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The Statue of Liberty is Grieving

If the gun lobbyists really want to protect an individual's right to own guns as a matter of culture, they should limit the purposes of guns to sports shooting and hunting, and support measures which prohibit individuals from using them for other purposes, supporting strict controls on the use of guns. They should become involved in the campaign to wipe out the culture of violence which allows individuals easy access to guns for murder. Unless there is "self-control," "freedom" to own guns can easily turn into acts of violence, which, in turn, and so this freedom loses the support of public opinion and incurs "regulation" by government. The same can be said for government intervention in the freedom of the press and regulation of pornography on the Internet. If we, the press, fail to make an effort to strictly control ourselves and to make our own rules, it is inevitable that we will incur regulation and lose a certain measure of freedom. This is the basic dialectic of freedom and regulation. It is hard to believe that the very immature argument that gun is a part of culture exists in the U.S., home of the Statue of Liberty. I can well understand Clinton's statement, "it is hard to alter culture." The gun culture in America is a sort of primitive religion, which is beyond reason. Those who challenge it take a considerable political risk and we e should praise Clinton's courage in calling for an immediate strengthening of gun control. However, Clinton himself has lapsed into a dilemma. He attacked Sudan and Afghanistan because terrorists may have been hiding in these countries. He attacked Iraq to murder Saddam Hussein. He sent air strikes into Yugoslav in order to overthrow Milosevic. It seems that only a righteous America has the right to judge who should be murdered in the international arena. It is almost like a game: the U.S. settles on an enemy, chooses its troops and weapons, decides its routes and order of escalation and never stops attacking until the enemy is destroyed. Generally speaking, there is a relationship between a country's domestic violence and its international violence. No one can readily explain Clinton's attitude. Domestically, he appeals to people to stop gun crimes but at the same time, in Yugoslav, he has been dropping bombs and missiles on trains, petroleum facilities, TV stations, residential areas and refugees, killing countless civilians. So when Clinton said, "culture cannot be used to avoid individual responsibility," it almost sounds like a joke. Everyone is well aware that his obsession with the air strikes was directly related to the continuing sex scandal at home. The New York Times (5/18/99)carried a special report on its front page entitled "How the President Trapped in Scandals Got Involved in the Balkan War." This two-page article examined U.S. policy toward the Balkan Peninsula, tracing developments back to the Bush administration. It particularly focused on the year during which Clinton allegedly tried to cover up the scandals relating to his extramarital affairs and examined how the air strikes in Yugoslavia came about . According to the Times, Clinton did not have much time to discuss decisions concerning the conflict in Kosovo because of the scandals and his impeachment trial. Therefore, he decided on large scale air strikes in haste and eventually incurred current trouble. The Washington Post implied that internal decisions to clear the dishonor of impeachment hastened his decision on the air strikes. The U.S. attack on Iraq last December took place in the middle of the Monica scandal and Clinton was criticized by many who charged that he tried to divert attention from his troubles. The sexual harassment trial appeal by Paula Jones was underway in Arkansas. The court has ruled that Clinton should pay fines because he obstructed justice through perjury, although the court turned down Jones' appeal. Newspapers all over the nation appreciated the judgment and reported that it was finally clear that Clinton had lied. If Clinton admonishes gun lobbyists not to try and avoid individual responsibility for justifying violence in U.S. culture, he cannot then evade his personal responsibility for the sex scandals, using culture as an excuse.

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