Violence in United States of America
Dmitri October 4th, 2007
If someone made a suggestion that Americans are violent by nature, they would of course be met with strong moral outrage, mostly from Americans. It might not considered politically correct in the Anglo-Saxon world to suggest that Americans are violent, yet political correctness can hardly cover the fact that the United States is one of the most violent nations on earth, both by crime rates and by ideological glorification of violent pursuits. In this short piece, we will discuss in brief, the various social and political factors that are characteristic of violence in the United States, Illalong with a brief overview of the facts and figures of violent crimes in United States. If you have any objection, agreement or argument against this article, feel free to use the comment form below.
A sarcastic cartoon by joyoftech.com on how Americans are more comfortable with violence than sexuality.
The United States has by far the largest number of people behind bars for violent crimes and one of the highest homicide rates in the world. According to the America’s FBI Crime in the United States 2005 data, violent crime rate in US was 469.2 per 100000 population as of the year 2005, the highest among industrialised countries. It must be noted that the American definition of violent crimes consitutes a smaller spectrum of crimes than European and Asian countries. The overall homicide and violent crime of US is comparable to that of disturbed East European and South-East Asian regions. Contrary to popular American arguments, 45.9% of the crimes between 1974 and 2004 are committed by whites, blacks make up a 52.1% and other races about 2%. The extent of crime in US can be best understood when it stands in a comparison with the rest of the world. The United States has less than 5% of world’s population and over 25% of the world’s population with criminal records.
There are several social and political factors which cause this crimes. One of them as explained above, is the inherent inclination of Americans towards violence. As is shown the the sarcastic cartoon above, most Americans would rather have their children watch a scene containing blood-lust and gore rather than a scene of intimacy or nudity. A human being with a slit throat or blood pouring out of its body is more acceptable than a human, hale and hearty but naked. Glorification of violence and war, are all covered by religious fundamentalist goups and very popular in the media. It is then no surprise that violence finds more social acceptability than love in United States. A point of note is that most American swearwords have a sexual theme, while a word ‘fucker’ is an insult, if one calls someone a ‘killer’ in America, it is a matter of pride.
Another cause of violence in America could be the large ownership of guns in America. Coupled with impusive behaviour and social acceptability of walking around with firearms, it is not surprise the a large proportion of violent crimes in America is because of guns. Guns in America is more acceptable and normal on kids than cellphones, many US states have laws that allow school kids to carry concealed handguns. There is also in incident where US authorities issued a gun on a 10 month old infant in Illinois state, admittedly the state with the strictest gun controls. If it were the 1700s and early 1800s, it would have been acceptable for an American to carry a gun to protect himself/herself from wild animals and predators, in today’s America it hardly makes sense. Issuing guns on 10-month old infants and untrained schoolkids is insanity, it is no surprise then that incidents in the likes of Columbine High School massacre and Virginia Tech massacre are exclusive to United States. The issue of gun control and gun related violence is so wide that it deserves an entire post on it for adequate justice.
The love of guns, social acceptability of violence and degradation of compassionate emotions, all point to the trait of Americans - they are inherently attracted to violence. Although there are people among Americans who are compassionate and kind-hearted, yet they have little influence in a society where the majority is attracted to violent means for their selfish ends. It is one of the primary reasons for endless wars, genocides and mass violence in the annals of American history. One might ask - what has the issue of violent nature of Americans got to do with international politics? The answer can be found, if one looks at the way Americans attempt to push their way of life down the throat of third world denizens, often with violent force and by portraying it as the only way of life worth living.
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This post is interesting, and I only really have one comment. While I’m not disputing that Ludwig incident actually happened, I will say that cases like that are rare. In most states, you have to be 21 to acquire handguns, 18 if you want rifles or shotguns; in practice, 16 year olds have been granted a license to carry an unconcealed firearm, typically in the form of a rifle. Nevertheless, just because the Second Amendment exists does not automatically suggest that every raving lunatic has access to a firearm legally. Part of the problem is that too many firearms are available on the market — black and white — and it is still relatively easy to acquire one, if you want. And truth to be told, anyone determined enough to get a gun will get a gun, whether or not it is easy.
