I was horrified and saddened, like everyone else, by the Virginia Tech Massacre. But then I was sickened by the way people immediately started defending the "right to bear arms".
One of the victims was the child of a friend of a friend. Even before I heard that, I was thinking, what can it be like to be killed like that, spending your last moments in fear. What can it be like to be one of the grieving relatives.
People are asking "how can we keep our children safe?" Simple. Ban guns. It won't keep them completely safe, but it will make them a lot safer than they are now if your family lives in the USA.
Take a look at this list of school massacres on Wikipedia: most of them are in the USA. They do happen in countries with stricter gun laws, but not as often. Watch the film Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore. Read this article by John Nichols.
And spare a thought for the people being murdered in Iraq, all the time.
Update: profiles of the Virginia Tech victims: page 1, page 2, page 3
5 comments:
An excellent post on the subject of why these terrible events happen by raincoaster.
Michael Moore, I think, mentions how a town in Canada which allows guns and a bordering town in America which allows guns, with only a lake in between them, showed huge discrepancies in deaths by shooting in a single year. They were both about the same size population; could it be that my compatriots are just more trigger-happy than their neighbours? The really annoying thing is, alot of people in America really hate Michael Moore - how 'undemocratic' to try to speak up for the dead in pointless wars and equally pointless shootings...
I thought this was just an assumption until my grandparents visited last year and confirmed that yes, alot of people think Moore deserves to be imprisoned! I'm fairly sure they'll come up with some argument after this, e.g. "he wasn't even an American" or "we need guns to protect ourselves from people like him" or some such b******s. The tragedies in schools don't appear to be causing any change in attitude, which I find almost incomprehensible...
Yes, I saw that bit about Canada as well, and it's true that there is more of a culture of fear and loathing in America which makes people in America more trigger-happy, it seems - but take the guns away and they won't be able to do so much damage. Meanwhile, try to achieve a culture-shift.
I think Michael Moore is brilliant!
I hate to say this, because he is entertaining, but Moore manipulates his material to make propaganda points.
For instance, Roger and Me was supposedly about his unsuccessful attempt to interview the chairman of General Motors. Yet, in fact, he was granted an interview that was not included in the film.
Entire books have been written on the subject.
Occasionally, he's brilliant, but too often he sacrifices truth (or chronology) for his ideological points.
It was watching his television shows that took the bloom off the rose for me.
I wouldn't be surprised, Chas - he is a TV journalist after all. It's a shame though, because manipulating the truth undermines your argument.
I noticed he didn't try to capitalise on the Virginia Tech massacre, though, just issued a statement of condolence.
He is right about the issue of guns, though.
Post a Comment