I thought we agreed upon Humanism long time ago
August 25, 2012 7:51 AM Subscribe
Depressed, angry, sad about the tangled-up mess of violence, fear, freedom in the US. As an European, can you put any context around my thoughts?
[The following is about my thoughts from what I can gather through media, friends, travels etc. They are certainly wrong or too general and I do not claim anything to be true. I am ignorant and know nothing about the US, Europe, politics, history, philosophy, society or anything else. I do not want to offend anybody. Granted, I am being polemic as this was the only way I could write this up without despairing. This is also not about showing me statistics to prove specific statements wrong. I just want to understand the "big picture".]
My question is about the very broad and fuzzy topic: Why is there so much abstract and concrete violence in the US as opposed to, in my case, Germany? If there isn't, why do I perceive there being so much violence in the US?
Feel free to tackle this question from any angle (as I don't really know what I want to know yet). You can take the questions at the bottom for guidance.
By "violence" I mean the following incomplete, random list of observations of mine:
Capital Punishment:
The US is one of the very few—if not only—"Western" countries where people are murdered by law. According to polls, the majority of US-citizens welcomes it. Insane.
Torture, Forced Disappearance:
People randomly disappear, are tortured, end up in concentration camps. No legal advice is granted. The process is denied or justified by making up new terms and adjusting definitions as to why Human Rights and fundamental laws humanity as a whole has agreed upon shouldn't apply to, you know, these humans.
Today, 168 human beings still don't receive the status of human beings in Guantanamo. At the end of the day, everybody involved goes home to their wives and tells them how they served the country that day. One of them received a Nobel Prize in Peace.
Nobody cares. European governments participate actively or passively. Great job, humanity.
Not caring for Human Rights, international courts or organizations:
Won't say much about it except that there seems to be a tendency of the US assigning higher status to US citizens and only caring about fundamental human achievements when it is convenient.
"Right" to bear arms:
Baffles me every time. Ridiculous reasons are given for not restricting guns. Except in US-american movies and museums I don't think I have ever seen a bare gun. I'd feel scared and helpless with random people having guns instead of safe and free as a lot of arguments suggest.
Wars:
Tendency towards wars and interference in other countries. Very often glorified with emphasis on freedom, respect, duty, protection, safety, nationality. Soldiers are heroes. Everybody "serves" the country.
Related: Huge net of military-related industries, firms, lobbies with not insignificant financial and political influence.
Obsession with titles:
Every institution (not at all only military ones) has their own hierarchy with titles, ranks and formalities for navigating the hierarchy. People are referred to by that title. Compared to Germany, this puts an emphasis on authority and importance of these institutions and people. In dubbed US-american movies here, these titles are almost never translated as there are not always equivalent ones or it would just sound ridiculous.
Media:
High amount of violence in all media. Although long accustomed to over the years, people here have no relationship to the violence depicted in US-american movies. Ridiculously harsh police screaming at and beating people up, explosions, Monster Trucks, car chases, shotguns, self-administered justice are just not the reality here. It's like watching the Wild West. (I do know movies are fictional and media are a mess.)
Christianity:
Seems to play a significant role not only in all of these points but in politics and society in general. So much ignorance, fear and hatred coming from or at least justified by it.
etc. etc. etc. etc.
Possible questions:
- Where does this amount of abstract and concrete violence come from? Why is there less in Germany (or why do I perceive there to be less)?
- When will it stop? Why do people not not like it?
- Why does the government want capital punishment? Why do most citizens want it?
- Why can the US government do anything they want without fearing serious opposition of other countries or their citizens?
- How can I understand the dichotomy of the US to be the most progressive and most conservative ("Western") country at the same time? It has the brightest minds in culture, arts, science etc. and many, many of those with the most ignorant, offending, fascist and human-degrading, conservative views. (Just to get the idea: I count Todd Akin, a man people do elect, to the latter.) This gap seems much smaller in Germany.
- Why does christianity still play such a large (often ignorant and unhelpful where it matters) role in the US? Again, nobody cares for religion in Germany (at least not outside their homes).
Two arguments I'd like to avoid if possible:
1) The US is too diverse to say anything about it.
2) The US has so many enemies.
[I focused on violence. Someday, I want to understand the tangled-up mess in the US of violence, fear, the argument of "freedom", wars, christian religion, conservatism as it exists today in the US and is rising in many other democratic countries.]
