[Leica] Armed America in England

[kcassidy at asc.upenn.edu (Kyle Cassidy)]

I suspect that this is largely due to cross purposes as to a solution.
Everybody sees the problem: "People are shooting people in the streets.
America has a high murder rate." But Americans find it very difficult to
agree on a solution -- "build more jails"? "invest in pre-school
programs"? "outlaw gay marriage"? "give more money to the poor"?
"universal health care"? "stiffer penalties for drugs"? "a higher
minimum wage"? "a lower minimum wage"? -- these are all suggestions that
people have, and feel strongly about. I've learned over the past couple
of years that most people seem to agree on what the problem is, but have
vehimently differing opinions about what should be done about it. 

As an anecdotal example -- the almost-mayor-elect in my fair city has
proposed that police be able to "stop and frisk" people who look
suspicious. This may indeed get a lot of guns off the street, so many
people are in favor of it -- but on the other hand, the Constitution
guarrenttees "The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,
"

So what's the solution? If anything, while working on this project, I've
realized the answer is very complex. And so is getting people to agree,
even if we had "the answer" on a notecard for all to see.

What's the role of photography in this? To keep people informed about
problems, solutions, life, truth, fiction ... we all have a big role to
play in the drama of violence on Earth.

kc



>From: Peter Dzwig <pdzwig@summaventures.com>
>
>What everyone (OK, most people) over here don't understand - I'll put
that more strongly - 
>FAIL to understand - is why the US doesn't identify and address the
root causes of the 
>issues which lead to violence and address them. Doing so might might
>
>After all the rest of the world doesn't have anything like the level of
ownership outside 
>war zones.