4 ms·

I consider myself the middle. My mother is right-leaning American and my father is left-leaning European. Long story, to say the least. I maintain the US has

by soneil 4y ago

I consider myself the middle. My mother is right-leaning American and my father is left-leaning European. Long story, to say the least. I maintain the US has a bruce willis problem. An ethos that a good guy with a gun is the solution to all problems. It may even be, the issue is when someone thinks they're the good guy with a gun, and they're not. They think they're bruce willis, and they're not. They think they're righting wrongs, and they're not. Their narrative is out of sync with mine. This is a cultural issue apart from firearms. I may not be sober enough to make this statement, so salt to taste - but firearms aren't the root cause, they're the lubricant in a wider issue where you're all bruce willis in your own story. This combination of firearms and individualism is what separates you from examples such as Switzerland, Czechia, etc. The guns are only the medium through which a deeper problem is expressed.

sneak 4y ago
> I maintain the US has a bruce willis problem. An ethos that a good guy with a gun is the solution to all problems. I think this is a commonly held belief, and that it is also false. Why does Japan have a swat team? Why is the US sending antitank weapons to Ukraine?
- dendriti 4y ago
  A US Senator from Texas literally said yesterday that we should station "good guys with guns" (armed security guards) to prevent school shootings.
  - krapp 4y ago
    Also "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" has been an NRA talking point for years.
  - throw0101a 4y ago
    > A US Senator from Texas literally said yesterday that we should station "good guys with guns" (armed security guards) to prevent school shootings. Yeah, except there was a police officer right outside the building already: > The suspect was immediately engaged outside the building as he approached the school by a Uvalde Independent School District police officer, who was shot by the suspect, the sources said. * https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-elementary-school-reports-active-shooter-campus/story?id=84940951 https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-elementary-school-reports-ac... And this isn't the first time on-site individuals have been useless: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneman_Douglas_High_School_shooting#Officer_inactivity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneman_Douglas_High_School_s... Even if officers respond with-in a minute, you still have multiple deaths and many injuries: > Police at the scene engaged him within a minute of the first shots being fired, firing 18 rounds and hitting the gunman several times.[5] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilroy_Garlic_Festival_shooting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilroy_Garlic_Festival_shootin...
  - sneak 4y ago
    In fact it was one such person who ended the killing spree in question.
  - prawn 4y ago
    The solution is always to spend more money. It reminds me of eating and then going to the gym to lose weight, rather than just not eating as much to start with. But eating less makes fewer people rich, so we see fewer ads promoting it, less PR and so on.
- loonster 4y ago
  How does Japan use their SWAT teams?
maxerickson 4y ago
Is the celebration of impunity embodied in American action movies not popular around the world? Lots of movies made outside the US seem to have similar themes (But I guess I haven't watched that many; a recent one is The Raid).
- throw0101a 4y ago
  > Is the celebration of impunity embodied in American action movies not popular around the world? Some of us can tell the difference between fact and fiction, between make-believe and reality. I am reminded of the end of this scene from the movie Team America: World Police where the Parisians have mouths agape: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIPljGWGNt4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIPljGWGNt4
  - maxerickson 4y ago
    Some of us can tell the difference between fact and fiction, between make-believe and reality. I mean, the majority of people everywhere are able to do this just fine, that's my point. US movie culture isn't particularly different than elsewhere. Here's a popular French movie that celebrates impunity. A cop steals cocaine from some drug dealers and then makes war on them when they kidnap his son: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz_VfNacaeo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz_VfNacaeo Maybe I got lucky and found the only one.

by soneil 4y ago

sneak 4y ago

> I maintain the US has a bruce willis problem. An ethos that a good guy with a gun is the solution to all problems. I think this is a commonly held belief, and that it is also false. Why does Japan have a swat team? Why is the US sending antitank weapons to Ukraine?

dendriti 4y ago
A US Senator from Texas literally said yesterday that we should station "good guys with guns" (armed security guards) to prevent school shootings.
- krapp 4y ago
  Also "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" has been an NRA talking point for years.
- throw0101a 4y ago
  > A US Senator from Texas literally said yesterday that we should station "good guys with guns" (armed security guards) to prevent school shootings. Yeah, except there was a police officer right outside the building already: > The suspect was immediately engaged outside the building as he approached the school by a Uvalde Independent School District police officer, who was shot by the suspect, the sources said. * https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-elementary-school-reports-active-shooter-campus/story?id=84940951 https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-elementary-school-reports-ac... And this isn't the first time on-site individuals have been useless: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneman_Douglas_High_School_shooting#Officer_inactivity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneman_Douglas_High_School_s... Even if officers respond with-in a minute, you still have multiple deaths and many injuries: > Police at the scene engaged him within a minute of the first shots being fired, firing 18 rounds and hitting the gunman several times.[5] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilroy_Garlic_Festival_shooting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilroy_Garlic_Festival_shootin...
- sneak 4y ago
  In fact it was one such person who ended the killing spree in question.
- prawn 4y ago
  The solution is always to spend more money. It reminds me of eating and then going to the gym to lose weight, rather than just not eating as much to start with. But eating less makes fewer people rich, so we see fewer ads promoting it, less PR and so on.
loonster 4y ago
How does Japan use their SWAT teams?

maxerickson 4y ago

Is the celebration of impunity embodied in American action movies not popular around the world? Lots of movies made outside the US seem to have similar themes (But I guess I haven't watched that many; a recent one is The Raid).

throw0101a 4y ago
> Is the celebration of impunity embodied in American action movies not popular around the world? Some of us can tell the difference between fact and fiction, between make-believe and reality. I am reminded of the end of this scene from the movie Team America: World Police where the Parisians have mouths agape: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIPljGWGNt4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIPljGWGNt4
- maxerickson 4y ago
  Some of us can tell the difference between fact and fiction, between make-believe and reality. I mean, the majority of people everywhere are able to do this just fine, that's my point. US movie culture isn't particularly different than elsewhere. Here's a popular French movie that celebrates impunity. A cop steals cocaine from some drug dealers and then makes war on them when they kidnap his son: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz_VfNacaeo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz_VfNacaeo Maybe I got lucky and found the only one.