Last night I was struck by a TV ad from a local gun dealer. They proudly proclaimed, "Over 7,000 guns in stock!" 7,000? That got my brain to thinking, if a single gun dealer in a mid-sized American city has 7,000 guns in stock, how many frigging guns are there in America? The answer is, too damned many! Years ago, I finally figured out that the Cold War wasn't about war and deadly enemies at all, but about selling arms. The economy. Money. This realization didn't come about through a flash of economic/political brilliance, but through a flash of reality as I thought, while watching a pickup load of hunters head off into the woods, "There ain't no way the Russians, or anybody else, could ever invade this country. They'd get their asses shot off." Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to people owning a firearm, I’ve got one myself. But how far is too far? Check this out: I’m confident that the readers of this blog would agree that things like machine guns and assault rifles should be outlawed. But those things aren’t the problem. They’re merely the symptom. The problem is, the all consuming American “rugged individualist” fantasy. “Here come ole Flat-top, he come moving up slowly…” It’s manifested in nearly every aspect of the American culture. Fat-ass clerks, dressed like bad-ass cowboys, on their Harleys. Football and everything about it. Home boys coping a ‘tude while tugging at their trousers. Skin-heads and all their tattoos and piercings. “He got ju ju eyeballs, he one spinal cracker. He say,I know you, you know me. One thing I can tell you is you got to be free. Come together, right now, over me.” Not one of these fuck-ups could make it as individualist, even if their lives depended on it. The scary thing is, unless we can somehow pull ourselves together as a society, we haven’t got a prayer. The question is, how can we do that?
This is not quite the point you were making, but I find it interesting to read remarks made by some Americans comparing themselves to those living in Europe. They not only have more freedom and liberties than those unlucky enough to live in the EU, but Europeans – due to the socialist nature of their governments – lack individuality and even creativity. No, I’m not joking. We Brits aren’t as creative or individualistic as Americans. We can’t be.
ReplyDeleteTo be sure, most people will realise that there are plenty of unimaginative, conformist Americans, but it does seem to be a fairly common belief that Americans are somehow unique in this respect. I’m not mocking your countrymen, just making an observation of the cultural differences. You wouldn’t get many people in Europe (or Canada, or Australia) – who have essentially the same liberties and capacity to be creative and individualistic as Americans – saying that sort of thing. We take it for granted.
It's hard to believe after all these years Simon, but the American psyche is still greatly influenced by the feeling that we have to prove that we immigrants who either fled, or were kicked out of, the mother countries are not only just as good as, but even better than those left behind.
ReplyDeleteIt's understandable that those fleeing tyrannical monarchy's would snub their noses at them once they escaped. And it's also understandable that there would be lingering hard feelings about being dragged into two world wars, neither of which the US started and even though they turned the US into a world power.
What isn't understandable is that logic and common sense can't prevail over those feelings.
I suppose once they become part of the culture, these things take hundreds of years to completely subside.
This subject would make a good post.
The question is, how can we do that?
ReplyDeleteWe can all help God buy a pick up truck from Max and then God can take his swag AK and shove it up Max's ass before test firing the weapon.
Shhhh don't tell anyone but I have lived my entire life within the boundaries of the most persistently violent city in America and never have owned a God damned gun.
If I needed a gun for protection then it would to me prove a lack of faith. I am of a mind that if we are ever going to coalesce into a society where we actually look out for them amongst us who need looking out for we should kill all religion and the bullshit that goes with it.
I'm with you WM. If only we could find this "invisible man" named God, then maybe we could get his slant on this.
ReplyDeleteAll I know is God has got to be shaking his head.
ReplyDeleteI've never got the whole firearm thing in the States, I really haven't. That's not to say I wouldn't own one if I lived there, or that I look down on those that do, I just don't really understand it.
ReplyDeleteOn the upside, I could at least buy a truck, rob a bank on the way home using the AK, sell the AK on the black market and then buy a new sound system, sit back and listen to the Beatles.
Hey Mo, you've got the right idea. Point: Crime in America, although far worse than it needs to be, is almost totally confined to certain neighborhoods. For the vast majority of Americans, there is no violence in their lives. The reason so many own guns is because of the media. Every single crime has become headline news, therefore, everyone thinks it's going to happen any minute. It isn't for the vast majority of us. I own a gun because about 25 years ago, the house next door to me was burglarized. No one was home. No one got hurt. But my wife was freighted so I bought the gun. It was 20yrs before I finally fired it, and that was just to see if the bullets were still any good. They were.
ReplyDeleteMr. C...Point of Truth.
ReplyDeleteGod
is
not
a
man.
Totally different form of life than a human
With walkingman on both comments.
ReplyDeleteMr. Charleston said: Yes JJ. I believe Punch IS one of those.
ReplyDeleteSt. Thomas Aquinas... God is a being greater than man can imagine.
Would still like to hear his slant on things.
(at my daughter's house in NC so her ID popped up)
Hey wait a minute!!! Punch is one of those???? TH?O?S?E? muthafuca????
ReplyDeleteT?H?O?S?E??? God??? MAN??? DIFFERENT LIFE form???
?t?h?o?e?
come on, come on.
Punch, maybe he is referring to your Brit passport.
ReplyDelete