Ever since the penny dropped on me sometime during the
initial weeks of this blog that perspectives are so influenced by culture, I've
tried to really understand different cultures and the way they shape thought.
I’ve tried to see the reasoning behind all actions that seem foreign or
obviously flawed to me. Some of these are simpler and more innocuous than
others, like understanding why the Irish would bother learning the Irish
language or why some Chinese people prefer squat toilets over Western toilets and
why Slumdog Millionaire didn’t do well in India. Others were profound,
like realizing that the Chinese government believes its acting for the good of
the people in its forceful censorship. Or that many white people feel that
they're not more racially discriminated against than minorities. Sometimes
trying to understand other beliefs and actions brings me to eat whale in Japan,
shark fin in Hong Kong or bulldoze my way into a subway car in Mainland China.
I would like to believe that every culture is good in its own merits but surely
that's not a free pass to do what you like and chalk it up to culture. But
where to draw the line? Is it killing whales? Is it refusing education to
girls? Do cockfights have cultural merit? Dogfights? Gladiator fights? How long
until we bring up the Nazis?
It’s very sad but the school shooting in Sandy Hook, CT has
brought the issue of gun control to the forefront of the national debate. I was in China without internet access
when the event happened and I returned home to see all the tragic news and a
newsfeed full of gun control advocacy.
There are articles out since like this
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/opinion/sunday/kristof-do-we-have-the-courage-to-stop-this.html?_r=0
and http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2012/12/bracing-political-reality-of-gun-control.html. And even this:
Even Nate Silver jumped in on the action with this http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/in-gun-ownership-statistics-partisan-divide-is-sharp/?hp where I learned that as an Asian democrat, it’s no surprise that I’m not into guns, because only 5% of that demographic owns guns. (On a sidenote, this number may be more surprising than it first seems after I think of all the Asian-owned convenience or liquor stores in dodgier DC neighborhoods, some of which the cashiers operate behind bulletproof glass)
Even Nate Silver jumped in on the action with this http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/in-gun-ownership-statistics-partisan-divide-is-sharp/?hp where I learned that as an Asian democrat, it’s no surprise that I’m not into guns, because only 5% of that demographic owns guns. (On a sidenote, this number may be more surprising than it first seems after I think of all the Asian-owned convenience or liquor stores in dodgier DC neighborhoods, some of which the cashiers operate behind bulletproof glass)
The backlash I've seen since the incident is tons and tons of my liberal friends questioning the gun culture and laws in our country and offering up all these articles and proof of the danger of guns. And living abroad in a place where guns are just about non-existent - well that has only crystallized my belief on the evils of guns. The US is #1 in the world in gun ownership per capita by a large margin, with 88 guns per 100 people. Serbia is #2 with 58, and China has just under 5. Not surprisingly, the US also has an absurd homicide rate by firearm for a first world country, though it's considerably better than countries like Honduras and El Salvador and South Africa. I think when most people see statistics like this, they conclude that the US should follow patterns of gun ownership like the UK, Australia and Japan and voila, far less people die. You simply see examples of other countries doing it right. And when you look at the history of gun ownership in America, and the whole militia movement and the passing of the 2nd Amendment, and you put it in context with today, it makes very little sense. Any objective observer would look at the role of guns in America today and think that this is not the best way to go about it.
But there are a lot of non-objective observers in America. And when you see how passionate some people, like Alex Jones and the NRA, defend their right to own guns, all of my cultural instincts now make me pause and ask why. What goes on in the minds of these people? Why are guns so important to their culture? To me, laws are very limited. I know that there may be a legislative answer here, but the real problem is not our gun laws but our gun culture, and the only real way to solve our gun problem is to change our gun culture.
Gun-rights advocates really think this is a part of liberty. We are a country founded on liberty, we dedicated an entire statue to it. Don't ask what we need guns for, we just want them and it's not your business to tell us not to. There are plenty of foods that are terrible for you but they're still legal. They're fun to shoot and important for hunting. Other people passionately believe in using them for safety. If you get surrounded by a gang, brandishing out a pistol might be the only way to escape. It might be a way to ward off a burglar. If you trust yourself, you know that you will never use it for ill.