One of the major issues is that the media tends to glorify violence. The Columbine Massacre is one such example, and the glory and such that led to many copycat shootings, in what the Post called “beat the number of dead.” I do not have the article, unfortunately, as this happened 8+ years ago.
But yes, while you have listed many good points, the point that anyone can legally acquire a firearm easily is misguided. This is not true. Like everything else, some people fall through the cracks — no system created by the human mind is perfect — it works in the cases that are not exceptional.
Hope all is well!
Hear hear! Finally someone brave enough to come out with this, I hope Americans don’t send some mortar bombs on Dmitri’s house next. The world needs to protect itself from the self obsessed lunatics that are called Americans.
Americans themselves aren’t lunatics — well, most of them, anyway. But the term “lunatics” does indeed apply to the U.S. government in more ways than one. On that, we agree.
>>>Americans are by nature, attracted to violence
Genetically? For all your plodding long-windedness in trying to make a point you never, ever back or qualify that initial statement. Your logic is the same that propels racial superiority arguments and besides, there’s a lot of Brit in the American gene pool.
>>>A point of note is that most American swearwords have a sexual theme, while a word ‘fucker’ is an insult, if one calls someone a ‘killer’ in America, it is a matter of pride.
“A point of note” indeed but do you have any linguistic or cross-cultural data to back it up? You know, linguistics, anthropology and sociology are real disciplines. You could have called upon them. Your argument is weak.
>>>it is no surprise then that incidents in the likes of Columbine High School massacre and Virginia Tech massacre are exclusive to United States
Um, heard of Finland?
The author makes a good point. We must lose all these political correctness and get face to face with the reality with Americans. They are sex and violence crazed maniacs, most of them are.
Chileno the high rate of all this violence and crimes in America is a proof that Americans are violence. Which peace loving country makes such a mess at home and abroad? Shedding politically correct statements is not racial superiority it is facing reality. Anthropology or linguistic data can’t explain the excessive amount of swearwords Americans make at every conversation. How would you do that anyway? Find some ‘f***’ genes in American DNA or understand the correct usage of ‘f***’ words in situations. Americans must have inherited a language of curse and swearwords from South Americans who find it odd to say ‘please’. The Finland massacre happened today November 08th, how can the author forsee this on October 4th? And this happened because of US influence in Finnish schoolkids, read the newslink you posted here.
Americans have become a disease who are trying to infect the world with their culture of violence, gluttony and sex obession.
I presume Mr./Ms. Chileno expected Mr. Dmitri to have the foresight to predict the Finland incident when he wrote this article. In that case my sincere apologies that as an international political site, we are unable to provide you with astrological services. If Mr. Dmitri were to start predicting the future, we’d have had to remove the article as we deal with factual data and reasoned analysis - not with supersitions.
*chuckle* Well put, Aby.
The 1996 shooting spree in Scotland is factual. And it happened long before Dmitri’s post. Why did you block my comment? Truth hurts I guess.
Well, congrats you guys for doing your small part to make the word “liberal” synonymous with “stupid”. If this were part of the vast right wing conspiracy I’d have to hand it to you. Sadly, you guys do seem to be very sincere in your motives, yet of such limited mental capacity as to do your cause more harm than good.
Americans are violent by nature, their actions over the years being evident of this fact. Look at the situation in Iraq today, if Americans could have ensured zero casualty to their own soldiers, there would have been almost nil opposition to the war in Iraq.
The latest bombings in Baghdad that killed 200 Iraqi civilians. The tactic of shelling populated urban areas in Iraq is to indiscriminately murder as many people as possible, mostly non combatants. It’s to punish and terrorise the combatant community in to submission. Just another way of terrorism against people who want freedom from foreign invasion.
