Nothing ever changes, despite harrowing statistics, despite far less death in countries with stricter controls, despite endless anguish. Are any of us safe going to school, the grocery store, a game or a concert? No, we are not.
My conservative friends explain that ours is “gun culture”. Why? Is that excuse enough? Is it enough for the loss of even one life lost? No!
Dan's remarks are short, in the style of digestible, if unpalatable, truths. One arrested me:
Mass shootings are part of our American identity.
No matter how hard I try to shake the truth from that statement, I can't. The details of the incident, which took place in what's known in Los Angeles as "Chinatown", where the Taiwanese manager of a hotel I used to frequent in LA once sent me with his brother to collect air tickets he had kindly arranged for me and where I experienced a frisson of exotic "otherness" and kindness that excelled beyond even the kindness of the rest of LA's ethnic mix, are related in The Guardian newspaper under a curious category headline, which reads "Guns and Lies".
That is thought-provoking. Because that, too, seems to be a part of the American identity.
I am a few days late reading this column. I really appreciate Dan’s poignant poem. Lots to think about.
What I am thinking about is not popular here in the US. But I need to say it because only a few of the 500 plus comments touched on it.
"Mass shootings are part of our American identity."
My concept of this statement is: Collective mass murder is our identity.
There have been very few years in my 67 years of life that this country has not been involved in a conflict or a war. More recently our “wars of choice” have killed millions of people and displaced many millions more. These are people who for the most part are kind, care for their families, and work hard. Their lives are being destroyed by a superpower empire on the march. I shudder every time I hear someone say to these new breed of soldiers/mercenaries, thank you for your service.
This country was founded with lofty ideas but since day one has been violent and has glorified violence. It is the major arms dealer in the world, selling to both sides in conflicts. Although controversial, it dropped two atomic bombs killing hundreds of thousands of civilians in a defeated country on the verge of surrender. And now the US is in a proxy war with Russia and is consistently raising the stakes of a nuclear conflict by supplying more and more sophisticated weapons, instead of pushing for a negotiated peace. This is insanity.
So whatever motivates a person to pick up a weapon and shoot innocent people, I am not
even surprised anymore. Just very very sad. Our country needs a complete reboot. Then one day I would be proud to say, “Peace is part of our American identity”.
By way of background, I'm in my 60s, I'm a lawyer - which has saddled me with an inability to jump to a conclusion and the need to hear all sides - and I love America. Unlike my compatriot, the Duke of Sussex, I don't know whether I would declare it "a great place to live." I would have once, but now I'm unsure. I'm Belgian and British. And I am an honorary first nation tribesman - you may call me White Buffalo Man - and I too fixed on the statement under review as "striking".
America was born of the colonial era. Colonisation was, at its best, curiosity and exploration. At its worst, which it quickly devolved into, it was subjugation and exploitation. In a phrase: something for nothing. And a lot of something was taken for nothing in what would be the USA. Some based on contorted notions of terra nullius. Some because of fraudulent treaties with indigenous occupants. Some by scurrilous theft. Some by superior firepower.
Superior firepower became the robbery method of choice. It still is. Because life is still valued more highly than possessions. However, the value is held in the eyes of the possessor, not of the robber.
Peace will be a part of the American identity if and when it restores the land that was taken from its indigenous peoples back to those peoples. And superior firepower will be part of its identity until that happens.
Not because I say so. But, if you seek your monument, look around you.
Hello Graham, White Buffalo Man. Thank you for your reply. I am actually 76 yo ( got my numbers mixed on last message). I am a just retired family doc and I have worked with and treated peoples from all walks of life. It has been a privilege and a continuous learning process. The destruction of the indigenous, by ruthless genocide and trickery, in these lands is beyond words. Thriving civilizations destroyed for greed and by power. I would gladly stand with you in your quest for justice and speaking truth to power.
Thank you, Michael. And thanks for your support of my own newsletters. I hope they'll provoke you.
I speak little or no truth. I seek to avoid falsity and aim for what stands to reason. That which stands to reason is, as Sherlock Holmes once pointed out (in "The Sign of Four"), within at least the bounds of possibility; whether it is truth may well be revealed only once its communication as truth is beyond our worldly powers.
Holmes discounts as impossible that which is proved not to be true, regardless of its probability. But probability is determined according to known precepts. Precepts that are unknown cannot be factored in. One might consider Donald Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns", and even quantum physics.
He stands on firm ground who declares that something stands to reason, regardless of how unreasonable it seems; he stands on shaky ground who declares something to be true. I believe the US was founded on statements of what was true.
I think if everyone involved themselves in addressing the real issues underlying the war in Europe, rather than claiming it's not 'their problem', it would have ended by now. This unfortunate travesty is only a microcosm of the mass undeserved deaths that are occurring in Europe.
Why, why, why. Why in the supposedly most forward country in the world, are we dealing with this? Or not dealing with this. I know it's only time before it hits in my hometown. What is wrong with us?
“How this stacks up globally: Regular mass shootings are a uniquely American phenomenon. The US is the only developed country where mass shootings have happened every single year for the past 20 years, according to Jason R. Silva, an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at William Paterson University.
The US has the highest firearm homicide rate in the developed world — about 4 per 100,000 people. That’s 18 times the average rate in other developed countries.”
Beyond tragic. *sigh*
Sad, and well said. We have come so far, yet dropped so low.
Highly coherent, quite good and sympathy. Raising voice.
“shock & grief”
“tight knit community”
“grieving process”
semiautomatic weapon
stockpiled weapons & ammunition
blah
blah
blah
Nothing ever changes, despite harrowing statistics, despite far less death in countries with stricter controls, despite endless anguish. Are any of us safe going to school, the grocery store, a game or a concert? No, we are not.
