[Marxism] 'Negroes with Guns' - prologue and Chapter One

[Mike Friedman]

Walter said:

Lack of control of guns, and the culture of violence and its
extreme glorification in the United States, as demonstrated
in BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE and many Hollywood productions are
among the reasons why the United States has the very high
level of violence from which it suffers. Since the United
States practices violence against peoples today all over
the world, it's no surprise that too many individuals who
live in the United States believe that getting a gun and
blowing people away is the way to solve their individual
and personal problems.

By the way, "too many" should be defined as any number
higher than "zero".


David replied:

Hmmm...the culture of gun violence. I don't agree. I doubt Hollywood is 
responsible for 'gun violence'. Most killing with guns is the result of 
criminal activity, such as drug sales, etc. Crime doesn't come about 
because of "Hollywood". This is the "twinkee defense" used by a certain 
SF City councilman to murder the Mayor and the first openly gay city 
councilman in the City's history back 1978. Blame a twinkee, blame a 
movie, same method.

The US was going around doing violence to people all over the world  since
the Shores of Tripoli. Gun use for violent crime is a product of  the
Post-WWII "American Century" and the decay and alienation in US  society.
It has little to do with "Hollywood" or an abstract gun
culture. Canada has about the same gun ownership (and culture) as the  US,
but about 1/12 the violent crime. Hardly an answer.

---------
I have to agree with David. Violence in our society comes from the top
down. It is the imperialist state monopoly on the means of violence that
we should be concerned about. The only "culture of gun violence" is that
practiced by the rulers around the world, and, in blue suits, here at
home. While, in our society, faced with a ruling class that possesses
thermonuclear weapons, laser weapons, microwave weapons, etc., handguns or
even assault rifles don't mean much, the "right to bear arms," won by the
plebian masses, remains a potentially important tool for working class and
oppressed people. As The Last Poets wrote in their poem Black Soldier:

"...to know the use of weaponry,
I must admit that's good.
There is an occupation force
in our neighborhood..."

You of all people should know, Walter, that maybe three quarters of the 
population in Nicaragua, Venezuela, and other countries in Latin America
own guns. Yet, the rate of gun-related violence is far lower there than it
is here. Why? Could it be that guns, per se, are not the problem?