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https://theconversation.com/american-exceptionalism-the-poison-that-cannot-protect-its-children-from-violent-death-184045>
"I had always been afraid of America. Once, in Alaska, we had dinner with a man
my father was working with, and he had actually uttered the line – that iconic
American saying, so ridiculous as to be almost unbelievable.
Guns don’t kill
people.
People kill people. I thought he was joking, attempting some kind of
irony. He wasn’t.
When I got a fellowship at Yale a decade later, a big part of me did not want
to go, and especially did not want to take my husband and our
almost-two-year-old daughter with me.
Going on to a school or college campus in the United States is demonstrably
risky.
The Wikipedia category page listing school shootings in the United States
already has 22 entries for 2022 alone.
Still, I wasn’t afraid enough not to go. Or perhaps I was just more afraid of
what people would say if I said I wasn’t going to Yale because of guns. The
pull of America is strong, even to those who know.
On Tuesday last week, it happened again.
An 18-year-old gunman entered an elementary school in Ulvade, Texas, and shot
and killed 19 children and two teachers. The children were all nine and ten
years old. The police didn’t help them.
Over the weekend, an 11-year-old girl explained to the media that she had
survived by smearing the blood of her dead friend over herself and pretending
that she was dead, too.
The conversation is the same. The National Rifle Association held its
convention a few days after the shooting, in Houston. Texas Senator Ted Cruz
said, “We must not react to evil and tragedy by abandoning the Constitution or
infringing on the rights of our law-abiding citizens.”
The beacon of democracy and freedom, the shining light on the hill, the force
for good in the world, can not, will not, protect its own children."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
