Neildo said:
Every person in Switzerland is required to have a gun in their home and also has a very low crime rate. A nice example of an armed society being a polite one.
Does this in any way suggest that the problem is the ideology surrounding the guns?
- Switzerland is a small country inasmuch as it would fit inside any of a number of states in the U.S.; we have open spaces the size of some small nations, and that makes people feel very lonely and isolated, and consequently afraid.
- Switzerland, historically, has attempted to remain neutral, at least compared to the American manifest destiny and other imperial tendencies.
- As I understand it, and I could be wrong here, European societies are not as swayed by the glitzy images on television and the silver screen that make death by gunfire something glamourous and romantic.
- Switzerland seems to lack the paranoid, belligerent religious tendencies fueling the American "Bible Belt". Again, I could be wrong. But it seems that way.
I just spent the most part of a week in "bear country", the kind of place where you see refreshing signs advising that bears "can kill you". Seeing bears and even waking up to the sight of a massive bison, I didn't feel the need for a gun. To the other, I did see a family at Yellowstone, walking through the complex around Old Faithful, and the father pointed out to his son, "Jason, did you see? A fish just--" um, I admit I can't remember the term for it; breaking or breaching or something. But here, in a national park, the guy was just itching for the chance to kill something. Admittedly it was a hook on a string he was talking about, but it did make me wonder if there are some gun folks out there who go nuts at the prospect of all these animals they're not allowed to kill. After all, a beautiful wolf known by the moniker "
Alpha Male #10" was illegally shot and killed shortly after his release into Yellowstone. There is a deeply-rooted sense of violence about the American psyche, in part because our patriotism is not so much reverent as it is spectacular: cowboys and indians, "taming" the west, Manifest Destiny, the Civil War ... it touches on many aspects of our culture, including in the present the reasons people have so much difficulty accepting that objections to the war have nothing to do with the soldier. We learned that lesson after Vietnam, I would hope, but it seems that some folks--those who glorify our violent side, mostly--insist on keeping that old wound festering.
Our nation is "great" because it is violent. Seems strange to say, but think about it: Manifest Destiny, the taming of the west, included biological warfare and attempted genocide, territorial wars and wars to preserve human bondage. It is enough to reject Czoglosz or Berkman, to denounce blacks for gang violence, or blame an Arab when a white guy with a cardboard license plate is responsible. But Haditha isn't much compared to nearly 3,000 dead Americans on 9/11, so our patriotism and community ideology compels us to look past such episodes of violence because it's not fair, apparently, to criticize the soldiers, and it's un-American to criticize the folks who sent them there. Look at our blinders, and what they allow us to see: nothing but fear and imperial blood.
It's why I show a sympathetic mercy toward the Happy Face Bomber; in his own way, he's a product of our society. It's why I think people over-reacted to 9/11: we knew something like that would happen someday, and the only way we know how to respond is to get even more violent and more paranoid. It's in our heritage, and it will be our great fall. We cling to an old world while pretending to look forward to the new. Neither vision finds roots in reality. Is it any wonder so many Americans are so scared that the most important thing to them is that they possess the ability to kill someone?
Yes, if I lived on a large plot in Montana or Wyoming, or even the east half of Washington (okay, the eastern two-thirds, to be more accurate), I would probably own a rifle. But it would be more about the dangers of wildlife than the dangers of humanity, and I certainly wouldn't be so quick to shoot to kill as some of my neighbors seem. Apparently, they're happy to waste bullets shooting cans, but not when afforded the opportunity to destroy life.
I admit I don't understand the gun mentality in this country. It is one of the strangest things I know of. It seems idiot-simple, even though I know not all gun owners are idiots. Much like my complaint about Christianity, it would be refreshing at least to see the "responsible gun owners" tell the NRA and other such wellsprings of paranoia to get bent, and it would be absolutely wonderful to see Americans in general approach issues of crime and fear with something approaching a rational sense. But it ain't gonna happen. Bloodlust is far too gratifying in our culture.
Seriously, ask folks about "when the disaster comes". For a frightening number of Americans, a gun will be required to ensure they don't have to give a flying f@ck about their neighbors except to kill them. So much for American "Christian" values.
It's all a bloody mess. We just need to get irie, and
then we can lead the world to peace and prosperity.
In the meantime, it's the Wild West vs. the Republic of Coruscant. Take your choice. We all lose, in the end.
We should stick that in our flintlocks and smoke it.
as you said, I haven't thus far done anything with an alternative weapon. Just sometimes I think...Grrrrrrrrrrr I wanna, wanna zigga zig aaaaaaaaaa (spice girls ). No one knows what they'd do in any given situation until confronted with it. I just wouldn't want a gun around when I feel cross. Hey, maybe I'd blow my own brains out?
