And here's where I lose the rest of you
As is usual following an incident involving guns, people are bewailing the US' alleged "gun fetish." And as usual, these people are wrong. Yes, including you on my flist.
The US does not have a gun fetish. If we did, the sight of a person peacefully and openly carrying a pistol would not be cause for mass panic and reports of MAN WITH A GUN!!!!! to 911, and incidents like the recent shooting in Connecticut would be shrugged off as business as usual rather than media sensationalism for weeks, if not months.
The US does not have a gun fetish.
The US has a violence fetish.
We culturally glamorize violence in all forms, gun-related and otherwise. The movies that pull the biggest numbers are the ones with the highest body counts. Our video games (yes, I'm going there) are uniformly about killing things; look at the trailer for Modern Warfare 3, it's a solid 90 seconds of Things Blowing Up. We happily execute innocent people on the weakest evidence and let psychotic murderers go free (as long as they're good at playing violent games). When we decide to fix a perceived social problem, what do we do? We declare war on it. And we are proud of this attitude.
And then we're Shocked And Appalled, Sir, when some loony goes off the rails. Everything about American culture says it's OK - no, not OK, good - to kill, until someone actually does. And then you all completely lose your shit and flail around, looking for someone to blame.
Here's a hint: look in the mirror.
The US does not have a gun fetish. If we did, the sight of a person peacefully and openly carrying a pistol would not be cause for mass panic and reports of MAN WITH A GUN!!!!! to 911, and incidents like the recent shooting in Connecticut would be shrugged off as business as usual rather than media sensationalism for weeks, if not months.
The US does not have a gun fetish.
The US has a violence fetish.
We culturally glamorize violence in all forms, gun-related and otherwise. The movies that pull the biggest numbers are the ones with the highest body counts. Our video games (yes, I'm going there) are uniformly about killing things; look at the trailer for Modern Warfare 3, it's a solid 90 seconds of Things Blowing Up. We happily execute innocent people on the weakest evidence and let psychotic murderers go free (as long as they're good at playing violent games). When we decide to fix a perceived social problem, what do we do? We declare war on it. And we are proud of this attitude.
And then we're Shocked And Appalled, Sir, when some loony goes off the rails. Everything about American culture says it's OK - no, not OK, good - to kill, until someone actually does. And then you all completely lose your shit and flail around, looking for someone to blame.
Here's a hint: look in the mirror.