ZeeAmerican
15 Apr 2010
USA, Canada / Do you speak English? Have you lived in America? New LOVE/HATE list......... [144]
I was born and raised in the states and can give a little bit of my perspective. I did not read all the posts, for I am short on time this evening and have much to write already. I did see some things about gun violence along with a few other issues. Here is my take on some of the issues I did read over:
Gun ownership: Gun ownership and the abundance of firearms in the US cannot be solely to blame for the deaths that occur here. We are far and away the highest country in gun ownership per capita: 90:100 ratio, which does not take into account multiple guns owned by a single collector. By all the studies I have seen, America is pretty far down the chain on murders per capita - anywhere from 20-54 from the sites I have visited. Mexico, to the south, is far higher in murder per capita on every list I have seen.
Gun ownership can actually deter violent crimes, which I know sounds somewhat ridiculous, but please bare with me. Criminals will find a way to acquire firearms, no matter the nation's laws. Without the right of a citizen to protect himself with firearm, the criminals can have free reign to do whatever they like. Violent crimes are usually perpetrated most in countries with substandard living conditions where the government overtly oppresses its people into economic poverty. I would argue that the American government oppresses its people in very subtle ways, but it is no comparison to most third world countries. The view that America is overly violent is created by our media, due to a near total freedom of press. I don't agree with the wars we have waged after WWII. I don't like how we turned a blind eye to Stalin and the Soviet Union's aggression in Europe after WWII, for a long while, but as a whole we are fairly civilized.
Ignorance and the glamorization of stupidity: I agree that this is abundant here in the states, but you also have to see it from a socio-geographic standpoint. We are isolated from many of the industrialized nations of the world, we are not located in Europe, and we rebelled against the pre-eminent European power in the world, at that time. A surprising number of the people living here still see Europe as a system of monarchies, or communists nations, that hate the United States. Ignorance is certainly not discouraged by our government, though I wouldn't say it is necessarily promoted either. Our media rarely focuses on foreign events. I dare to say that 9 out of 10 people here have no idea who the president of Mexico is, or who the Prime Minister of Canada is; let alone, who rules Russian, Germany, and even Great Britain. We are not raised to be globalists, we are raised to be 'Americans'. That we call ourselves Americans should say enough about our view of countries outside the states. When you replace globalist ideas with American ideas what is then left; a 'me against the world' attitude and a capitalist/consumerist/materialist bent? Perhaps, perhaps I am simply pessimistic.
The United States is a paradox; both tolerant and intolerant, both great and terrible, both free and oppressed in thought, etc. The United States is difficult to understand from a native standpoint, I would be very wary of trying to evaluate it from a foreign standpoint, or being entirely certain in that evaluation. Again, this is just my opinion.
I was born and raised in the states and can give a little bit of my perspective. I did not read all the posts, for I am short on time this evening and have much to write already. I did see some things about gun violence along with a few other issues. Here is my take on some of the issues I did read over:
Gun ownership: Gun ownership and the abundance of firearms in the US cannot be solely to blame for the deaths that occur here. We are far and away the highest country in gun ownership per capita: 90:100 ratio, which does not take into account multiple guns owned by a single collector. By all the studies I have seen, America is pretty far down the chain on murders per capita - anywhere from 20-54 from the sites I have visited. Mexico, to the south, is far higher in murder per capita on every list I have seen.
Gun ownership can actually deter violent crimes, which I know sounds somewhat ridiculous, but please bare with me. Criminals will find a way to acquire firearms, no matter the nation's laws. Without the right of a citizen to protect himself with firearm, the criminals can have free reign to do whatever they like. Violent crimes are usually perpetrated most in countries with substandard living conditions where the government overtly oppresses its people into economic poverty. I would argue that the American government oppresses its people in very subtle ways, but it is no comparison to most third world countries. The view that America is overly violent is created by our media, due to a near total freedom of press. I don't agree with the wars we have waged after WWII. I don't like how we turned a blind eye to Stalin and the Soviet Union's aggression in Europe after WWII, for a long while, but as a whole we are fairly civilized.
Ignorance and the glamorization of stupidity: I agree that this is abundant here in the states, but you also have to see it from a socio-geographic standpoint. We are isolated from many of the industrialized nations of the world, we are not located in Europe, and we rebelled against the pre-eminent European power in the world, at that time. A surprising number of the people living here still see Europe as a system of monarchies, or communists nations, that hate the United States. Ignorance is certainly not discouraged by our government, though I wouldn't say it is necessarily promoted either. Our media rarely focuses on foreign events. I dare to say that 9 out of 10 people here have no idea who the president of Mexico is, or who the Prime Minister of Canada is; let alone, who rules Russian, Germany, and even Great Britain. We are not raised to be globalists, we are raised to be 'Americans'. That we call ourselves Americans should say enough about our view of countries outside the states. When you replace globalist ideas with American ideas what is then left; a 'me against the world' attitude and a capitalist/consumerist/materialist bent? Perhaps, perhaps I am simply pessimistic.
The United States is a paradox; both tolerant and intolerant, both great and terrible, both free and oppressed in thought, etc. The United States is difficult to understand from a native standpoint, I would be very wary of trying to evaluate it from a foreign standpoint, or being entirely certain in that evaluation. Again, this is just my opinion.