It would never have been acceptable to shell a Catholic area in Northern Ireland to get at the IR.A., or to punish their community. It was never necessary, and would have only been counterproductive. The Northern Irish Catholics just about qualify as human beings while it’s glaringly apparent that Iraqis do not. Americans don’t go to wars or counter-terrorism. All these terms are a justification to satisfy their lust for human blood - through killing sprees. War can happen only between equals, against Russians or Chinese for example.
I am glad that you have taken the effort to respond Ms. Chileno. Rest assured, we do not engage in unnecessary censorship which is why your comment is here. All new user comments are automatically placed in moderation till a site editor approves them. This is to prevent all those “I like your site but please visit my Ice Cream blog…” spam. If that really annoyed you, my regrets for putting you through that inconvenience.
As for the rest of your comment, I agree with you we are extremely stupid people who need brains like yours to string a few words together. Spell check and a speech synthesiser does all the articles for now. The site is sponsored and funded by the mental asylum that we are inmates of and that we are trying to get out of. If you ever feel like giving back something to the world, pledge your brains to us after you die, so that we can benefit from all that brimming intelligence of yours.
*amused* Yes, and if that were true, I’d be the Chief Psychopath—and be extremely proud of it, too. Good answer, Aby.
Now, what about the update?
The origins of school violence and gangster violence is repressed sexuality of males. The male hormone testosterone expresses in two ways, sex and violence. If you block one option there is only another left. We get men all excited with so much sexuality in ads, movies and TV. Tease and titillation is all over making many men overflowing with desire and yet sex is scarce. People who are sexually frustrated are angry, and angry people tend to be violent. People who are not touched, loved, made love to, feel outside of the human race and have an easier time hurting other humans. It works the same way in any human society, not only America.
This is what comes when we have movies and games where violent rapes, bloodshed and gore is shown in glory while expression of love and sensuality is relegated to censorship and adult ratings. The effect of this on young minds become obvious when we witness incidents like teenage rapes and school shootings. Increased police vigilance will bring about little change as in most cases the perpratators don’t care about the implications.
I enjoyed that you looked into the situation in the united states. I do have to say, however, that some of the hinting in the article and later comments that Americans are inherently violent is quite absurd. To say that in a nation of 300 million people, 2/3 of the European population, is by nature super violent is quite ridiculous. To even suggest such is crazy. I would point to the lax gun control, homicides by firearms constitute 40% of American homicides, and to the fact that the poor of America are much worse off than the poor of Europe.
To the people that pointed out America’s involvement in Iraq and how innocent civilians were killed purposefully, what! To suggest that Americans love war more than Europeans are loving of the slaughter of innocent civilians I say look back at the 20th century and say that with confidence. It is America’s government that lied to its people and invaded, just as Germany’s government lied to its people and destroyed Europe. No to say that a nation, made up a European immigrants, fellow humans, is somehow inferior in many ways is a dangerous path to walk down. Before you know know it you may have the blood of millions of “inferior” souls upon your hands. BE SERIOUS.
So much information about the United States, and yet so much garbage based on second hand knowledge and news sources that feed your fire.
Please don’t tell me that I’m not guilty of pointing out a prejudiced mind. Anyone with a brain and a thought who’s plowed through your inner thoughts and blogs can make you out as the cultural, intellectual and historical snob that you are. Your blogs, and your words speak volumes to whomever has lived and experienced both the U.S. and the European Continent. You are as ignorant as you are bold.
It doesn’t matter how many Americans you’ve encountered overseas, as you’ve encountered on their home turf. You’re a snob and and intellectual elitist in opposition to what you perceive as the inferior American mind, as guilty as the next.
No worries though. I’ve traveled through Europe as the knuckle dragging, Neanderthal minded American that you’ve so painfully pointed out in your blog. Yet still careful to be appreciative of their cultures, speak their languages, and live the life that they live. From the three trips overseas to the European continent I’ve encountered no such hostility, or smugness, that you would no doubt greet me with.
