Sunday 9 January 2011

America and their enemy within

Another massacre in America, is it so surprising?  To part an American from his/her right to carry a gun would be near  impossible.
Since the American Revolutionary War Americans have clung to their right to carry guns even though the former imagined or otherwise threats from  wild animals, native Americans, territorial  rights, and necessity to hunt for food etc have long since gone. Generations of Americans continue to embrace and glorify the gun as a living inheritance - a permanent ingredient of the nation's style and culture.
The gun represents a symbol of power and masculinity.  Cowboys in Wild West films, gangster films,  later    The Terminator,  Pulp Fiction, and up to  the present day films depict the gun- toting hero as a celebrity.
America has the least restrictive gun control laws in the developed world except for Switzerland, and this is mainly due to the all powerful gun lobby.
As recently as 2004 attempts to bring in gun control failed. Strong lobbyists included 'Students for Conceal Carry on Campus',  'Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership', 'Second Amendment Sisters', 'Second Amendment Foundation', and most powerful of all  'The National Rifle Association'.
In 2007 spending on lobbying against gun control totalled c$1,959,407 million, against that,  gun control spending  was a mere c$60,000 thousand!
America is its own worst enemy. It refuses to ban guns then  complains when inevitably serious accidents occur.  It  will not face up to the fact that it is a sick society, likes to pick fights with its own,  and has the nerve to proselytise  its schizophrenic and sad culture in the form of violence abroad.

2 comments:

  1. You have said it all !!

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  2. One part of USA culture seems to have a seriously unhealthy obsession with guns and violence.

    ReplyDelete