" I don't need it here in Australia nor do I want it"
I don't have any need or a desire to own a gun either here in America. But I am really sick of my country being bashed by people who obviously know little or nothing about it.
I don't think what I said was bashing your country. I was saying that there are a lot of issues going on there right now that aren't enviable. I actually don't think of americans as being "those crazy americans" as many in Australia do. I have some very close, very awesome american friends, who are realistic enough to be able to agree with me when I speak about these things and not take it personally.
I also acknowledge that I was speaking of society as a whole when I said people are being dumbed down...so that wasn't just aimed at you, though I may not have made that clear. I think people EVERYWHERE are becoming dumbed down by all the influences that are bombarding us all on a daily basis.
I live in the Northern U.S. I once moved to the Southern U.S. for a summer as a college student. Upon moving there, I found the houses were very different from the ones I had lived in in the north. They were made of cement blocks, small, and boring to me. I laughed at the stupid people in therural Alabama who could only construct such simple houses. Only when I had lived there for a few weeks and heard stories of the hurricanes that had hit in the past could I begin to understand the wisdom in these houses.
I see what you are saying, and yes, I cannot know what life in America is like as I've only visited there briefly. I do communicate with friends from america fairly often though, and they have told me some pretty messed up stories to do with personal experiences with the health care system over there.
Some of you are so ready to impart your wisdom to us, but you have no idea what you are talking about because you haven't spent time in our shoes.
I don't think I have tried to impart my wisdom to any of you here. I certainly don't presume to think that I have the solutions to your countries problems, I was simply pointing out that you guys seem to be up shit creek right now, without a paddle.
Perhaps if you also took some time to see that, in a country like Australia, where we look up to America as a father figure almost, and seem to be becoming more and more americanized everyday, which many people are not that happy about...and starting to also take on some of the attributes of your culture, like the rising obesity rates here, and the number of violent incidents, like the occasional drive by shooting, which is worrying to say the least...though it is nowhere near the same level as what it is over there, you might be able to see where some of the impressions of Americans stem from.
I grew up in a very rural area. Sure, you can call the police if you have problems. They'd be there in a day or two. I grew up with bear and bobcat in the woods, and deer crashing through the bank's picture window because it was in rut, and attacted its reflection. We learned how to handle guns at a very young age. They were tools. Tools used to preserve life, to feed us, and when necessary, to relieve the suffering of injurred animals. Nearly everybody had guns in their home, and in the history of the town, there was only one murder. A stabbing.
Thankyou for sharing some of your life growing up. It helps me get a more realistic perspective, and I realise that guns are just a part of your culture over there. I'm not judging anyone here...it's all just normal for you guys, and it's not for us city dwellers. In the country here, people own guns, but city folk and country folk tend to view each other with an air of the strangeness.
They don't like or get us, and for the most part, we don't get them either. I've travelled to rural Australia, and tasted some of the culture out there, and I don't judge them to be better or less than me because they grew up differently. Country Australia makes up a huge amount of Australia's overall population, and all the little towns take up a huge amount of space. Most Australians from the city won't ever go and see their own country and they have no clue what goes on in the country...and vice versa.
Whilst I did not have the same environment growing up...I was coddled in a "safe" town, where we could leave our doors wide open all day without the threat of strangers just walking in and robbing us or raping us. The whole concept of walking around with a gun in my holster is frankly so alien to me...but I get that it's just normal for you guys.
Don't get me wrong. I am actually pro gun control. But taking away all guns in this country in crazy. And, it would never, ever work. From your cities and suburbs, you can never understand this. Spend a few weeks in rural Wyoming trying to protect livestock, and you may see things differently.
I agree. From the city and suburbs most of us can never know how much a gun is a part of daily life over there, and the dynamic of life and death seems like it is more closely understood out in the country, because death is seen all the time.
Like Albatross, I was really upset by one of the previous posts. We stupid, fat Americans give a large percentage of our income to help others less fortunate in our county and in others. We welcome people from every nation, educate those who are here illegally. Most of us live in peace with our neighbors. We strive to educate children others would proclaim uneducatable. I could go on and on with things I love about the US. I am proud to raise my children here (FYI of the four, three score in the 94 percentile or above on those stupid tests, and all read several years above grade level, and all are learnign a second language). Though my husband (of 19 years) and I chose positions that put us in a lower income bracket, we have EXCELLENT health care.
That would have been my comment I believe.
I'm not saying that there aren't many awesome things that people have going over there, which I cannot know about as I don't live there. As I said earlier I was not just speaking of Americans when I spoke of people being dumbed down. It is happening everywhere, and the lack of nutritional content in food is part of the reason.
Can you really deny the rate of obesity there not being a major health problem though? It is rapidly becoming an issue here in Australia as well, with all the Wendy's and Hungry Jack's franchises spreading like a virus in nearly every suburb in every city.
When I was a child, this was not so prevalent. There was McDonalds sure...but now we have so many of these fast food places, and they are everywhere. We are heavily influenced by American culture, and it's killing our kids. It's killing your kids too. People who are living low income lives, with mouths to feed can't afford whole foods so they buy fast food every day for their kids...breakfast, lunch and dinner. I've watched documentaries about it...and had this confirmed by other highly intelligent american friends I keep in regular contact with. Are they all lying?
The people I have spoken to, who live in the States, and are also proud and happy to live there, have had some atrocious experiences with health care there, and speak openly about how they have to wait sometimes a whole day to get looked at. One friend was in intense pain from having been raped and had pelvic inflammation...and didn't get attended to for about 8 hours. Another had to ask all her friends to donate so she could have a hernia operated on...which cost $20,000 to secure a bed...not to mention all the stories Michael Moore brought light to in his recent movie "Sicko" which gave some perspective about the issue.
If you say the health care is excellent though, then that's wonderful. Was he just exaggerating then?