There are Americans like me who wish to see the world. It is your kind that give us the belief that perhaps we should stay home. We are of a different country, and amazingly, perhaps of different beliefs and tastes. Much better to meet a European who is actually curious of Americans, and of no pre conceived notion that we are all evil and fat. I want to travel the world in order to see how cool other countries are, not to be told how awful my country is. Perhaps you believe you’re doing us a favor by educating us on how awful we really are, when all we really want to do, is learn to say in your language “thank you.”
“I like you and your country” How do you translate that in your own tongue. And please. Tell me how awful I am because I’m American. And give examples of stuff that happened before I was born, as though I don’t know about them, but you do.
God bless you.
very well said Mr. Clinton (LOL).
“Another cause of violence in America could be the large ownership of guns in America. Coupled with impusive behaviour and social acceptability of walking around with firearms, it is not surprise the a large proportion of violent crimes in America is because of guns. Guns in America is more acceptable and normal on kids than cellphones, many US states have laws that allow school kids to carry concealed handguns. There is also in incident where US authorities issued a gun on a 10 month old infant in Illonis state, admittedly the state with the strictest gun controls.”
As a student in college who has lived in many states within America (27 to be exact) At NO high school, middle school, or college campus have I seen ANY student carrying any type of gun. Please provide quantitative and qualitative evidence to support your ludicrous claims.
Also, there is no state of Illonis. (there is Illinois though)
I disagree with most of this. While there is way too much prohibition of sex and sexuality in the media and on TV in America, I would not say that the average American considers nudity worse than extremely gory violence. The video game in the little satire picture is rated M which means it is recommended only for children 17 and up and in many states including the one I live in it is actually illegal for anyone under 17 to even buy it. It is the same thing with very violent movies, they cannot be seen by anyone under 17 at the theater unless accompanied by a parent. Almost all of my friends are not allowed to see movies that are rated R (restricted). I can see them because I’m 17 but when I was little my parents wouldn’t have let me watch them. My point with all this is that in America violence on TV and in the media, etc, is considered just as bad as sex. There is no glorification of blood and war in America, unless you count Hollywood movies but those are made by private companies who are free to create whatever movie they want. And as I said if the movies go too far with gore or sex, they are restricted to more mature audiences.
The fact that a ten month old is officially allowed to own a gun is not that bad because he is not allowed to use it. And just because he is technically the “owner” doesn’t mean his parents can’t take it away. His parents are the real owners. And as the article said the gun is going to stay at his grandfather’s house until he is 14 anyway. Obviously Illinois does not have the strictest gun control laws when even here in Arizona, a state with very little gun control, you have to be 18 to own a gun. As someone said above me, in most states you must be 18 to own a rifle or long gun and 21 to own a handgun. Permits to carry concealed weapons are given only to people with little or no criminal record.
While this statement looks good in theory, the reality in United States is quite to the contrary. If a kid wants a video game, ratings is not enough to stop them. Most shops don’t care to check the age of who they are selling to, while others don’t even care if a game they sell is rated “M” or not.
I’m afraid, Hollywood producers don’t make movies based on personal whims and fancies, thats bad business. Private companies work on the capitalist model, they produce products that cater to the demand; in the case of American audience, the demand is violence themed movies. It is because of the latter fact that movies featuring war, horror or exodus themes turn instant hits. These hits aren’t made so by Hollywood, but by the American viewers who watch them, in preference to movies with more humane themes, like love or laughter. Movies like the Rambo series, Wrong Turn and Terminator become instant and popular hits because they cater to the American thirst for violence, blood and gore. Violence is not only satiated and trivalised through action movies, but through the Disney cartoons as well.
If it is expected that people can carry concealed handguns to school, not everyone who carries one will be checked for permits. If the situation in United States was as ideal as you put it, incidences like Virgina shootouts and Colorado High School massacres would have look like alien science fiction. The United States wouldn’t have had the 7th highest rape rates in the world and the highest among first world nations. Whether Americans want to admit it or not, violence is almost eroticised in United States. By constantly associating sex with drugs and violence, they have created an ideological connection of one with the other - which creates a mental imagery in the minds of Americans that rage and violence is somehow sexy.
