{"id":66,"date":"2012-01-18T11:50:12","date_gmt":"2012-01-18T16:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=66"},"modified":"2017-11-22T14:02:53","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T19:02:53","slug":"puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;PUNS NOT GUNS&#8221; Manifesto by Top Pun"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>&#8220;PUNS NOT GUNS&#8221; Manifesto<\/h1>\n<p>&#8220;Some claim that puns are the lowest form of comedy. Dan, rather, says, &#8220;Guns are the lowest form of community.&#8221; Choose your weepin&#8217;! I prefer to hit &#8217;em in the groan. Though puns and untrained minds can produce a &#8220;Not see,&#8221; puns and arms go hand in hand when used as a righting instrument. Mixing puns with peacework puts you in the dis&#8217;armament business; and though rhyme doesn&#8217;t pay, the prophets are good. With puns, and sharing a little peace of mine, we can realize that one side fits all. In truth, it&#8217;s guns that have too &#8220;meanings&#8221; for the price of won. Sometimes it takes everything we&#8217;ve got to see the blight (as they say, &#8220;sinner takes all&#8221;). While some may feel it&#8217;s an impossible play on wars (a mortality play for sure), all it takes is a sick sense (no relation to paranormal parents). Let&#8217;s have some serious fun (a free for all). Justice is no yoke. Think good that the pun is mightier than the sword!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I wrote this manifesto early on in my career as Top Pun.\u00a0 I have been a terrible punster as long as I can remember, and I have been interested in a wide range of social justice issues since I was a young adult.\u00a0 I remember that my parents, recognizing my propensity towards puns, gave me a dictionary of puns as a present one year for my birthday.\u00a0 In this pun dictionary, it was stated that there are an infinite number of puns.\u00a0 At first, and actually for a very long time, I thought that this could not be possible.\u00a0 Now, after cementing my vocation as the best punster for peace in the English-speaking world, I have little difficulty recognizing that there aren&#8217;t infinite number of puns.\u00a0 I am a little surprised that this &#8220;Puns Not Guns&#8221; manifesto has held up so well for me over the years. I think that maybe I&#8217;m onto something with this punning thing.<\/p>\n<p>As you can tell from the manifesto, much of my early inspiration comes from involvement in the peace movement.\u00a0 Nonviolence seems to be the thread that ties together all of the many issues that I&#8217;m interested in.\u00a0 Of course, perhaps conveniently, I define nonviolence very broadly (that&#8217;s non-broadly if you&#8217;re a woman).\u00a0 Actually, while my first foray into nonviolence was in the late 70s when my mom took me to a peace conference at our church, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.centralumchurchdetroit.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Central United Methodist Church in Detroit<\/a>.\u00a0 This is the most salient event that I can identify as far as my consciousness raising around peace issues.\u00a0 Back to the whole issue of nonviolence, I defined world hunger and extreme poverty as violence.\u00a0 World hunger has continued to be the defining issue for me in relation to the world.\u00a0 The interface between great affluence and extreme poverty has always challenged and perplexed me.\u00a0 It is very difficult for me to reconcile these cruel and destructive differences in a world with so much.\u00a0 The fact that such issues are deep and central to me really comes as no surprise.\u00a0 In fact, I was literally born into it.\u00a0 I was born in Haiti while my parents were serving as medical missionaries with the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mcc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mennonite Central Committee<\/a>.\u00a0 My father was a physician at the time, and my mother was a nurse at the time.\u00a0 Mennonites have a tradition of encouraging their young folks after high school or college to perform some service to others.\u00a0 Also, while I have been a lifelong United Methodist, I come from a very long line of Mennonites.\u00a0 This Mennonite influence has been very strong, with predictable outcomes, in the sense, that peace and justice and simple living are powerful themes in my life.\u00a0 Little did I realize early in my life that I was a good candidate for being a hippie.\u00a0 My parents never really spoke that much about their experiences in Haiti, and when they did speak of their experiences in Haiti, they spoke rather nonchalantly.\u00a0 Perhaps paradoxically, this more casual exceptions of what is hardly typical service, instilled in me that such commitment and service should be normal; and for me it was normal.<\/p>\n<p>View Top Pun&#8217;s <span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><a title=\"PUNS Designs, Products-Merchandise\" href=\"http:\/\/toppun.com\/Funny\/Puns-Designs-Products-Merchandise-Store-Shop.html\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">PUNS DESIGNS<\/span><\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: xx-small;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;PUNS NOT GUNS&#8221; Manifesto &#8220;Some claim that puns are the lowest form of comedy. Dan, rather, says, &#8220;Guns are the lowest form of community.