[The following is about my thoughts from what I can gather through media, friends, travels etc. They are certainly wrong or too general and I do not claim anything to be true. I am ignorant and know nothing about the US, Europe, politics, history, philosophy, society or anything else. I do not want to offend anybody. Granted, I am being polemic as this was the only way I could write this up without despairing. This is also not about showing me statistics to prove specific statements wrong. I just want to understand the "big picture".]
My question is about the very broad and fuzzy topic: Why is there so much abstract and concrete violence in the US as opposed to, in my case, Germany? If there isn't, why do I perceive there being so much violence in the US?
Feel free to tackle this question from any angle (as I don't really know what I want to know yet). You can take the questions at the bottom for guidance.
By "violence" I mean the following incomplete, random list of observations of mine:
Capital Punishment:
The US is one of the very few—if not only—"Western" countries where people are murdered by law. According to polls, the majority of US-citizens welcomes it. Insane.
Torture, Forced Disappearance:
People randomly disappear, are tortured, end up in concentration camps. No legal advice is granted. The process is denied or justified by making up new terms and adjusting definitions as to why Human Rights and fundamental laws humanity as a whole has agreed upon shouldn't apply to, you know, these humans.
Today, 168 human beings still don't receive the status of human beings in Guantanamo. At the end of the day, everybody involved goes home to their wives and tells them how they served the country that day. One of them received a Nobel Prize in Peace.
Nobody cares. European governments participate actively or passively. Great job, humanity.
Not caring for Human Rights, international courts or organizations:
Won't say much about it except that there seems to be a tendency of the US assigning higher status to US citizens and only caring about fundamental human achievements when it is convenient.
"Right" to bear arms:
Baffles me every time. Ridiculous reasons are given for not restricting guns. Except in US-american movies and museums I don't think I have ever seen a bare gun. I'd feel scared and helpless with random people having guns instead of safe and free as a lot of arguments suggest.
Wars:
Tendency towards wars and interference in other countries. Very often glorified with emphasis on freedom, respect, duty, protection, safety, nationality. Soldiers are heroes. Everybody "serves" the country.
Related: Huge net of military-related industries, firms, lobbies with not insignificant financial and political influence.
Obsession with titles:
Every institution (not at all only military ones) has their own hierarchy with titles, ranks and formalities for navigating the hierarchy. People are referred to by that title. Compared to Germany, this puts an emphasis on authority and importance of these institutions and people. In dubbed US-american movies here, these titles are almost never translated as there are not always equivalent ones or it would just sound ridiculous.
Media:
High amount of violence in all media. Although long accustomed to over the years, people here have no relationship to the violence depicted in US-american movies. Ridiculously harsh police screaming at and beating people up, explosions, Monster Trucks, car chases, shotguns, self-administered justice are just not the reality here. It's like watching the Wild West. (I do know movies are fictional and media are a mess.)
Christianity:
Seems to play a significant role not only in all of these points but in politics and society in general. So much ignorance, fear and hatred coming from or at least justified by it.
etc. etc. etc. etc.
Possible questions:
- Where does this amount of abstract and concrete violence come from? Why is there less in Germany (or why do I perceive there to be less)?
- When will it stop? Why do people not not like it?
- Why does the government want capital punishment? Why do most citizens want it?
- Why can the US government do anything they want without fearing serious opposition of other countries or their citizens?
- How can I understand the dichotomy of the US to be the most progressive and most conservative ("Western") country at the same time? It has the brightest minds in culture, arts, science etc. and many, many of those with the most ignorant, offending, fascist and human-degrading, conservative views. (Just to get the idea: I count Todd Akin, a man people do elect, to the latter.) This gap seems much smaller in Germany.
- Why does christianity still play such a large (often ignorant and unhelpful where it matters) role in the US? Again, nobody cares for religion in Germany (at least not outside their homes).
Two arguments I'd like to avoid if possible:
1) The US is too diverse to say anything about it.
2) The US has so many enemies.
[I focused on violence. Someday, I want to understand the tangled-up mess in the US of violence, fear, the argument of "freedom", wars, christian religion, conservatism as it exists today in the US and is rising in many other democratic countries.]
This post was deleted for the following reason: You need to post this again when you are not as depressed and angry and can focus on a concrete problem AskMe can help you with. -- jessamyn
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