Sunday, December 16, 2012

Connecticut Shooting

I keep hearing about how bad the United States is, how Americans are so arrogant, we always invade every country in the world and we’re always telling everybody else what to do. I always defend the United States because it’s my home. We’ve got our share of problems, but we’re also the country everyone goes to for help. If there’s a disaster anywhere in the world, American aid is sent. If some country attacks some other country, American troops are sent. Need food, medicine, protection? The United States probably helped your country at some point in time. Some people might hate the United States, but even more look up to us as the most powerful country in the world. That power didn’t come by default. We had to work at it. There are countries with more oil, more water, more land, more people. We made it to the top through a combination of determination, opportunity, watching Europe destroy itself, and a lot of hard work. It’s no coincidence that more people immigrate to the United States than any other country.

Then some idiot goes into a school and shoots a bunch of children. This doesn’t happen in other countries, at least not at such a large scale and so often. I really don’t know what the problem is. Some people will blame guns, but other countries have plenty of guns and they don’t shoot each other. I read that 90% of people in Switzerland have access to guns. I’ve never heard of a school shooting in Switzerland.

Some people even say we need more guns. I don’t see how that would help anything. If everybody had a gun, it wouldn’t be like a movie where the good guys shoot the bad guys. It would be like real life where too many people shoot too many other people. If everybody had a gun and only half of the people miss, it would still be a bloodbath.

Some people try to say it’s all the immigration. We’re so violent because we have such a melting pot of people. That’s just stupid. A lot of countries have people from all over the world. We’re hardly the only one. Europe is a melting pot, but I never hear about school shootings there. Canada and Australia have immigrants running around all over the place. When is there ever a school shooting in Canada or Australia?

Some people point to our violent past as a way to explain our violent present. They say the old west was a big free for all and some of that attitude is still around. But the old west wasn’t really the anarchy of the movies, and most of the world has a violent past. Europe has been at war since the beginning of time up until just a few decades ago. The history of Asia is one long list of wars and crimes against humanity. And there are far more people living in cramped conditions. When was the last time there was a school shooting anywhere in Asia?

I really don’t know why this keeps happening. I know most Americans would never dream of shooting children. It’s the very small minority who are giving us all a bad name. I also know it’s a lot more important to help the children who have to deal with this than to blame whatever politician you don’t like. By turning these school shootings into a political issue, we are guaranteeing that it will not be solved any time soon. Americans can be counted on to get the job done, as long as it’s not political. Once you bring politics into it, any movement in any direction comes to a screeching halt. If the moon landing had turned into a political issue with Democrats for and Republicans against, Russia would have landed on the moon. If Republicans had opposed airplanes for religious reasons or Democrats opposed them for safety reasons, the Wright Brothers would have stuck with bicycles. If you want adults to stop shooting children, you have to make it a human issue, not a political one.

2 comments:

  1. Actually, they do happen in Europe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting#Europe
    Including in countries where guns are banned. And let's not forget the murders of 77 Norwegians by Breivik last year, most of them children at summer camp.

    There are also numerous cases in America where spree shooters have been stopped by armed citizens, but you never hear about those because usually only one or two people die before the shooter is disabled. Therefore, the body count isn't high enough to generate the kind of horror factor needed to make headlines.

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  2. I forgot about the Norway shooting. I'm sure it happens a lot less there. I know we want to be #1 at everything, but I think this is something where we should try to come in last.

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