Well, we did have Hungerford and Dunblane-and other countries have had theirs as well-I seem to recall a few in Japan, and recently came across one in Holland, plus of course until now Australia held the record for the worst spree killing. America just seems to have more. I have been looking through the stats a lot while chatting with others about the subject-and it seems to be the case that the two countries to look at are America (high gun ownership/lax gun laws and high gun death levels) and Finland (high gun ownership/fairly sensible gun laws but comparatively low gun deaths). To me, just looking at what is different about the culture and mindset/beliefs of the two countries should probably give you the answer. I think it starts with cultural senses of identity and social roles.
One very significant point to keep in mind as well-generally if a culture has a big problem with something its not solving it because they have a blind spot in their culture about it. Find the blind spot and you may find the solution. So-what are the Americans NOT talking about in regards the problem that might make sense to everyone else? What are their 'sacred cows-the things that are so deeply embedded culturally they just don't realise its an issue?
The same can also be applied to our own problems btw-but it would probably take some help from people from other countries to see it. One guy from the States I have been discussing the gun thing with just can't get over how much we let our government snoop on us-how readily we give up things for our elected officials and just let them walk all over us. I think he may have a point.
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Date: 2007-04-20 10:34 pm (UTC)One very significant point to keep in mind as well-generally if a culture has a big problem with something its not solving it because they have a blind spot in their culture about it. Find the blind spot and you may find the solution. So-what are the Americans NOT talking about in regards the problem that might make sense to everyone else? What are their 'sacred cows-the things that are so deeply embedded culturally they just don't realise its an issue?
The same can also be applied to our own problems btw-but it would probably take some help from people from other countries to see it. One guy from the States I have been discussing the gun thing with just can't get over how much we let our government snoop on us-how readily we give up things for our elected officials and just let them walk all over us. I think he may have a point.