Category Archives: Perspectives

The American Weapon Boomerang

courtesy-urbanertslings_com_

Protecting the Americans with weapons!?

Today is a day to remember and mourn with the families and friends of the 59 killed and 527 injuried in this week massacre in Las Vegas, US.

The Massacre in Las Vegas October 1, 2017

Tomorrow is a day to look back on what weapons do to the Americans. Tomorrow and not one day later, is a day to  openly reflect and consider what to do with the knowledge we already have on weapon protection and weapon control.

Massacre killings or mass murders the last 25 years in US:

Las Vegas, Nevada US. October 1. 2017 = 59 killed, 527 injuried.

Orlando, Florida US.June 12. 2016 = 49 killed.

Blacksburgh Virginia, US. April 16  2007 = 32 killed.

Sandy Hook, Connecticut, December 14. 2012 = 26 killed.

Killeen, Texas,  October 16. 1991  =22 killed.

San Bernardino, California, December 2. 2015 = 14 killed.

Fort Hood, Texas, November 5. 2009, = 13 killed.

Binghampton, New York, April 8. 2009 = 13 killed.

Littleton, Colorado, April 20. 1999 = 13 killed

Washington, September 16, 2013   = 12 shot

Aurora, Colorado, July 20. 2012  = 12 shot

These shootings  only represent the big massacres in the US., where many people are killed in one destructive act. They do not show incidents of children shooting a brother or sister. The many tragedies where a husband or a wife are shooting each other. Or the many incidents where gangs are shooting members of the rival gang . Or people shooting themselves or others deliberately or accidentally.

How would I react as a private person living in the US with my family?

If I lived in the US now, I certainly would prefer to buy me a gun before going to town. Perhaps not if I lived in the Portland, Oregon region, witch, referring to statistics, have the lowest homicide rate, 1.4 killed per100.000, out of 48 US metropolitan areas.

Portland, Oregon, US.

If, however I had to move to the charming New Orleans area, with 19 killed per 100.000, I most likely would run to the weapon store immediately. Here I would buy me a half automatic AR-15, and barricade me and my family inside our little house. Sorry for being a bit paranoid but I follow the news daily.

New Orleans, US.

For a Scandinavian there seems to be a locking paradox embedded in the discussion around Civil Rights, weapon and weapon control in the US. On the News, daily you definitely get the impression that life is very dangerous in America. And on the individual level you surely want to protect yourself and your family.

On the societal level, however we know that easy access to alcohol, drugs, and dope rises the rate of problems, accidents, and disease followed by widespread use of these substances. But what then about having a policy giving easy access to weapons to protect yourself. Does this enhance the rate of killings too?

Like alcohol, drugs and dope, this is a many faceted and complex problem.7254700

Research and statistics gives us a direction

There are nearly 12,000 gun murders a year in the U.S. – and despite falling crime rates, that number has barely changed since the late 1990s. (The US Center for Disease Control)

The overall homicide rate, among the metro areas whose principal city is in a state that requires some form of permit to purchase a gun, is 4.32 per 100,000 residents, compared with 5.74 among cities in no-permit states. This certainly does not confirm the gun control = higher violent crime hypothesis. Quite the opposite! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-h-bailey/does-gun-control-encourage-crime_b_7917684.html

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Are there any solutions to this dilemma,- between hardcore statistics and the individual feeling  of protection ?

We must start admitting that: The bullet we use in our guns to protect ourselves can ricochet, and even turn back on us like a boomerang.

To save precious American lives we must start gradual weapon control all over the country. And weapon amnesty and refunding for the most dangerous types of weapon. Perhaps then, we can avoid Columbine, Sandy- Hook and Orlando mass murders on repeat!

GodBlessAmerica

 WITH LESS WEAPONS!

http://www.selvuniverset.com/2016/03/18/storste-trusselen-verden

Do you have any influence on your life?

 Powerlessness  and fatigue

 Feeling powerless is a common experience these days. Feeling drained of energy is yet another way of describing this state of mind and body. It is almost like a new public disease. And it’s not a typical depression either.

 To tired to work even with several cups of strong coffee

Some calls it burnout or even stronger ME, (Myalgic encephalopathy). They may also name it Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. In earlier days, similar feelings and lameness was called Neurasthenia.

Many different causes

There is no doubt many causes for this widespread neuropsychological state ranging from frequent feelings of tiredness to paralyzing apathy. I will come back to some of them this autumn. Here in this short article I will only address one of them: – Whether you feel you have a voice in your world, or not,  or having the ability to make a choice in life out of apparently no options, or the opposite, – to many choices.

Too many alternatives too choose from?

Do you have a voice in your world? Do you have a choice in life?

In a meta-perspective, viewing us all from the outside, it seems that we are like small living boxes in bigger boxes, ultimately surrounded by huge boxes of the big society. It is this last huge box or frame that is primarily defined and formed by the different governments in our country.

Are we like small boxes inside bigger boxes?

