Tuesday digest
- It's still very early days in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, so I'm reluctant to comment at any length about it just yet. However, rather than react by assigning blame to lax gun control laws, slow-reacting campus security personnel, or American culture, my point of view is that the primary cause of yesterday's tragedy was the isolated actions taken by one very unhealthy and disturbed individual.
We live in an imperfect world, so trying to explain irrationality through the lens of rationality is pointless.
I will have more to say about this in the next couple of days.
- The other day, I said that one of the things that annoy me about living here is the constant bitching about minority language rights. After the board of directors of the University du Quebec en Outouais decided to phase out the English-language MBA program on Monday night, cries of linguistic cleansing have been heard. Gimme a break. There are English-language MBA programs at both of Ottawa's universities, Queen's has a satellite campus here, and Montreal, with both Concordia and McGill, are two hours away. If you want to live in a primarily francophone province, there are certain sacrifices that you have to be prepared to make. Stop complaining about it.
- Another group that needs to stop whining are the farmers of North America. In the United States, over 80,000 farmers earn more than $200,000 annually, and last year, net farm income totalled $60 billion. Farm subsidies ought to be massively scaled back because they are no longer necessary.
- Here's a thought-provoking piece on the dumbing down of serious and substantive discourse.
- The so-called Conservative government of Canada recently issued a food guide for indigeneous peoples.
I suppose the champion of this race-specific publication, Health Minister Tony Clement, thinks that aboriginal Canadians wouldn't know how to eat properly without the state there to watch over their choices and make recommendations should they stray from civil servant-approved menus.
Isn't this the exact type of heavy-handed paternalism that condemned Canada's natives to soaring rates of alcoholism, poverty and dependence in the first place?
Ridiculous.
posted by Road Hammer @ 11:26 AM
11 comments
11 Comments:
I find the reaction to the VaTech massacre interesting in that when guns are involved, the American right immediately tries urge calm and caution and talk about isolated incidents involving disturbed people. But if so much as an errant fart in the wind goes out that can be tied to terrorism it's all hands on deck to call out the complacent, and reiterate the need for vigilance etc. etc.
What a country. What a mentality.
The mass murder of 3,000 people (100 times the number killed yesterday) will do that to a place.
Speaking of national mentalities relating to gun violence, remember the crucifixion of any media commentator in 2005 who dared suggest there was any Jamaican connection to the 50-odd murders that year in Toronto.
I'm glad to see you taking the high road in the V Tech shootings. As I've said I don't like the fact that many will use the deaths of the victims as props for their cause (either for or against guns) as many did less than 12 hours after the shootings.
Good point about the Jamaican gun connections.
But let's continue referring to the props of 9-11 at ever possibly opportunity to justify the "war on terror", righ Skeelo?
But terrorists were responsible for 9/11. Nobody yet knows what caused the Virginia Tech tragedy. C'mon, Brian.
I think someone might be suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome - in other words, "the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency -- nay -- the very existence of George W. Bush."
That was my point Anwar, Thank You.
Until we know why this happened don't use dead people to illustrate a point. If you want to get into a gun control debate, which I think is valid, I would like to see it happen a few days after the accident so people have the chance to absorb what has happened.
"Nobody yet knows what caused the Virginia Tech tragedy". It was a nutjob with access to a lot weaponry, obviously - what's the mystery? C'mon Anwar.
The flat earth society that continues to deny the link between guns and the 11,000+ US gun murders per year should give its head a shake and realize that total is almost 4 times the toll of 9-11 - every year - or if you prefer, 4 times the death toll of US troops in Iraq.
No doubt it's horrible that 32 people were killed, and I feel for their families - but to call out all these "how could this have happened" "who's to blame" questions is ridiculous.
A small price to pay for the right to bear amrs I suppose.
As for Bush Derangement Syndrome... I guess Hammer's boy John Howard is suffering too:
SYDNEY (AFP) - Prime Minister John Howard said Tuesday that strict gun controls introduced after one of the world's worst massacres by a lone gunman helped Australia avoid a U.S.-style "gun culture".
Howard, who ordered the controls after gunman Martin Bryant killed 35 people in a rampage through Port Arthur in Tasmania in 1996, was reacting to Monday's shooting spree at the U.S. Virginia Tech University which left 33 people dead.
"We had a terrible incident at Port Arthur. But it is the case that 11 years ago we took action to limit the availability of guns and we showed a national resolve that the gun culture that is such a negative in the United States would never become a negative in our country," he said. Howard told reporters, however, that "you can never guarantee these things won't happen again in our country."
Thank you Brian, now we can all go about feeling safe because it was "some nut job with access to a lot of weaponry". That's an amazing insight that you've put together based on a day's worth of CNN.com.
So, of course, there's no chance that this could happen in a gun-controlled country like Canada - because the nut jobs here don't have the same access to major weaponry. And if we tightened it even more, it'd be even safer because there'd absolutely no access to major weaponry.
And, of course, he's a nut job, so as long as we watch out for guys like this, we'll be safe.
Pretty simplistic. Thanks for the armchair psych class, Brian.
Anwar - I was just paraphrasing the Roadhammer himself.
"my point of view is that the primary cause of yesterday's tragedy was the isolated actions taken by one very unhealthy and disturbed individual."
My point is that regardless of the motivation of the killer - which completely moot in my opinion - he killed people with a powerful weapon. And you're right, these things don't happen as much in Canada as we have stricter access laws to powerful weapons, but sadly, not strict enough.
We'll never be safe from the actions of "nut jobs" but I'll take my chances against a guy with a knife over one with a 9mm. Hard to take out a room full of people with a baseball bat.
As I said after the Dawson incident, the only people who should have guns of any type are the police, and the military.
Yup, that Johnny Howard sure is upset about the whole Bush presidency thing, isn't he?
Back to the issue at hand for those who don't carry a grudge because of the 2000 Presidential election, I'd like to know how many of those 11,000-plus murders per year are related to gang violence.
I would guess a sizable number, so I'd also say that implying that gun violence is a coast-to-coast epidemic which regularly and frequently impacts all Americans would be an exaggeration.
In other words, I think some elements of American society are more likely to engage in certain behaviours that puts them more at risk of getting killed by gun violence.
There are social/cultural realities at play as well (but that's not news to anyone here).
The shooting of, say, Biggie Smalls was not as innocent a death as was that of a WTC cleaning lady.
Certainly no one is suggesting that gun control is the *only* answer, because it sure didn't prevent the murder of Jane Creba in broad daylight on Boxing Day 2005 in Toronto.
As John Howard says, it doesn't guarantee anything.
I'll comment more later.
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