In fact, American soldiers who regularly raped and murdered Vietnamese women and children in Vietnam War, referred to their acts as “making love”. A training song for the Iraq War soldiers is worded thus, “This is my rifle, this is my gun; one is for killing, one is for fun.” Military manuals are replete with such blatant phrases as “erector launchers,” “thrust ratios,” “rigid deep earth-penetration,” “potent nuclear hardness.” Americans consider violence as sexy, macho or even divine whereas peace and diplomacy are considered cowardly and feminine qualities. Blatant denial is not going to change facts.
Students carrying concealed weapons permits? Thats down right rediculous! In most states nowadays, it is near impossible to even get a CCW permit. You also have to be 21 years of age to have one, so I doubt any students have them unless they have been held back in school so long that they are 21 and still in highschool. I think that the real cuase of violence in America is social and economic inequality. There are places like Canada that have just as many gun owners, but have much less gun violence. Another example on the other side are places like Russia that have little legal gun ownership but have high homicide rates.
there are a number of causes for violence in America, but you really only need to go back to 1986 when a middle aged, greedy media exec at MTV decided that broadcasting rap to America would be a good move- it would get kids of all walks of life into the prison glorifying rap culture that before then been an undercurrent in black culture and make MTV appear ‘edgey’, cutting edge, hip.
what happened was as more kids embraced this and the message that it carried, our kids got wilder and more violent.. looking for ’street cred’. gang memberships and the ‘pants around yer ass’ craze (they don’t issue belts in prison and the pants aren’t in all sizes) exploded. couple that with single parent homes were mom just isn’t a match for her 15 year old monster-no dad there to keep him in check, and the homes with both parents busting their arses to make ends meet, and Child Protective Services- “lay one hand on that kid and you ll be a guest of the county for a while”. all this adds up to unsupervised, bored, kids that have no respect of any kind for authority- violence ensues…..
wow! i almost sound like a right wing nutjob there…
Matt: I think a similar cause and effect methodology can be used on Hollywood and entertainment media in general. I am very much opposed to almost all forms of censorship but a realization of negative cultural influences can really shake someone’s convictions. If not censorship then I’d guess the answer lies with somehow preemptively bettering the lives of those most likely to be affected by the negative influences. But that ignores the psychology of adolescents and unmarried young men. Problem is, if I think too much about it I’ll feel hypocritical for watching “Entourage” every week.
I have to correct my statements about concealed weapons permits. I did some research and it turns out that I am not as knowledgable as I thought. There are around 30 states where it is fairly easy to obtain a CWP, however, these states also have some of the lowest violent crime rates and lowest amount of gun violence. This brings me back to the conclusion that violence in America is cuased more so by economic woe and the detirioration of “traditional” style families in America. Today, most kids are sent to day care, a friends house or stay home alone all day while both of their parents work. I’ll do some research, but maybe this could have a part in the matter at hand.
@Matt
The sad thing is is that there is actually alot of decent and educated hip-hop music out there, but it gets absolutly no air time. Also, when rap music first made its appearance on MTV, it was no violent gangsta rap, it was more of a “fun” party style such as acts like Run DMC. It was not until around 93 that the “gangsta rap” genre of music about hardcore gansterism started to pick up momentum.
Gun control is a controversial topic and frankly, it’s not likely to go away anytime soon, both for proponents and opponents. But one thing strikes me as extremely stupid: why glorify violence?
Which reminds me. I read an article today about how a movie theater in Salk Lake City Utah banned the movie “Zak and Miri Make A Porno”(which is said to have very little nudity and is mainly rated R due to language) pretty much for the reason that it had the word porno in the name. At the same time, they allowed the new and uber-violent movie “Saw V” to be played without question. hhhhhmmmm…..
