samcdkey said:
Do you see the relationship between the American ideology of violence and the increasing violence in American society?
You have a culture of violence so you cannot even comprehend that this is not the way the majority of the world lives or even wants to live.
Sad, really.
It's not "The American Ideology". I mean think of it this way, if we followed the African or Middle Eastern ideology, we'd be the ones enslaved, with bombs falling on us. When you have the strongest economy in the world, the most creative geniuses in the world, everyone is gunning for your spot.
America is just a competitive place. We are the most competitive country on earth. It's not an ideology of violence, I'm not a follower of any violent ideology, I'm not naturally violent. Do you understand the way the world works?
Americans are competitive because we don't want to be a third world country. We carry guns because compassion for strangers is scarce here and hate for strangers is high. I don't have anything to do with how the American populace feels about each other, It's not rational, it's not building unity, but if I'm going to live in an environment where it's organized into social darwinism, what choice do I have?
Don't blame all American's for this, as if Americans are universally of the same ideology. Fear is the only thing that unites us, fear of the enemy, fear of the criminal, fear of the terrorist, fear of you, fear of self, fear of our own shadow, but thats the only way you can unite people who aren't able to love and who only can be united by fear. Love while it might be the ideal force to unite people, not everyone feels it, and not everyone can be united by that emotion, some people hate everyone, but they will unite in their hatred and fear. Some people love everyone, and they will unite in their love for everyone and in their empathy for the world.
The reality is, no one chooses where they get born, if you get born into a dangerous environment, you'll need a gun. America is very tribal, based on familly, a lot of the time if you are born here, you are universally hated by everyone until you make friends and start a family of your own. In this country, many of us educated ourselves because the school systems are falling apart, many of us have no mentors, no role models, and two parents who work all day long, or worse, one parent who works two jobs and has no time to raise kids.
A lot of kids raise themselves in this environment, the first lesson they learn is how to deal with bullies, when there is no adult they can run to, and no one to protect them. They learn that it's their responsibility to ultimately protect themselves because no one else will ever do it. Some people go about protecting themselves by trying to make enough money to get out of or avoid living a ghetto. Some people learn to protect themselves by educating themselves to such a level that they can be both book smart and street smart if required. Some people join the military. There are many different ways out of difficult situations, but in general everyone gets several choices and here is a lsit.
1.Go to college
2. Join the military
3. Go to prison
4. Get a job at mc donalds or walmart
These are the options that people face. You only get about 4 options in life, 4 environments to choose from. Going to college, thats where the smart people go. Joining the military, thats where the smart warriors go. Going to prison, thats where the not so smart warriors go, but smarter than Mc Donalds or Walmart.
You aren't going to be an athelete, you aren't going to be an artist, actor, or any of these things because these are rare abilities. So everyone picks an environment, and then tries to take advantage of that environment to protect them. .
Over time, a person can become master of one of these environments, and then they move to the next environment. You master college and you move to an office job. You master military service and you move to civilian service into the security industry. You master prison and you rule in prison and come out of prison to be a successful criminal/hustler (or you learn a trade), and if you do Mc Donalds, you'll be doing that for the rest of your goddamn life, and likely end up homeless.
Does America have to be like this? Maybe not. If you have some good community building ideas, why don't you share them, but no matter what your ideas are, if a community cannot protect it's members it cannot exist. In the middle ages, there were gated communities to keep the barbarians out, and it's still that way, so whatever you build, you'll need guns to protect your beautiful community.
