Quote:
Originally posted by ymboc
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The difference with switzerland is that the reason it is among the most heavily armed nations is because those arms are provided by the swiss militia (army) -- they call it a militia.
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Be that as it may, they are still heavily armed, and my point stands. They tend not to go out killing their fellow Swiss, even though they have the means...
Not wanting to get too psycho-babbleish here, but it seems the underlying causation for much of the violence seen here is a sub-culturally enforced alienation. This kind of parallels the ascendancy of "multi-culturalism" and "hyphenated americans" in US society.
It would seem that the emphasis for most ethnically identifiable groups in America has shifted from one of acculturation and "blending in" to American society, to that of allowing, and even encouraging, separation of cultures. Calls for integration seem to mean "We want a shot at your money, but you can keep the culture that helped produce it".
This has been fostered, in large part, by politicians of a more liberal bent for political reasons. Narrowly defined interest groups are easier to pander to.
I also think that part of the reason this is less apparent/prevalent in other societies is due to factors of scale: there is so much more power/money to be garnered from these tactics in America, vis-a-vis the rest of the world. The stakes are simply higher here.
What to do? I am not sure. It would be nice to roll back the clock to 1950 or so, but that won't happen. I think the we could get back to a situation where one's ethnic background becomes less relevant to the quantity and type of preferences one acquires, but not soon. That would require too much courage on the part of the politicians.
Bob