Thanks
for drawing my attention
to your Littleton
analysis. It was really interesting to view it from
my perspective here in France.
You know, we have a group of teenage boys here in town who
seem to hang out at the bus stop an awful lot. They are just
about the same age as were the neo-nazis who opened fire in Colorado.
I first noticed the boys in our town when I would walk Hannah
at night and muse about the fact that, were a comparable group
of boys to inhabit my life in a comparable way almost anywhere
in the United States, I would not be walking my dog alone at
night.
And while there was sadness, how could there not be?, most
of the talk dealt with disbelief. And not the kind of disbelief
that is really denial that anything so tragic could happen, but
disbelief that Americans can let something like that happen.
Littleton as a culturally specific
tragedy
My point is that Littleton was a very culturally specific
tragedy, as American as the right to bear arms. The point you
made about access to weaponry, I think, can not be emphasized
too much. And I think that is especially important in terms of
giving people something to do with their fear.
Work to make guns illegal and as inaccessible as possible.
Compare violent death rates between the US and any other highly
industrialized country. Then break the numbers down according
to weapon. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure it all out.
"I know that neo-Nazism is a
threat here as well as in the United States."
French teenagers watch violent movies, and play violent video
games just like American teens. Still, one can't imagine that
the same thing could happen here. And it is happening with twisted
regularity in the US.
The biggest difference I see is in access to arms -- that
and the attitude (in Europe) that the state has a responsibility
towards its citizenry. Even in an area with a precarious agricultural
economy and almost 20% unemployment, no one here questions that
young people have the right to be entertained, listened to, and
responded to by their government. (The United States is always
so fond of pointing out that children don't have civil rights;
it seems like such a concept when they do!)
Anyhow, I was obviously moved by what you wrote, and I was
going to go to the Bulletin Board to post a response (last week),
but we had friends visiting, and the computer is basically in
the guest bathroom. But better late than never.... a la prochaine,
Kate Barkley. 5/2/99