In an earlier article, I used a picture of us living inside something like three Russian Babushka dolls inside our big Country Babushka. http://www.selvuniverset.com/2016/10/15/if-anything-will-trickle-down-to-or-effect-the-first-layer-of-your-self-it-is-decisions-made-on-the-fourth-level-so-please-take-care-of-your-whole-self-by-engaging-in-the-outer-layers-of-it-go-a/

 We are not boxes or objects but persons  of flesh and bone! ( Illustrated from the series Flesh and Bone on Cmore)

Boxes or Babushka dolls are just a picture, however. I know you are made of flesh and bone, brain tissue and living cells. You are not a thing or a political system. You are a human being, having a heart and with emotions making you happy, sorry, hurt or surprised, depending on the circumstances. 

I guess that also you will agree that the form of the biggest box or Babushka doll will most likely create prerequisites for and characterize the form of the smaller ones inside. With this I hold that the way our elected politicians are governing us, by their solutions, laws and reforms are rather decisive for the quality of our lives. These manmade political frames will set the premises for the practical fundamentals of our everyday lives.

North Korea’s earlier leader Kim Il JungThe conditions for women in Pakistan

Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe and his wife celebrating his birthday.

Does it affect our love lives?

Political conditions does not necessarily affect our love life. That is if we don’t accept that economy, health care and social security have a great impact also on that part. I really imagine that it makes a difference for you, when balancing with your family in “Life’s breathtaking Circus” whether you have a security net to fall onto, or not. Do you have a security net under you and your family

Because the elected political frames I refer to will distribute the basic wealth of our country quite differently. Just look to the contrasts or difference between Zimbabwe and Finland, Japan and the US. or UK.

I also believe, that both you and I may feel somewhat powerless and incapable of changing the shape of our surrounding context, by voting. But the solution to this numbness is not passivity and aimless recreation. It’s rather the contrary, to get out of the sofa and educate ourselves on what’s going on out there, and talk, talk, talk with others that want a change.

Has this happened to you right now, or do you fear that it will happen soon?

I have a simple question to my readers: Is it for example fair and right that you need to quit your earlier union membership to keep your job? Or get much less paid for the same job, so you need to have two jobs to survive. Why must you pay high income taxes, while the richest in your country can avoid it with help from their lawyers and economic advisors? Are you afraid to get sick because you can’t pay for a proper treatment, being a medical cure or an operation? What about your own education or your children’s? And what would happen if you lose your job and can’t get a new one?

What good fortune for governments that the people do not think.” – Adolf Hitler

Newspapers as a voice for your condition in life. Newspapers as a source of knowledge.

Do not only watch or read mainstream media productions. Read newspapers and watch news from more angles than just one.

When I was young, I grew up in a place where there were mostly millionaires, shipowners, and rich people living. We lived in a kind of conservative echo chamber, that only confirmed our values and verified our prejudices.

It was not until I was 15 years old that I understood that the different newspapers in our capital city, most often had politically biased ways of angling their news material. And because we mostly subscribed to mainstream conservative newspapers, I was for a long time conservatively biased too.

Then, since I was 18 years and had my first job, I have tried to compensate for this by being a lifelong subscriber to the left-wing newspaper “Klassekampen”, in my country. (Not very unlike the British, “The Guardian”, and the French “Le Monde Diplomatique”)

Bilderesultat for pics of Klassekampen

Joking with the press and its readers

I want to end this short article with a dialogue from the BBC series, “Yes Prime Minister.” The Prime minister is discussing the Press with his cabinet Secretary Humphrey. – Humphrey asks his Prime Minister if he really knows how the Press pampers with its readers.

– Don’t tell me about the press, the Prime Minister says: -I know exactly who reads their papers.

  • “The Daily Mirror” is read by people who think they run the country.
  • “The Guardian” is read by people who think they ought to run the country.
  • “The Times” is read by people who actually do run the country.
  • “The Daily Mail “is read by the wives of the people who run the country.
  • “The Financial Times” is read by people who own the country.
  • “The Morning Star” is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country.
  • “The Daily Telegraph” is read by people who think it is.

– What about “The Sun”, then, the Cabinet Secretary asks. The Prime minister hesitate to answer…

  •  “The Sun” readers don’t care who runs the country, as long as they have big tits! the private secretary adds. https://youtu.be/Zy2Ii_F8tws

Now, start getting ready for reading more newspapers.

Autumn is election time in many countries. You are in other words soon invited to vote for your candidate or party! If you can’t afford to subscribe to three to four different newspapers like me, try your local library or the net. You deserve better than for example only Fox Channel news. Find newspapers that both describe your situation in life, and the opposite. Find newspapers that not only stand on your side in conflicts, but also speak for everyone else in your country.

Did you ever rise your voice around the dinner table when your brother or sister got more desert or cake than you? Your voice in a general or parliamentary election is even more important than your childhood’s scream of unfairness and injustice in the distribution of family goods.

Just by trying to do something with the situation in your country and your life, will make you feel less powerless and weak. I guarantee, no matter the ultimate outcome of it!

Who will get out of the sofa first?

 

PS. Also other forms of tiredness and fatigue will be discussed by Psychological Universe this autumn.