Everyone rid your minds of the fact that guns, or any other material object directs the way US society behaves itself. That would be 'pushing the rope' so to speak. Every country has it's own personality and its own behavior. Comparing the relative 'goodness' and 'proper methods' of one society over another is a complete waste of time. If you want to understand the core of the problem you have to become well aquainted with that country over time from the inside out. I don't see how anyone could make any honest predictions from the other side of the globe.
That said, the problem with living here in the USA is that it has seen great success exercising it's 20th Century corporate system, and as a result has metamorphosized into an obtusely capitalistic society. This is a direct result of a Supreme Court ruling in the late 1800's that declared (for some completely mindless reason) that corporate entities would from that day forward be considered 'natural persons' rather than ficticious entities that were at the mercy of the community's decisions. At that point in time, corporations gained all the freedoms of a living person WITHOUT the fear of being encarcerated for wrong doing - in effect being granted
greater freedoms than the people themselves with the added bonus of
moral immunity. Since they don't actually exist in the material world, there is not intrinsic desire to work in a fashion that supports the basic necessity for the survival of the living being. Because of this, the resulting detremental impact on society and the environment goes unchecked, and in comparison is dwarfed by the rewards of high profits, booming economy, percieved success, and resulting material gain. Add on top of that the tremendous amount of capital created by corporations (and the fact that all that concentrated money buys votes & favor in this country) and you have the recipe for societal disaster. Like it or not, the people of the US are no longer citizens - we are
consumers and our portrayed value in this society both socially and politically goes no farther than that.
Corporate power rules this country's political circles, and a very small group of individuals and their corporations rule all of the newspapers and networks that allow the population to know the facts and state of their society. Rather than trying to limit the mindset of society, corporations offer us a selection of lifestyles to live, and we claw tooth & nail to live up to their expectations. We aren't necessarily left with the feeling that we are being denied freedoms so there is no conscious need for complaint or uprising - on the contrary we are offered a number of 'designed styles' of freedom in which to choose from and express ourselves through, knowing well that living outside these parameters put us 'out' in the eyes of society. Corporate goods have come to define who we are (or who we work our whole lives to portray ourselves to be). American society now sells its soul everyday to have their 'Nike', their 'B&W', their corner office, and the successful image and lifestyle those items allow us to portray. Popular stereotypes rule our understanding of what is 'cool', and what is socially unworthy. Every female I know (to one degree or another) has an ongoing complex about their weight due directly to rampant commercialization of the popular
starved image that must be matched in order for them to feel attractive.
By definition of our new way of life, all of the people in this country are trying to live The Dream, and ironically the VAST majority of them, regardless of their wealth and oppulance are to some degree unhappy, suffering from some type of depression, lack of fulfillment, or some other malaise. What's the corporate response? They offer us all kinds of cool things like Prozac, Ritalin and Valium as mood brighteners, completely ignoring the fact that there is an inherent flaw in the foundation of this new 20th Century way of governing ourselves. Have a sense of loss, hollowness or unfulfillment? - then go shopping, buy more product, boost perceived prosperity, and try feverishly to fill the void inside. Of course, most feel as long as they portray such an image then they honestly
become the image. The line between the two has become blurred - at least that's the status quo. This society is completely distracted by corporate deluge of product and lifestyle structuring, and is for all soulful intents and purposes naturally lost from the living moment. For the majority of us the depth of our history and other profound elements of our understanding of self are lost in the daily purge of sound bytes, 'snippits', 4 minute songs, and other short attention span programming - all of it filtered through corporate opinion and sway before it reaches us. We find our safety in routines and rarely if ever break loose in a fit of true spontinaety.
Television being the ruling mediator of lifestyle, you will NEVER see an advertisement that portrays their sponsors in a bad light. You will NEVER see so called 'un'advertisements whose soul purpose is to wake you from your couch potato stupor. You will NEVER see advertisements that try to roust you away from the relentless onslaught of commercial sales and ploys put out by television, movies, radio, internet, vidieo games, etc. What you will get is what networks call 'hype' and 'jolts'. The average movie or television show has a average of five 'jolts' a minute to reset your attention toward the screen. MTV has an average count of 60 jolts per minute! How many people can sit quitely for 30 minutes without being interrupted by their internal clock telling them "there's something else you're supposed to be doing"?
Now, to bring this full circle to the gun rights thing. There is no doubt in my mind that corporate stereotypes play a huge part in the behavior of the troubled youth (and adults for that matter) in today's American society. Of course that will never be debated to the point of making substantial changes as long as the popular media is playing a part in the mediation of the subject. Obtuse corporate power lies at the very core of the problem, and as long as producers and programmers can use gunfire, explosions, and the like to maintain consumer attention (a cheap but effective trick), and as long as the news media can maintain it's 45% average rate of 'sensationalist tragedy' to keep viewers plugged into the news, that's the way things will remain.
"World War III will be a guerrilla information war, with no division between military and civilian participation".
Looking at the fact surrounding 'free' society today, the only way to the next plateau of increased conciousness in living is via this route. I see no viable way around it, and no logical alternate course. Whatever fears society or the government holds about an armed rebellion by the people is completely misplaced. Guns will play little part in the next revolution. It will be our abilities to manipulate information that brings about the big change - nothing more, nothing less.
P.S. - Also, for all you judgemental folks overseas, keep in mind that you can denounce Capitalist culture all you like, but like it or not, if you're in the free world and reading this post then the same set of values is coming to a city near you. It's a global epedimic. In the end you can try to pass the blame all you want, but noone other than yourself has allowed it inside your own borders. Regardless of what you believe the status quo to be in the U.K., facts show 5 million illegal guns recently entering your country and crime rates on the rise. Have fun!
[This message has been edited by Windle (edited 12-10-2000).]