My conservative friends explain that ours is “gun culture”. Why? Is that excuse enough? Is it enough for the loss of even one life lost? No!
Dan's remarks are short, in the style of digestible, if unpalatable, truths. One arrested me:
Mass shootings are part of our American identity.
No matter how hard I try to shake the truth from that statement, I can't. The details of the incident, which took place in what's known in Los Angeles as "Chinatown", where the Taiwanese manager of a hotel I used to frequent in LA once sent me with his brother to collect air tickets he had kindly arranged for me and where I experienced a frisson of exotic "otherness" and kindness that excelled beyond even the kindness of the rest of LA's ethnic mix, are related in The Guardian newspaper under a curious category headline, which reads "Guns and Lies".
That is thought-provoking. Because that, too, seems to be a part of the American identity.
I am a few days late reading this column. I really appreciate Dan’s poignant poem. Lots to think about.
What I am thinking about is not popular here in the US. But I need to say it because only a few of the 500 plus comments touched on it.
"Mass shootings are part of our American identity."
My concept of this statement is: Collective mass murder is our identity.
There have been very few years in my 67 years of life that this country has not been involved in a conflict or a war. More recently our “wars of choice” have killed millions of people and displaced many millions more. These are people who for the most part are kind, care for their families, and work hard. Their lives are being destroyed by a superpower empire on the march. I shudder every time I hear someone say to these new breed of soldiers/mercenaries, thank you for your service.
This country was founded with lofty ideas but since day one has been violent and has glorified violence. It is the major arms dealer in the world, selling to both sides in conflicts. Although controversial, it dropped two atomic bombs killing hundreds of thousands of civilians in a defeated country on the verge of surrender. And now the US is in a proxy war with Russia and is consistently raising the stakes of a nuclear conflict by supplying more and more sophisticated weapons, instead of pushing for a negotiated peace. This is insanity.
So whatever motivates a person to pick up a weapon and shoot innocent people, I am not
even surprised anymore. Just very very sad. Our country needs a complete reboot. Then one day I would be proud to say, “Peace is part of our American identity”.
By way of background, I'm in my 60s, I'm a lawyer - which has saddled me with an inability to jump to a conclusion and the need to hear all sides - and I love America. Unlike my compatriot, the Duke of Sussex, I don't know whether I would declare it "a great place to live." I would have once, but now I'm unsure. I'm Belgian and British. And I am an honorary first nation tribesman - you may call me White Buffalo Man - and I too fixed on the statement under review as "striking".
America was born of the colonial era. Colonisation was, at its best, curiosity and exploration. At its worst, which it quickly devolved into, it was subjugation and exploitation. In a phrase: something for nothing. And a lot of something was taken for nothing in what would be the USA. Some based on contorted notions of terra nullius. Some because of fraudulent treaties with indigenous occupants. Some by scurrilous theft. Some by superior firepower.
Superior firepower became the robbery method of choice. It still is. Because life is still valued more highly than possessions. However, the value is held in the eyes of the possessor, not of the robber.
Peace will be a part of the American identity if and when it restores the land that was taken from its indigenous peoples back to those peoples. And superior firepower will be part of its identity until that happens.
Not because I say so. But, if you seek your monument, look around you.
Hello Graham, White Buffalo Man. Thank you for your reply. I am actually 76 yo ( got my numbers mixed on last message). I am a just retired family doc and I have worked with and treated peoples from all walks of life. It has been a privilege and a continuous learning process. The destruction of the indigenous, by ruthless genocide and trickery, in these lands is beyond words. Thriving civilizations destroyed for greed and by power. I would gladly stand with you in your quest for justice and speaking truth to power.
Thank you, Michael. And thanks for your support of my own newsletters. I hope they'll provoke you.
I speak little or no truth. I seek to avoid falsity and aim for what stands to reason. That which stands to reason is, as Sherlock Holmes once pointed out (in "The Sign of Four"), within at least the bounds of possibility; whether it is truth may well be revealed only once its communication as truth is beyond our worldly powers.
Holmes discounts as impossible that which is proved not to be true, regardless of its probability. But probability is determined according to known precepts. Precepts that are unknown cannot be factored in. One might consider Donald Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns", and even quantum physics.
He stands on firm ground who declares that something stands to reason, regardless of how unreasonable it seems; he stands on shaky ground who declares something to be true. I believe the US was founded on statements of what was true.
This is so heartbreaking. What has happened to the USA? How is this possible?
Summa cum laude. Greatest praise.
I think if everyone involved themselves in addressing the real issues underlying the war in Europe, rather than claiming it's not 'their problem', it would have ended by now. This unfortunate travesty is only a microcosm of the mass undeserved deaths that are occurring in Europe.
Why, why, why. Why in the supposedly most forward country in the world, are we dealing with this? Or not dealing with this. I know it's only time before it hits in my hometown. What is wrong with us?
You forgot about the endless stream of “thoughts and prayers” from Washington.
And another just now. (Probably could be read everyday and be true.)
The saddest part — it IS part of our American identity. We seem to be the only country who can’t come up with a solution.
🥲😡Let me just refer to this -
“How this stacks up globally: Regular mass shootings are a uniquely American phenomenon. The US is the only developed country where mass shootings have happened every single year for the past 20 years, according to Jason R. Silva, an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at William Paterson University.
The US has the highest firearm homicide rate in the developed world — about 4 per 100,000 people. That’s 18 times the average rate in other developed countries.”
"Our politics don’t allow progress." And thus the insanity is summarized.
Insight!!! Another name for Mother Nature ---KARMA🥴