Let's say you grew up with a gun hanging in your house. You've been taught since young how to handle the gun responsibly, how to shoot, how to keep it safe, and it's just something that's always been in your life. Maybe you like to go hunting, maybe you don't. Maybe you fantasize about shooting down bad guys, maybe you don't. And maybe you're from a small town, and you see all these people from big cities on TV who don't know how to handle a gun saying that they should take away your guns. That mentality can really put you off. If you're already mistrustful of government, which you associate with these big city people, to begin with, and are not swayed by their arguments of how they do it in foreign countries, you're going to cling to those guns. I'm not talking about crazies like Alex Jones who dig through history to find appropriate examples to defend his fanatical agendas, but ordinary Americans who just kinda don't think their guns are any of Americans business. It's not as backwards a mentality as sometimes we on the left make it out to be.
So what can we do? Can we change this culture? Can we convince people that a gunless America is a better America? Maybe not. Definitely not soon. Definitely not before tens of thousands of lives will be ended by bullets. But do we have to change that culture? Absolutely. And will it make a difference? Absolutely. Just like non-violent protests in the 1960s changed Civil Rights in America forever, open and understanding dialogue can change the gun culture in the US starting in the 2010s. While the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, that was only a law and the movement for racial tolerance and equality is still very much ongoing. Change like that doesn't happen fast, but it clearly does and has happened. To convince Americans that we don't need guns, that fewer guns will result in less senseless tragedy and more general safety, we need to approach this issue in much the same nonviolent way that the civil rights activists did. We can't attack the NRA as murderers or stereotype these gun people as backwards hicks. Instead we need to convince them to treat this issue with open eyes. We need movies that positively portray life in gunless nations, instead of senseless shooting scenes. People can only truly change when they don't feel threatened, and change they can. I no longer use "gay" as a slur, no longer judge mainland Chinese as rude people, and long learned never to joke about rape. People can change if you let them.
But there are a lot of non-objective observers in America. And when you see how passionate some people, like Alex Jones and the NRA, defend their right to own guns, all of my cultural instincts now make me pause and ask why. What goes on in the minds of these people? Why are guns so important to their culture? To me, laws are very limited. I know that there may be a legislative answer here, but the real problem is not our gun laws but our gun culture, and the only real way to solve our gun problem is to change our gun culture.
Gun-rights advocates really think this is a part of liberty. We are a country founded on liberty, we dedicated an entire statue to it. Don't ask what we need guns for, we just want them and it's not your business to tell us not to. There are plenty of foods that are terrible for you but they're still legal. They're fun to shoot and important for hunting. Other people passionately believe in using them for safety. If you get surrounded by a gang, brandishing out a pistol might be the only way to escape. It might be a way to ward off a burglar. If you trust yourself, you know that you will never use it for ill.
Let's say you grew up with a gun hanging in your house. You've been taught since young how to handle the gun responsibly, how to shoot, how to keep it safe, and it's just something that's always been in your life. Maybe you like to go hunting, maybe you don't. Maybe you fantasize about shooting down bad guys, maybe you don't. And maybe you're from a small town, and you see all these people from big cities on TV who don't know how to handle a gun saying that they should take away your guns. That mentality can really put you off. If you're already mistrustful of government, which you associate with these big city people, to begin with, and are not swayed by their arguments of how they do it in foreign countries, you're going to cling to those guns. I'm not talking about crazies like Alex Jones who dig through history to find appropriate examples to defend his fanatical agendas, but ordinary Americans who just kinda don't think their guns are any of Americans business. It's not as backwards a mentality as sometimes we on the left make it out to be.
So what can we do? Can we change this culture? Can we convince people that a gunless America is a better America? Maybe not. Definitely not soon. Definitely not before tens of thousands of lives will be ended by bullets. But do we have to change that culture? Absolutely. And will it make a difference? Absolutely. Just like non-violent protests in the 1960s changed Civil Rights in America forever, open and understanding dialogue can change the gun culture in the US starting in the 2010s. While the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, that was only a law and the movement for racial tolerance and equality is still very much ongoing. Change like that doesn't happen fast, but it clearly does and has happened. To convince Americans that we don't need guns, that fewer guns will result in less senseless tragedy and more general safety, we need to approach this issue in much the same nonviolent way that the civil rights activists did. We can't attack the NRA as murderers or stereotype these gun people as backwards hicks. Instead we need to convince them to treat this issue with open eyes. We need movies that positively portray life in gunless nations, instead of senseless shooting scenes. People can only truly change when they don't feel threatened, and change they can. I no longer use "gay" as a slur, no longer judge mainland Chinese as rude people, and long learned never to joke about rape. People can change if you let them.