I do not really believe that blaming guns for the ills today in many societies is sensibile or constuctive.To take the lack of human responsibility and morality and transfer it to a mechanical device is scapegoatism and a lack of desire to face reality.Guns have always been available in America and some other countries but mass murder in schools etc is a modern occurrance.To deprive decent people in america and elsewhere of a means of protection would at the end of the day only make criminals feel safer.While murderous shootings understandably make news around the world,the, and I feel it must be a large number, of people who succesfully defend their lives and the lives of their families and protect their property with firearms never seem to make news.The reality is that in many western societies now mindless violence is virtually the norm.Here in Ireland guns are heavily restricted but murders are commonplace,same in Britian.But in Switzerland which I believe has a gun ownership rate something similar to America violent crime is low.It just looks there is a moral decay setting into a lot of western societies.
Henry, the murder rate in Ireland is the lowest in Europe, 0.32 killings per 100,000 people. The death rate by firearms (murder, suicide, accident) is about 1/15th that of the US’s. I do not consider Canada a violent country but it has a murder rate of 2.3 per 100,000 people and the death rate by firearms (murder, suicide, accident) is four times Ireland’s. Switzerland also has a murder rate more than twice Ireland’s. I couldn’t find any historical numbers but an EU website says your violent crime has been dropping since 1994. You’re right about Britain, it tends to be twice as violent as Ireland. Merits or drawbacks of gun control aside, I think the Irish media is exaggerating the situation.
Canuck,it really depends on where you get your figures from.Some have a vested interest in portraying Ireland as a safe pleasant place to visit or set up a business.Many goverment agencies and others connected with bringing tourism and investment to Ireland tend to downplay crime rates.In your post you say voilent crime has been dropping since 1994.In 1994 the paramilitary groups in Ireland called a ceasefire which brought an end to a low key civil war,so naturally this would bring a big reduction in murder rates.However we are not talking about political murders which distort figures in any countries murder rates.The Central Statistics Office figures for 2007 show a 30% increase in murder in Ireland and 104,946″ headline crimes”this out of a population of just over 4 million.An independent EU international crime survey found that 22% of irish people said they had been victims of crime compared to the EU average of 15%.Regarding Suicide rates, suicide deaths in Ireland surpass road fatalities year after year.Leaving facts and figures aside I have lived in the Philippines which on paper appears a much more dangerous place than Ireland.But yet my personal experience of it is quite the opposite.I always feel far safer walking around the big cities there than I ever do walking around Dublin or Limerick especially after dark.
However this thread is about violence in America,so my question is how widespread is it overall.Or does violence in deprived inner city areas distort the overall figures.I am sure that most of the rural and small town areas of the united states are peaceful safe places to live.
Henry, you’ve got a good point. After I wrote my last comment I realized that certain areas can be as bad as war zones and skewer the average. I’ve got mixed feelings on gun control - I used to be a recreational shooter and I see firearms as tools and sporting equipment. But I also think that handgun restrictions in my country have reduced the level of violence overall. When burglars are afraid of armed homeowners, they don’t go to university and get office jobs; they often arm themselves and they become more dangerous. However I’d say the same thing about prison sentences. If someone faces what is practically the rest of their life in prison for a property crime then they might be willing to hurt or kill for a better chance at getting away. Violent crime might be less a matter of access to weapons then a side-effect of the way criminals are (or expect to be) punished.
Perhaps it is unavoidable that Switzerland will have more murders than Ireland if every Swiss home has a firearm, but compared to the US (or the Baltic countries, which have a similar murder rate) the average Swiss criminals are not as desperate to avoid capture and not as hardened when they get out of prison.
I was just watching a video today about the L.A. ‘92 riots. 53 people murdered becuase of racial tensions, extreme anger, and sheer stupidity(in my opinion). I would definitely think the ownership of a gun would be relevent in a situation such as this. I know this is a very rare occurance, but is it not a legetimate example? Store owners were forced to take up arms to protect their businesses and families. What I’m trying to say is some people went totally ballistic in this situation and killed inocent people just becuase of their skin color or for absolutely no real reason at all. This both shows that America is an extremely violent place , but also that guns don’t cuase violence(many people were killed by mobs who would simply beat them using means such as concrete bricks and rocks to the head,stabbings, and sheer blunt truama, etc.). Also, you have all seen how corrupt the U.S. government can be… Living here, I can definitely understand why so many people would want to own guns.
