Re: The thing about America ... (a digression)

It is indeed unfortunate that some people in our great country interpret 
"freedom" to mean "license" -- that every man is a law unto himself.  This is 
particularly true in our inner cities and in rural and remote areas of the 
western U.S.  In other cultures, people seem to be more constrained by 
cultural expectations.  Our culture glorifies the macho, gun-toting, 
self-sufficient, bad-ass dude who blows his "enemies" to smithereens.  Look 
at our movies and video games.  My home town of Stockton, (population roughly 
300,000) has more murders every year than the entire nation of Great Britain 
(population 50 million).  How many of those made the newspapers in Australia? 
 Precious few, I'd bet.  Similar statistics could be produced for nearly 
every city of any size in the United States.  This is nothing new.  That Gary 
and Winfield's murder was an act of hate directed at gays,  and that the 
murderers are linked to the firebombing of Jewish synagogues are what is 
making this story big news.  While I am saddened by such a senseless act of 
violence, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of equally heinous murders 
and other violent crimes committed in this country every day.  Where is our 
moral outrage and sympathy for the victims of those crimes?  And while this 
is a convenient excuse to vilify Protestant fundamentalists and conservative 
Republicans, I don't really think that does anybody any good, do you?  It's 
that sort of labeling and stereotyping that feeds intolerance in the first 
place.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Kurt Mize
Stockton, California
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