#1 Issue in America
On both CNN and Fox News I’ve noticed a similar graphic: the phrase “#1 Issue” or some variant scrolls across the screen or lumbers above or below a featured story about sub-prime mortgages, the cost of fuel, or credit troubles.
Shouldn’t we at least assume by now that the Iraq war is the most crucial issue, since it is one of the greatest causes of America’s economic woes? One naturally follows the other. Post hoc ergo propter hoc. Not only that, but we’ve lost at least 44 soldiers in Iraq in April alone. No use in crying over spilled gasoline when Americans are dying.
Christ, people, we need to prioritize.
Can we prioritize this issue a little higher? Violent deaths in the US alone (from guns) account for almost 30,000 deaths a year. See the tracking system being developed at Harvard, and the article last year in the NYTimes. I think it might far more dangerous to live in a US city than to be in Iraq.
And, I don’t think the answer is to get rid of the guns, we need to do something about the people who pull the triggers.
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2000/09.28/firearms.html
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/04/21/weekinreview/20070422_MARSH_GRAPHIC.html
care4poor
May 5, 2008 at 8:55 pm
It is certainly not more dangerous to be living in a US city than in Iraq. Civilian casualties in Iraq hover in the hundreds of thousands. The Iraq war, unlike gun control, has an immediate and undeniable solution, especially for our troops: pull out. The same solution could’ve been said for those parents whose offspring were destined to commit crimes with guns.
gypsysavage
May 6, 2008 at 7:32 pm