Death in Virginia Tech

It is now time to say our condolence to the families, friends and coworkers of those people killed in Virginia. We cannot give life to the dead, but can and must do all we can for those whose life has been sadly and grossly changed by violence. Let they receive my most sympathetic feelings.

But still, I think that we must not stop at sympathy, and must also do what we can to stop that senseless killings happening once and again.

We Europeans (and the Western World) have become unused to violent death. It is the result of long lasting democracy, and the last WW after which we decided we had enough of it. This is why senseless killings like that in Virginia are more terrible to live with. They are senseless, and brutal. They have no place in our cultural status.

However, USAmericans are used to death, to shootings and killings. I have read that about 10.000 people are killed in the USA each year in shootings! Sure they are more than those killed by acute leukemia. Yet, americans have grown used to that and even some people don't think that weapons should be banned! They say that even more weapons are needed!

To that I have only one answer: stupid white men!

Weapons are strictly restricted in Europe and Japan. As a result, shootings are scarce and killings are rare. In Europe and Japan, live about 450 million people, yet the shooting rate is quite lower than in the USA. This argument should suffice to forbid all kind of weapons. Some brilliant minds say that regulation is bad because it restricts normal people the access to weapons to defend themselves. Thus they deny the objective data I have mentioned. As if in Europe criminals could not get hold of weapons in the black market. As if most of the killings did not hurt normal people, shot by accident, by mentally unbalanced, by petty disputes of by home violence of man against wife. They mention that Colombia and Brasil are restrictive and see what happens.

Well... I thought that the USA were a bit better off than Brasil or Colombia. Those are countries ridden by corruption, violence, social inequalities, injustice and whatnot. Besides, Colombia is a country where several factions are at war, cocaine lords have their plantations, Human Rights activists are killed... To make a comparison between the USA and those countries is not only ridiculous but stupid.

Well, people who profit on weapons have to go on making a fortune, so let that useful industry go on!

Ban all weapons, once and for all!

Why all this?

Why start a bilingual blog?

I feel that keeping a blog in English will allow me to share my views with more people than simply writing it in Spanish. I will write comments in Spanish, probably in both languajes, but it depends on the little time I have.

Besides, I hope some friends who share similar views on life will help me keep the good work up, so there be two tongues speaking, this will be "bilingual".

Why start a blog?

As I have said, I hope to share my views on life and the world situation. Human kind faces an unprecedented crisis, in which enviromental, social and economic factors are more interlinked than ever. There's a lack of views that don't follow the dominant conservative discourse, in which only market forces are allowed a piece of truth. The truth is that, western way of life, greedy of resources and not caring for the aftermath, as we know it, can lead the world to disaster. Besides, the war on terrorism is changing the world for worse without actual benefits for citizens. All those who think that another, more fulfilling world is possible, should speak up loudly our ideas.