Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: DaveNet: Bombing Yugoslavia

Author:Mike Murry
Posted:4/22/1999; 9:34:58 AM
Topic:DaveNet: Bombing Yugoslavia
Msg #:5191 (In response to 5190)
Prev/Next:5190 / 5192

Dave,

This piece was very timely for me. These things have been on my mind for a very long time now. Thank you.

The connection between what is happening in our schools and our governments policies toward other countries is so clear to me that I find it hard to believe that others can not see it. I live in Texas, a state where more people are put to death than any other state ( and where pacificist vegetarians like me stick out like a sore thumb). I have had numerous discussions with friends and lovers on the connection between state sponsored killing and the violence in our society, yet they mostly choose to ignore this and point the blame at TV, movies, games, or the internet. Maybe it's easier to blame others than it is for Americans to admit that not everything the government does is OK. Maybe it's just easier to use short term solutions for complex problems than it is to wait for long term solutions to come to fruition. I don't know. But I do know that things will not get better until we all stop and re-evaluate our value system in this country.

The only point in the article I would question would be the banning of firearms. Not because I don't agree with the idea. I don't really believe that anyone needs to own a gun, but I think that it would end up creating problems like we had during Prohibition. A better solution, IMO, would be to do this:

1. Each person would only be allowed to own a very small number of weapons (ideally just one, but two or three would be a fair compromise).

2. Each person would be allotted a small amount of ammunition. If you have a gun for "protection" you don't need a hundred rounds of ammo (unless of course your house is under seige every day). If you hunt I guess you would want a little more than someone else.

Obviously the details would need to be worked out, but I think this is a good start.

There are responses to this message:

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:49:27 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.