&#8221; Choose your weepin&#8217;! I prefer to hit &#8217;em in the groan. Though puns and untrained minds &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,57],"tags":[35,512,384,331,167,10,450,725,292,402,359,36,770,33,62,34,132,37,594,112,491,7,636,311,529,723,421,163,511,724],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-top-pun","category-peace","tag-anti-gun","tag-business","tag-church","tag-community","tag-consciousness","tag-funny","tag-guns","tag-haiti","tag-inspiration","tag-justice","tag-life","tag-manifesto","tag-mennonite","tag-mennonites","tag-mom","tag-nonviolence","tag-normal","tag-paradoxes","tag-play","tag-poverty","tag-present","tag-puns","tag-rhyme","tag-social-justice","tag-time","tag-top-pun","tag-truth","tag-violence","tag-vocation","tag-world-hunger"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&quot;PUNS NOT GUNS&quot; Manifesto by Top Pun | About Top Pun, Peace | Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;PUNS NOT GUNS&quot; Manifesto by Top Pun, About Top Pun, Peace, Anti-Gun, Business, Church, Community, Consciousness, Funny, Guns, Haiti, Inspiration, Justice, Life, Manifesto, Mennonite, Mennonites, Mom, Nonviolence, Normal, Paradoxes, Play, Poverty, Present, Puns, Rhyme, Social Justice, Time, Top Pun, Truth, Violence, Vocation, World Hunger Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/18\\\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/18\\\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"&#8220;PUNS NOT GUNS&#8221; Manifesto by Top Pun\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-18T16:50:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-22T19:02:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/18\\\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":717,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/23524eae4bc27be85d1cdc01bc6d380e\"},\"keywords\":[\"Anti-Gun\",\"Business\",\"Church\",\"Community\",\"Consciousness\",\"Funny\",\"Guns\",\"Haiti\",\"Inspiration\",\"Justice\",\"Life\",\"Manifesto\",\"Mennonite\",\"Mennonites\",\"Mom\",\"Nonviolence\",\"Normal\",\"Paradoxes\",\"Play\",\"Poverty\",\"Present\",\"Puns\",\"Rhyme\",\"Social Justice\",\"Time\",\"Top Pun\",\"Truth\",\"Violence\",\"Vocation\",\"World Hunger\"],\"articleSection\":[\"About Top Pun\",\"Peace\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/18\\\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/18\\\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/18\\\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\\\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"PUNS NOT GUNS\\\" Manifesto by Top Pun | About Top Pun, Peace | Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-18T16:50:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-22T19:02:53+00:00\",\"description\":\"\\\"PUNS NOT GUNS\\\" Manifesto by Top Pun, About Top Pun, Peace, Anti-Gun, Business, Church, Community, Consciousness, Funny, Guns, Haiti, Inspiration, Justice, Life, Manifesto, Mennonite, Mennonites, Mom, Nonviolence, Normal, Paradoxes, Play, Poverty, Present, Puns, Rhyme, Social Justice, Time, Top Pun, Truth, Violence, Vocation, World Hunger Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/18\\\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/18\\\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/18\\\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog HOME\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"About Top Pun\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/about-top-pun\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"&#8220;PUNS NOT GUNS&#8221; Manifesto by Top Pun\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Political Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show!\",\"description\":\"Top Pun&#039;s Pun-filled Stuff, Satire, and Public Health Science\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/23524eae4bc27be85d1cdc01bc6d380e\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/23524eae4bc27be85d1cdc01bc6d380e\",\"name\":\"Top Pun\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Top Pun\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/TopPun.com\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"PUNS NOT GUNS\" Manifesto by Top Pun | About Top Pun, Peace | Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %","description":"\"PUNS NOT GUNS\" Manifesto by Top Pun, About Top Pun, Peace, Anti-Gun, Business, Church, Community, Consciousness, Funny, Guns, Haiti, Inspiration, Justice, Life, Manifesto, Mennonite, Mennonites, Mom, Nonviolence, Normal, Paradoxes, Play, Poverty, Present, Puns, Rhyme, Social Justice, Time, Top Pun, Truth, Violence, Vocation, World Hunger Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"&#8220;PUNS NOT GUNS&#8221; Manifesto by Top Pun","datePublished":"2012-01-18T16:50:12+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-22T19:02:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/"},"wordCount":717,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/23524eae4bc27be85d1cdc01bc6d380e"},"keywords":["Anti-Gun","Business","Church","Community","Consciousness","Funny","Guns","Haiti","Inspiration","Justice","Life","Manifesto","Mennonite","Mennonites","Mom","Nonviolence","Normal","Paradoxes","Play","Poverty","Present","Puns","Rhyme","Social Justice","Time","Top Pun","Truth","Violence","Vocation","World Hunger"],"articleSection":["About Top Pun","Peace"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/","url":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/","name":"\"PUNS NOT GUNS\" Manifesto by Top Pun | About Top Pun, Peace | Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-18T16:50:12+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-22T19:02:53+00:00","description":"\"PUNS NOT GUNS\" Manifesto by Top Pun, About Top Pun, Peace, Anti-Gun, Business, Church, Community, Consciousness, Funny, Guns, Haiti, Inspiration, Justice, Life, Manifesto, Mennonite, Mennonites, Mom, Nonviolence, Normal, Paradoxes, Play, Poverty, Present, Puns, Rhyme, Social Justice, Time, Top Pun, Truth, Violence, Vocation, World Hunger Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/puns-not-guns-manifesto-by-top-pun\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog HOME","item":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"About Top Pun","item":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/category\/about-top-pun\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"&#8220;PUNS NOT GUNS&#8221; Manifesto by Top Pun"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/","name":"Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Political Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show!","description":"Top Pun&#039;s Pun-filled Stuff, Satire, and Public Health Science","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/23524eae4bc27be85d1cdc01bc6d380e"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/23524eae4bc27be85d1cdc01bc6d380e","name":"Top Pun","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Top Pun"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/TopPun.com\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2870,"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions\/2870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}