China Meiguo

While in the Dubai airport on my way back to China a few days ago, I happened to look at one of the TV monitors in the waiting area and saw the news about the Colorado movie theater massacre that took place that day. Like most people, I felt shock and sadness about the tragedy, but I also felt a bit embarrassed because news like this seems to happen rather frequently in America. Whether American, Chinese or any other nationality, I imagine that the vast majority of people worldwide sympathize with the victims and struggle to understand what could possibly motivate someone to randomly gun down people for no apparent reason.


In China, in addition to shock and sympathy, there's also another reaction - a confirmation of the belief that America is a violent and dangerous country. Sadly (at least to me), this view is largely correct. Comparatively, China has is much safer than America (at least in terms of violent crime). 


I often talk with Chinese college students trying to get an idea of what their perceptions of Americans are and while there are also many positive views, one of the most common responses is that Americans all have guns. In discussion sessions about American culture, the most common question I hear is "why do Americans all have guns?" I try to answer logically by first explaining that the notion that all Americans have guns is an exaggeration. Then, I try to explain some of the justifications offered for gun ownership in America (self defense, sport, hunting). Having grown up watching American films and TV shows (many of which feature guns being used by people to kill others), they seem to have a hard time accepting my explanations (I guess I can't blame them). 


To Chinese people, there's a very simple way to prevent tragedies such as that which occurred in Colorado and they can't understand why we let these things continue to happen in America. When they ask why the government doesn't stop people from owning guns, I try to explain that owning guns also involves a very important American ideal of individual freedom. While no one has ever put it this bluntly to me, my guess is that they view the notion that freedom includes the right to own guns as ridiculous.


While I certainly value freedom, I have to admit that I'd voluntarily sacrifice some of my freedom to reduce the amount of pointless slaughter that occurs when idiots and lunatics like James Holmes have easy access to guns. Without debating the Constitutional issue of the right to bear arms (although I wish people would actually read the whole second amendment to the Constitution which grants this right for the purpose of forming a militia to provide security), I think we have gone beyond the realm of sanity in America at least in terms of allowing people such easy access to guns and especially automatic weapons. Today, I came across a Twitter post by Jason Alexander (best known for his role in the TV show Seinfeld). Its kind of sad when George Costanza is the voice of reason for America, especially knowing that this voice will continue to be mostly ignored.