Maybe we can be like Yemen

     If you like to hear both sides -- and more -- on any current issue, a good source is TheWeek.com, or you can subscribe to the magazine. It's of value to me because I need more than just a bumper sticker idea upon which to base my beliefs. I would not say it is the opposite of Fox News, because on any given week, you may find something from Fox included in the collection of columns, editorials, and articles that provide what The Week bills as, "The best of the U.S. and international media."
     As I write this, I am aware that the product has already been rejected out of hand by my friends who suspect that media in general, international media in particular, and anything that differs with their preconceived notions of what is American in general is liberal propaganda. They may be right; this magazine requires thinking, with an open mind, which is sort of the definition of liberalism.
     But I will risk being infected with new information, or ideas that might go against my gut instincts, because, well, I can. I am blessed to live in an open society, for now, anyway, and I have always taken full advantage of the ability to question. Anyone, from church doctrine to parental wisdom to government decree, is open to examination.
     I have always sought answers. As a result, I have infuriated people who think their answer is unassailable. I'm sure some of those people might be considered liberals by others, but they were conservative in defending their dearly held opinions. For instance, I have always questioned why liberal arts universities market their offerings as a means of ensuring higher salaries for graduates with degrees, on the one hand, but then defend some of the sillier degrees they offer as examples of the essential nature of and education, which is not to teach students how to be more productive in the marketplace, but how to think. They get really defensive when they are accused to teaching vulnerable young minds what to think.
     The Week's issue for the week of Jan. 21 was filled with discourse about the events in Tuscon; was political rhetoric a factor, what about the gun culture of America, and there was strident dialog pro and con, pretty much as what we've seen in the local media, but by more and pretty well respected sources. There was The New Republic, and then The Wall Street Journal. The Christian Science Monitor was quoted, and so was Slate.com, TheDailyBeast.com, The Washington Post (including conservative writer Charles Krauthammer.  Lots of range in the opinions and facts traded about, but not likely anything to change the mind of the average American.
     In the poll section, which has the two inches or less that it deserves, the magazine reveals that a CBS poll shows that 57 percent of Americans say the heated rhetoric had nothing to do with the shootings in Tuscon, while 32 percent say it did. Republicans are more likely to say rhetoric was not to blame. Democrats, as usual, were split; 42 percent saying it did, a like number saying it didn't.
     William Galston in The New Republic said the real issue is lost in the partisan bickering about who is to blame. Despite showing multiple signs of his instability, it's difficult if not impossible to commit a dangerously delusional adult until after they commit a crime.
     But then, what's delusional?  William Falk, editor in chief of The Week has an insightful column in which he relates a conversation with some very friendly members of a local gun club. He sees the rationale for owning a weapon for self defense, but why do we need to allow weapons created for military and the police to be sold so easily in America?
     "They smiled at my naivete. One day, they explained, we may need weapons with serious firepower to fight the military and the police, in an armed rebellion against the government.....Though not discussed around hostile audiences, the belief that the "right of revolution" is a fundamental tenet shared by tens of thousands of gun enthusiasts..." To them, it's what the Second Amendment is all about.
     So, with the support of the National Rifle Association, we can be like Yemen, which according to a news report, has 13 million people and at least 13 million weapons. The government cowers in the capital and the most extreme zealots have the run of the rest of the nation (who would oppose them?), fomenting revolution not only in Yemen, but throughout the world, including terrorist assaults on The United States of America.
     None of which matters now to Christina Green.  But we have other nine-year-olds to think about.