Hi everyone...
It has been a difficult year. The reason it has been difficult is because I have been asking questions about a couple of societal concerns. I have concluded that I am either missing a piece of the equation, or I am losing some sense of compassion. Both prospects are frightening.
Your thoughts are most welcome. If I am missing something, please tell me. Please note that this is a smattering of different issues, considered in ways that may well be the equivalent of comparing not apples and oranges, but passionfruit and dingos.
So what has been on my mind lately? I am so glad that you asked. The first thing is the outcry against the prevalence of personal firearms in the United States. It has been declared a health crisis by some running for higher office. Others running for higher office are threatening to make it virtually impossible to acquire a weapon. Those in higher office seem reluctant to respond in any meaningful way.
In the United States, approximately 393 million firearms are personally owned. That is enough for every citizen to have one, and for 60 million people to have a second. That is a huge amount. With those guns, there were approximately 41000 deaths in 2016. Of those deaths, only a third were homicides. This is not insignificant. You should not interpret in any way that this is not a problem. It is. Furthermore, suicide and accidental death can be limited, if not prevented.
Furthermore, the hated NRA, scourge of the country, spent 10 million dollars in 2017 in pursuit of its nefarious goals. And last, gun companies took in over $28 billion of revenue last year.
Are they horrible people? Could be. Let's examine the next set of facts.
The American Lung Association reports that secondhand smoke causes over 41000 deaths a year. There is no safe exposure. Only 7300 of those deaths were from cancer. The rest were from things like heart attack and stroke. Thus far, things are equal.
249 billion cigarettes are sold each year in the United States. That averages out to two cigarettes per person per day. The tobacco lobby spent over 21 million dollars in pursuit of its nefarious goals. Total revenue for tobacco last year was 125 billion. Oh, and one of the biggest pollutants is cigarette butts.
When comparing these two, we have two powerful lobbying groups. The similarities end there. It seems that tobacco is the far more urgent problem. I have often thought about learning to shoot. It is a great skill to develop as we age, requiring focus, balance, and hand-eye coordination. I have never even given a hint of considering smoking. It is dangerous to me and to others.
The dynamics of society are such that we cannot say that if we solve one particular social challenge, everything else will fall into place. However, that automatically means that no one issue gets sole blame for being an intractable problem given voice by intractable people.
One note on mass shootings: there have been approximately 100 mass shootings in the United States. Of that number, men were the sole perpetrators of all but two. A couple did one of them, and a woman did one of them. Is it at all possible that instead of having a conversation about limiting access to weapons, maybe we should talk about men's mental health? And if we can do so without the APA's guidelines mentioned in an earlier blog, that would be even better.
I still have another issue I wish to discuss. This has been a long entry. The other issue will appear shortly.
Good night.
R/SCG
Please do not delete your recent posts. It seems entirely appropriate to grapple with these questions given your unique perspective as a Rabbi. Typing with one thumb on my phone from Iceland, so I will try to be brief and address both issues. My views on both topics have not yet settled, there are some other points that may be worth considering.
ReplyDeleteRe abortion.
1)I think when talking about the mother one must also consider not just the physical act of carrying and delivering of the child, but that it is (usually) the mother whose life is upended in every respect, and who is (usually) the one who is ultimately responsible for the child - fiancially and otherwise - once the child is born.There are many many men who share the responsibility and who also make sacrifices to do so, but women bear the responsibility in far greater proportion. That has to be part of the discussion. Having said that, this is a discussion that involves everyone, men and women.
2) In countries where abortion is legal (like China), it is not unusual that the least desirable gender is aborted. That gender is female. It has lead to societies where there is a definite and frightening gender imbalance which does not lead to a more hospitable climate for women. This too has to be considered. Rape, incest, late-term abortions are but one facet. The other is eugenics.
Re; gun control
1) My opinion about him control had evolved since I read about Kevin Vickers, the Sargeant in arms who, in 2014, bravely pulled a gun and shot the armed intruder in Ottawa who had just killed a guard and was in a of his next target. Armed, trained, law-abiding citizens are the first and best defence against ill-intentioned intruders.
2) If someone is intent on killing, they will kill. All they need is a car. We saw that with the Yonge Street terrorist. If there was an armed citizen at the time, perhaps they could have stopped him.