Gun Cultures and the Police
So I spent the weekend exploring Stonehenge and Bath on Saturday, then wandering around St. Peter's park, Regents Park, Soho and London's Chinatown. I will update more on that later, and pictures (of Stonehenge and Bath anyway) will go up on facebook.
For right now, I want to relate something really quick before I go to bed and forget it.
Even though England and the UK isn't that "foreign" to us, there are still things that make it clear that yes, this is a completely different culture from ours. For example, when Julian came to visit last weekend, we were at Hyde Park sitting on a bench when he happened to look over at some cops, or coppers. After looking at them for a few moments he turned to me and asked, "Where are their guns?" I pause, think about it and say, "They don't carry them."
"They don't carry guns? What do they do when there's a criminal running around? Don't they deal with terrorist threats more often than we do?"
"... I don't know. They just... don't carry guns."
Then he shrugged, kind of scoffed and shook his head at the lunacy of it all and turned away.
A couple of days after he left for his Oxford program, Evelia and I read on BBC News that there had been an "incident" of a crazy man running around chasing people in broad daylight with a knife, then leaping on a cop car and just generally scaring the shit out of people. Man with a knife. And one cop swung his baton at knife-man's arm and knocked it out of his hands, and then four cops take the guy down with their batons.
Evelia made the comment that knife-man was lucky he wasn't in the U.S. when he did that, because he would've been shot. I responded with something like, "And there would have been no moral outrage at all. We would've just been glad, and relieved, that that guy was down." We laugh because hey, it's true. Especially in Texas.
A couple of days after that, today really, Evelia told me that she found out that something similar had happened in the Valley. Only in this case, it was a man with a wooden plank. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I guess he was threatening people with a wooden plank. And the cops shot him down.
"Was there any moral outrage?" I ask.
"Nope. I guess that really just shows you the gun culture back home."
I kind of wonder what the response would've been like over here had a man with a wooden plank been shot by cops. Marlene?
Meanwhile, The Police are having a reunion tour. And I want to see them. They're touring the US and Canada right now, and the shitty thing is that they'll tour the UK and Europe when I finally get back home. BUT, starting around late October they'll hit the US again and Mexico (which basically means one show in Mexico City). No shows in Austin unfortunately. But I kind of want to go to their Atlanta concert during a weekend in mid November. Omar says he'll follow me but now go to the actual concert, which sucks because concerts are always better with company, but maybe we'll get the chance to meet up with Hatter there (who'll also probably not care about the Police). The cheapest tickets are 54 or 52 dollars, and I don't know how much the plane ride or a night in some cheap hotel or something will be. Anyone want to come with?
My sister completely rained on my parade last night, she kind of mocked my semi-made plans and went, "That's really expensive for a concert, and you're just going to spend a weekend all the way across the country for a concert? LAME." The whole time I'm thinking, "She just doesn't get it. It's the Police goddammit! They don't do this all the time and may never again, and quit calling it 'just a concert!'"
Plus, I feel like I've known people to spend a lot more money on concerts, and people go this far to see their favorite bands or reunion concerts don't they? And people don't think they're lame...
Tell me, am I being completely ridiculous here? I really want to see these guys, they're not coming to Texas. Have you guys really never known someone to do something like this? Am I really being unreasonable in trying to plan something like this to see the Police? AM I CRAZY? I swear to God I feel like this isn't unusual...
For right now, I want to relate something really quick before I go to bed and forget it.
Even though England and the UK isn't that "foreign" to us, there are still things that make it clear that yes, this is a completely different culture from ours. For example, when Julian came to visit last weekend, we were at Hyde Park sitting on a bench when he happened to look over at some cops, or coppers. After looking at them for a few moments he turned to me and asked, "Where are their guns?" I pause, think about it and say, "They don't carry them."
"They don't carry guns? What do they do when there's a criminal running around? Don't they deal with terrorist threats more often than we do?"
"... I don't know. They just... don't carry guns."
Then he shrugged, kind of scoffed and shook his head at the lunacy of it all and turned away.
A couple of days after he left for his Oxford program, Evelia and I read on BBC News that there had been an "incident" of a crazy man running around chasing people in broad daylight with a knife, then leaping on a cop car and just generally scaring the shit out of people. Man with a knife. And one cop swung his baton at knife-man's arm and knocked it out of his hands, and then four cops take the guy down with their batons.
Evelia made the comment that knife-man was lucky he wasn't in the U.S. when he did that, because he would've been shot. I responded with something like, "And there would have been no moral outrage at all. We would've just been glad, and relieved, that that guy was down." We laugh because hey, it's true. Especially in Texas.
A couple of days after that, today really, Evelia told me that she found out that something similar had happened in the Valley. Only in this case, it was a man with a wooden plank. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I guess he was threatening people with a wooden plank. And the cops shot him down.
"Was there any moral outrage?" I ask.
"Nope. I guess that really just shows you the gun culture back home."
I kind of wonder what the response would've been like over here had a man with a wooden plank been shot by cops. Marlene?
Meanwhile, The Police are having a reunion tour. And I want to see them. They're touring the US and Canada right now, and the shitty thing is that they'll tour the UK and Europe when I finally get back home. BUT, starting around late October they'll hit the US again and Mexico (which basically means one show in Mexico City). No shows in Austin unfortunately. But I kind of want to go to their Atlanta concert during a weekend in mid November. Omar says he'll follow me but now go to the actual concert, which sucks because concerts are always better with company, but maybe we'll get the chance to meet up with Hatter there (who'll also probably not care about the Police). The cheapest tickets are 54 or 52 dollars, and I don't know how much the plane ride or a night in some cheap hotel or something will be. Anyone want to come with?
My sister completely rained on my parade last night, she kind of mocked my semi-made plans and went, "That's really expensive for a concert, and you're just going to spend a weekend all the way across the country for a concert? LAME." The whole time I'm thinking, "She just doesn't get it. It's the Police goddammit! They don't do this all the time and may never again, and quit calling it 'just a concert!'"
Plus, I feel like I've known people to spend a lot more money on concerts, and people go this far to see their favorite bands or reunion concerts don't they? And people don't think they're lame...
Tell me, am I being completely ridiculous here? I really want to see these guys, they're not coming to Texas. Have you guys really never known someone to do something like this? Am I really being unreasonable in trying to plan something like this to see the Police? AM I CRAZY? I swear to God I feel like this isn't unusual...