just your average suburbanite, or perhaps a professional offering you our services in day-to-day life, seemed to fall by the way-side as the politically correct, anti-shooting (referred to generally as "the antis"), hysterical fanatics took their cause to the media who of course lapped it up; forever hunting for the next sensationalist story.
Now of course I'm not suggesting that every minority support every other minority without question; to do so would be ridiculous. But Don't let the fact that you don't stand to benefit directly from a cause limit the support you give. Because one day, you may need their help to protect your freedoms.
