A hop, skip & a few days ago, I found myself in a conversation with an American, a Canadian & a tiny little baby sporting a faux-hawk. The topic: society's ailments.
This topic has been forefront in my mind over the last few years, which has affected the company I keep. I find that the people who stick in my life, are those with interesting points of view & voices able to express their thoughts. This trio were no different in this regard, though the baby's sentences were somewhat garbled. The faux-hawk enraptured me, nonetheless.
As we discussed the manner in which the U.S. affects the world entire, including the hoser hut of my heart, I stated that I was concerned about this, given the underlying state of fear within the U.S. My friends asked me to expand, and provide an illustrative example. I chose gun control: a topic much in the news of late, given President Obama's recent executive order.
Let me be clear: I am not fully informed on all of the inner workings of gun control in the United States. I do not endeavour to argue for, or against gun control on this post, though I reserve the right to do so in the future. My aim, is to start a discussion surrounding the fear which is evident in even the most tentative forays into understanding this issue.
I recently watched a YouTube video which focused on the efforts of some American College students who were campaigning to have gun control on their campus. The video was taken by the pro-gun protesters who attended the event. It focused on a dressing down given to the college age activists, by one of the protesters. His argument (1min in): "You wanna reason, like it says on the back of her shirt. Protect myself with reason: OK. Here comes a criminal. Oh hey brother, let me reason with you. Please don't take my money, don't rape my daughter. I'm going to use reason to stop you. He's going to go BOOM! Shoot your ass, rape your wife, kill your children, take all of your goods, and run out the door." The fear in this gentleman's statement is palpable: he is afraid for his life, the life of his family & all of the goods he worked so hard in his life to acquire.
While this video is, by no means, a complete representation of the point of view of every American citizen, it is a video which got over 341,000 views, and almost 2000 likes. While not evocative of the population entire, it is indicative of the fact that there are many people who are feeling fearful each day when they walk out the door to go about their day to day lives.
This feeling of insecurity, can seriously affect a person's life: making them narrow their scope of experience to those activities & people who they perceive as safe. This then hinders their ability to take in differing points of view & contextualise what they see around them from various points of reference. In this environment, is it really surprising that fearful thought patterns tend to become more fearful, as opposed to more trusting?
I don't mean to suggest that all Americans are fearful, living with ingrown thought patterns, and a desire to hide themselves away. Quite the contrary: the individual American is wonderful, carefree & giving (albeit lacking in their verbal lexicon; not having words like ottoman, hoser, and eh!? at their immediate disposal.) The concern I have is not with the individual. It is not even with the American public as a whole. The concern I have lies in the fearful mindset which has taken root, as a result of the fear mongering which has been prevalent at a legislative level, for the last dozen years or more.
So pervasive has it become in the American mindset, that it is now the stuff of pop culture hilarity: American Dad, John Oliver, and the Simpsons being only a few of the comedic venues who use the terror alert, for fodder.
When I listen to these comedians, I am hopeful. They remind me that I am not the only one thinking about how & why this cultural superpower, has so indoctrinated it's people with fear...and they remind me to laugh, for the only force strong enough to withstand the fear we are confronted with, is love.
So I ask: how can we hope to move forward, when we are so fearful of the world around us, that our prime thought when going anywhere is possible dangers, as opposed to resting in the sanctuary of hope? How will we ever embrace one another, as brothers & sisters of the world, if we don't begin to trust?
To watch the full YouTube video, referenced in this post, click the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih1r9t7PLHI
Also, because it's funny:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViWD_cW2Jlo
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