Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
Apr 26th 2016, 4:02 am
#46
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,591
Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
I agree. I live in a rural area, and hear guns frequently, fired for sport or leisure purposes. I can't recall the last time I saw one, other than carried by a police officer.
Apr 26th 2016, 4:03 am
#47
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Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
Apr 26th 2016, 4:06 am
#48
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,591
Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
), and/or to the poorer parts of urban areas where those groups live. "Middle America" can, and does, ignore the issue of gun crime because for the most part it has no impact on them. The biggest crime issue in recent years where I live was when several youths went from house to house at night "breaking into" cars parked on driveways, to steal GPSs and phones, by pulling on the vehicles' door handles to see if they were unlocked.
Last edited by Pulaski; Apr 26th 2016 at 4:14 am.
Apr 26th 2016, 5:17 am
#49
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Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
If you're saying that more crime occurs in cities than the country then I agree with you. But there are still way more gun deaths in rural areas than the UK so I don't really see the difference.
Apr 26th 2016, 5:23 am
#50
WTF?
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Homeostasis
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Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
Welcome to Pulaski's world. Anything that didn't specifically happen to HIM is a lie and --- anybody who doesn't know that must be stupid.
Apr 26th 2016, 5:25 am
#51
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Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
Apr 26th 2016, 5:31 am
#52
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Location: california
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Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
My personal experience of crime, a rear view mirror nicked from my car back in the 70s. I still contact our local detective bureau to check on the progress of the investigation 
Apr 26th 2016, 5:38 am
#53
WTF?
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Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
Apr 26th 2016, 6:01 am
#54
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,591
Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
I don't know that my experience is typical. What do you think?
My only point was not that killings happen, but that most Americans manage to compartmentalize the high homicide rate out of their own lives.
You admitted to polical naivety, and inferred the insult from that.
Last edited by Pulaski; Apr 26th 2016 at 6:07 am.
Apr 26th 2016, 6:20 am
#55
WTF?
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Homeostasis
Posts: 79,449
Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
I'm not sure what your point is. I knew no killers in the UK, and only one victim (I just remembered this one, but hadn't remembered when I posted on this topic previously), whereas I now know of two men in prison in the US for homicide, for unrelated crimes (I knew them fairly well, and met them many times, though I wouldn't consider either to be a "friend", and curiously, none of the killings were shootings), and two victims, one reportedly shot over a debt, and the other killed for his week's pay.
I don't know that my experience is typical. What do you think?
My only point was not that killings happen, but that most Americans manage to compartmentalize the high homicide rate out of their own lives.
You admitted to polical naivety, and inferred the insult from that.
I don't know that my experience is typical. What do you think?
My only point was not that killings happen, but that most Americans manage to compartmentalize the high homicide rate out of their own lives.
You admitted to polical naivety, and inferred the insult from that.
By "most Americans" I'm sure you mean people with a reasonable amount of affluence. So what you should say is "most Americans that I know and who are like me" ... because there are plenty of Americans whose experience is nothing like your own.
Gun deaths and gun related crimes are an abomination in this country and they effect all of us --- some directly and some indirectly. The fact that, as a matter of survival, people choose to block this information out of their daily lives has more to do with cognitive dissonance than actual experience. The fact that we've become inured to unnecessary deaths and violence is nothing to be proud of and certainly nothing to lecture potential immigrants about.
Apr 26th 2016, 6:28 am
#56
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,591
Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
By "most Americans" I'm sure you mean people with a reasonable amount of affluence. So what you should say is "most Americans that I know and who are like me" ... because there are plenty of Americans whose experience is nothing like your own.
Gun deaths and gun related crimes are an abomination in this country and they effect all of us --- some directly and some indirectly. The fact that, as a matter of survival, people choose to block this information out of their daily lives has more to do with cognitive dissonance than actual experience. The fact that we've become inured to unnecessary deaths and violence is nothing to be proud of and certainly nothing to lecture potential immigrants about.
Gun deaths and gun related crimes are an abomination in this country and they effect all of us --- some directly and some indirectly. The fact that, as a matter of survival, people choose to block this information out of their daily lives has more to do with cognitive dissonance than actual experience. The fact that we've become inured to unnecessary deaths and violence is nothing to be proud of and certainly nothing to lecture potential immigrants about.
I am powerless to do anything myself about gun crime in the US, and so I try not to worry about it, it would be futile and frustrating. I just try to stay out of the way.
Apr 26th 2016, 6:30 am
#57
WTF?
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Location: Homeostasis
Posts: 79,449
Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
My audience is typically would-be and soon-to-be immigrants to the US, who also have "a reasonable amount of affluence", and I tailor my posts accordingly.
I am powerless to do anything myself about gun crime in the US, and so I try not to worry about it, it would be futile and frustrating. I just try to stay out of the way.
I am powerless to do anything myself about gun crime in the US, and so I try not to worry about it, it would be futile and frustrating. I just try to stay out of the way.
Apr 26th 2016, 8:10 am
#58
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Location: california
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Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
There is nothing to be done about it. The second amendment will not be repealed, people will not give up their guns, attempts to outlaw high powered assault type weapons will by stymied by the NRA so it's like earthquakes, hurricanes and tornados. You just learn to live with the shit and hope it never hits you.
Apr 26th 2016, 9:17 am
#59
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,591
Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
There is nothing to be done about it. The second amendment will not be repealed, people will not give up their guns, attempts to outlaw high powered assault type weapons will by stymied by the NRA so it's like earthquakes, hurricanes and tornados. You just learn to live with the shit and hope it never hits you.
for daring to share Americans' coping strategy. America sucks if you're poor, and I have advised a number of people on BE over the years that immigrating to the US is a bad idea if you're poor, because, among other reasons, living in a poor part of town can be dangerous, and even post ACA, healthcare (insurance + copays + deductible) is likely to take a a significant part of your income even if you're healthy, and can make your life miserable if you're not.
Last edited by Pulaski; Apr 26th 2016 at 9:24 am.
Apr 26th 2016, 9:26 am
#60
WTF?
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Homeostasis
Posts: 79,449
Re: Want to move back to the USA but my girlfriend's perspective differs than mine.
Which is pretty much my point, yet I am pilloried by an American, no less for daring to share Americans' coping strategy.
America sucks if you're poor, and I have advised a number of people on BE over the years that immigrating to the US is a bad idea if you're poor, because, among other reasons, living in a poor part of town can be dangerous, and even post ACA, healthcare (insurance + copays + deductible) is likely to take a a significant part of your income even if you're healthy, and can make your life miserable if you're not.
for daring to share Americans' coping strategy. America sucks if you're poor, and I have advised a number of people on BE over the years that immigrating to the US is a bad idea if you're poor, because, among other reasons, living in a poor part of town can be dangerous, and even post ACA, healthcare (insurance + copays + deductible) is likely to take a a significant part of your income even if you're healthy, and can make your life miserable if you're not.