@Henry
Well, from my understanding, the big cities such as New York,Philidelphia, and Los Angeles do have alot of violent crimes, but the cities populations are so large that the percent per population is not extremely high. Crime rates tend to be alot higher in medium sized cities such as Oakland outside San Francisco, and the Compton and Watts areas etc. outside Los Angeles. But pretty much yes, crime is higher in the large cities and urban areas. This is especially true in places not typically portrayed as the “dangerous” cities such as Detriot,Memphis,Washington D.C.,Baltimore,New Orleans, Newark,St. Louis etc.
The American ‘kill or be killed’ mentality is what put Americans in this mess. We are talking about a culture in which violence has been ‘normalised’ to such an extent that people don’t ask questions anymore. You blame fringe elements of society (drug takers, rock and roll fans) but rarely do you examine the facts. That is because the truth is too hard to take.
Americans always feel a need to be on the edge of life threatening crises, one after another…which explains their craze for horror and action movies over all other genres.
Look how many inventions the Americans have contributed to society, without Americas help you would all be speaking German. How would the rest of the world handle themselves economically if they didn’t have America has a trading partner? Canada gets nearly all of its imports from America. The world would not be able to function if not for the United States of America.
The world existed and functioned long before the USA came into being.
@ Mike - “I think that the real cuase of violence in America is social and economic inequality.”
Social and economic inequality in third world countries is far more than in United States. Yet the United States rivals them in their crime rates, which is quite an embarassing trend for a first world country that tries to push itself as an utopian ‘example’ to the rest of the world.
@ Mike - “Another example on the other side are places like Russia that have little legal gun ownership but have high homicide rates.”
A technicality. In Russia, ‘possessing a gun’ and ‘owning a gun’ are entirely different concepts. If you are a Russian military officer (which most of Russian males are, due to conscription) you can possess a gun legally without owning it. The gun will be owned by the government while in your possession (hence you wouldn’t be a ‘gun owner’ on paper). Moreover, if you can’t legally possess a gun, you can use ‘connections’ buy a gun from the black market. Unless someone explicitly points that your gun ownership is illegal, you wouldn’t be checked or arrested.
@ Shelley - “The world would not be able to function if not for the United States of America.”
I am so sorry to hear that, Shelley aka virgomonkey. Since repudiation of this ignorant remark would make me a “stupid Americanophobe bastard”, I’ll refrain from it.
@Captain V.
I have to say, you’re right on both counts.
America is basically just a place of idiosyncracies. I am honestly clueless why things here are the way they are. Maybe it’s just a rare fluke caused by a number of unrelated events and U.S. policies…
I can definitely agree that Americans overall are more comfortable with violence then they are about sexuality. For instance, I once left my adult magazines out by mistake and forgot to put them up since my sister and her kids where visiting that weekend. I was away that weekend at a friend’s home. Even though according to my Dad, only my sister went into my room not the kids, and he said she got so upset about the whole thing. That’s quite understandable, and I should have remembered to put those magazines up and out of reach/sight. What is not understandable is that she has no problem with her underage son playing violent video games, but is so worked up over some magazines that show naked women.
I am a gun owner who is “selfish” (I like to shoot for fun at paper-how violent!). I don’t condone the glorification of violence for entertainment at all and get so tired of people who think that because you own a gun that you are a violent person. This is extremely ignorant. Violence is glorified in the USA because it is constantly being sold to the public, just like sex. Are you surprised at the result?
