so, america... i miss it obviously. my posts poking hong kong in the eye are somewhat in jest and embellished, and i hope y'all realize that. i'm really not fishing for pity; i have a wonderful life. my writings are mostly to help my family and me remember some of my experiences living abroad and are meant to be entertaining more than anything (i'm just kind of a salty badger), but there are also big chunks of truth in what i say or at least perceive. just to add a little balance to this blog thinger, let me tell you what some people of the world think about the land of the free and home of the brave...
i have not yet personally experienced this, but i have had a few fellow american friends whom have lived or at least traveled abroad relay similar stories: it is not uncommon for people from other countries to wonder if we as americans are afraid to live in the united states because we might get shot. like i said, i've heard this more than once, and everytime i've heard it i just thought it was so incredulous. wait... america?! seriously? look, i've heard it's a common misconseption for some foreigners to think we all live in california next to britney spears, but do they really think we live in a warzone where everybody walks around with an uzi down his pants? eh, probably not, but i may be beginning to understand why these people of other nations think the way they do: i have only lived in hong kong since october, but in those short 3.5 months, i can count at least 5-6 fatal school/church/mall/city hall shootings that have taken place back home in the goold ol' U. S. of A. in some of these instances, i have known about these horrible news stories before friends and family have back home. matt and i get a reasonable amount of american news on some of the television world news stations here, and shootings in america always take the top headline. that, coupled with the fact that it is illegal to privately own firearms in china (not trying to start a discussion on the right to bear arms here... can of worms i didn't intend to open, but i did like the graphic i found), creates a situation hard and frightening to imagine for some folks here in china.
i have to admit, with the lack of american pop culture news streaming at me 24-7 like back in texas (don't get me wrong, i love me some people.com), these horrific shooting stories do seem a lot more common, and maybe they really are. maybe i am safer here, sitting in rat poison.
i have to admit, with the lack of american pop culture news streaming at me 24-7 like back in texas (don't get me wrong, i love me some people.com), these horrific shooting stories do seem a lot more common, and maybe they really are. maybe i am safer here, sitting in rat poison.
4 comments:
Jer and I were watching this really great show on the BBC Network. It is called Top Gear. Short explanation: it's a man's show all about cars. Anyway, they went to the deep south and ended up getting themselves shot at by a bunch of hicks (one of the cars they were driving had "man love rules ok" painted on the side as a joke). On their show, they made the Southern U.S look like a war zone and a horrible place to visit. We thought it was pretty funny but sad.
Oh that picture is classic. I may steal it....("the right to 'bear' arms!)
Discussion is open....If someone breaks into your house, what are you suppose to do? Throw a pillow at him? That'll scare him away! It's funny you brought this up, I'm getting my concealed weapons right now and I was going to bring this all up on my blog!! Hey e-mail me your address. I have something to send you! heart!!
so, when i first read this i thought "she must be exaggerating..." and i wasn't sure what comment to leave, therefore i didn't. HOWEVER, in the last week since you posted this there have been THREE major random school, community, etc shootings where there were at least 4 people killed each time. One was at a small town hall meeting. Holy cow. Again, today, there was another shooting at a college that left 5 dead and 17 injured. you're right, my friend, and wow... makes me think twice about the right to bear arms.. or at least the maybe an addendum to it...
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