Steve 41oo wrote:I just saw Charlton Heston NRA president brandishing a gun and challenging anyone to take it out of his cold dead hand. (Is he dead yet?)
Well actually I give up. Play with lethal weapons all you like. Teach toddlers to shoot each other. Firarms for fetuses! Why not we all heard of shotgun weddings.
I hate to say it, but I think America is immersed in a culture of violence. I know it's hard for people in other countries to understand, because it's hard for me to understand after only three years of living away from it.
My behavior has totally changed since living here, where there isn't a gun culture. When I lived in the US, as a woman, I would never walk alone at night or go walking in the woods by myself even during the day with my dog- my whole subconscious affect knew that I needed to protect myself- because that's what I had been raised to know that I had to do to keep myself safe.
And when I came to England initially, I reacted the same way- just out of habit. I didn't know it could be any different. But it can. Women can walk alone without worrying they will be attacked and raped-children can go to school without worrying about getting shot. There are actually places you can live that women and children don't have to constantly be aware of who or what around them might hurt them.
I don't think most men are aware of how much a woman's freedom is curtailed on a day to day basis in the US. But women do have their freedom curtailed and always have- because of the threat of violence that pervades the streets in our country. And when it reaches into classrooms and dorm rooms, etc.- it's just too much
It makes me so sad that safety doesn't seem to be a viable option in my own country, and for my own friends and family. Why do people want to live in fear like this? It just seems so crazy to me that that's what we have chosen for our country.
I hate to say it- but I think the violence is due to more than the availability of guns (although I think banning them would be a start). This whole damn love affair with guns make me think violence has become an ingrained part of American culture- just like the rest of the world believes to be true. And who can disagree when this stuff keeps happening?
I know fear and protectiveness and defensiveness were ingrained in me as a woman in America. I didn't know how much a part of me it was, until I moved somewhere and realized I didn't need to be afraid anymore. But I know once I go back, it'll come right back. What a sad statement to make about one's own home country.