Dave I agree with you,me and my wife have spent many pleasant hours on shooting ranges all over the world and met some of the nicest people on earth there.Never have we met anybody who was rude or in any way appeared violent.In contrast to some other sports that can contain an obnoxious element.The media has driven into the publics heads that guns are evil and that those who even glance at a sport shooting magazine is a lunatic waiting to explode.Every night on tv all you see are dramas with criminals and guns causing mayhem but what is never shown is that 99% of guns are used for legitimate activities by decent honest people.To blame guns for crime is the equivalent of blaming motor vehicles for drink driving.There are some anti social people on this planet who will misuse anything and everything.Perhaps its time to put the blame where it belongs and not and not avoid the issue by putting the blame on inanimate objects.
A good point. It also explains why movies based on comedy or sensual themes don’t manage much of a headway in the American market. Most of them get relegated to the ‘B-grade’ category and in some cases, get moderate box office successes abroad (especially Europe, where such movies are better accepted).
In fact, one of the biggest complaints that Americans make of European cinema is that the movies are too ‘tame’ for not having those ‘on-the-edge’/apocalyptic action scenes.
I can understand why an American nationalist would be outraged at this provocative article by Dmitri. He made a very true-to-life analysis of American outlook towards violence, which would be as comfortable for Americans as being stripped in public. Some can take it, but most can’t.
Violence is a result of uneducated people. ALWAYS. all wars and all violent crimes are a miscalculation by people. SO in reality when peopel dont wana be educated and would rather be part of gangs and roam teh streats that where the goverment needs to step in. Its role is to protect its people. so gangmembers adn criminals shoudl be dealt with very brutaly. so im talkign abtu executions. but ofcorse this wouldent happen but i asure you that as soon as being in a gang will become a sentace youl se activity DROP.
Gun Control? Political Correct? Who is in charge of man’s destiny? Why, Man is SUPPOSED to be in charge but rarely is.
Monkey See, Monkey Do! Monkey gets a cell phone all monkeys have to have one.
Watch American Chopper on Discovery channel. It is a violent animated show not about how motorcycles are made but how the disfunctional family works together. The producers tried the same concept for selling violence on the Swamp People but the Swamp People didn’t buy into it.
How can this happen? Because, and I am guessing, that nearly 90 percent of people in the United States are either dumb as a box of rocks or just don’t pay any attention to what is going on. Here are some facts that back that statement up. It is that “I got to punch someone in the face” mentality to make a point.
1. Watch the commercials on TV. They are designed to sell idiots a product who rational thinking people would never buy, and don’t buy.
2. Look how the government plays on this mentality every day. It would be easier to sell an Eskimo a regrigerator than try to make common sense work.
3. CNN and FOXNEWS play on this mentality every day by inserting non-facts or just plain lies and the people go around repeating what they just heard on the news. Mis-information is the weakly game show because most people if not all just don’t bother to research what may be the facts and/or the truth.
4. MTV and other youth related bebop shows tend to sell immorality rather than good music. A half dressed teenage girl is much better to watch than a nerd selling peace and prosperity.
So as in most of the un-original posts on the blog nothing is cured because most are just parroting what someone else has said with a few colloquial additions.
Yep, Monkey see, Monkey do! If you want to know what is wrong with this country,,GO LOOK IN THE MIRROR!!
Americans haven’t always been so stupid. However, we’ve always been overly trusting and unreasonably optimistic. As a result, we’ve allowed ourselves to believe:
- America is the standard by which all democracies should be compared
- All important inventions of the last 200 years came from America
- Americans enjoy greater prosperity than any other nationality
- The US military is strong enough to defeat any threat
- America has the best standard of living
Yes, many Americans - probably most of us - believe this nonsense. There is a reason for this.
The most influential U.S. media are owned by a few large corporations. These media have no interest in providing the public with information that would do anything but make these corporations more wealthy, powerful, and strong. Since Ronald Reagan became president, the media have been consolidated. TV, radio and newspapers that were once independent and local have been purchased by huge conglomerates and combined into media monoliths. The only stories that get a fair telling are the stories that fit into the narrative of the (usually) conservative network.
You shouldn’t hate Americans. You should pity us. We are fast approaching the end of our Grand Experiment, soon to be replaced by a brand, an entity, a slogan.