THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAGEDY

The Canadian government refers to mass shootings as ‘massacres’. Perhaps because it is a French word that means the same thing in English; no translation necessary for a bilingual populace. In both languages it evokes images of bloody and indiscriminate events. At the end of 2022, there had been a total of 27 massacres in Canada since the year 1689AD. In contrast, there have been 130 such killings in the United States this year as of the 87th day of 2023. It is so shocking a disparity that it has no impact in the real world. It is worth noting that both the U.S. and Canada are wide-open countries with a long history of gun ownership.

Though I was granted American citizenship, I was not born in the United States. I have lived here in this country at various times throughout my life. And after two decades in the United Kingdom and Canada, I returned to Los Angeles, where I married an American and had a couple children. I have built a life here, but still view myself as a ‘guest’. America’s 18th Century constitution makes it clear that as a foreign-born individual I would not be trusted to hold the highest office in the land. Such a proclamation does have the effect of making one feel like an outsider, however welcome that outsider is made to feel… and I have been made to feel very welcome by a great many Americans I dearly cherish. Thus, as a guest, I am hesitant to break the cardinal rule of criticising one’s host in their own home.

When I moved back to America in 2011, I knew I would be saying goodbye to universal healthcare and a less dangerous society. But there is something intoxicating about the to-the-winner-goes-the-spoils philosophy that drives American ambition. As a young-ish producer/writer/actor, I embraced the culture and was determined to conquer it. Yet, as one’s youth slips away and one becomes responsible not just for one’s own well-being but also the survival of tiny humans, a hangover replaces the intoxication.

I have had long talks with my wife about it. Don’t we have a responsibility to move to a safer country for the very sake of our children’s future? Every morning on the way to school, my blood pressure goes up a tick when I can’t help but wonder if it is the last time I will see one or both of my children alive. But the realities of starting over and sacrificing well-paying careers brings with it, at least for the present, the more immediate danger of insecurity. No longer does one’s experience open doors in far-flung places. What matters in my industry is being able to show on paper how you have made rich people richer. I daresay my efforts in life might just have made them poorer. Still, my wife is a star and in demand wherever she goes. She has the ability to calm and stabilize those around her. So maybe there’s hope.

In 410AD, the last Roman troops left the province Britannia. The homeland was under assault by barbarians, and the Romans had no choice but to leave the outposts of empire behind in an attempt to save the centre of ancient civilisation. As we know from history, they failed. No amount of weapons could halt the moral decay taking place from within. Today’s polarisation in the west is the modern equivalent of internal decay. It is not peculiar to the United States. In the UK, the new first minister for Scotland once recklessly referred to the democratically elected parliament in London as foreign occupiers of his country, despite the fact his own political party is the third largest at Westminster. Politicians wield the power of division without thought to the consequences, secure in the belief that their own privileged positions will protect them and their families from the degradation of societal bonds.

In the United States, though, things have taken a darker turn… a turn that has geopolitical consequences. America has announced to the world that gun rights take precedence over the safety of children. Bear with me on the geopolitical bit while we first look at the domestic situation. Many Americans are as uncompromising about a constitution written for the people of three centuries ago as they are about their perceived literalness of The Bible. As such, if an element of The U.S. Constitution becomes detrimental to the well-being of America, then America will just need to accept the sickness. Take more opioids, they will help with the pain. No talk of how the 2nd Amendment has been taken out of context will sway those who see violence on the rise in their communities. And why should it? The American government tells its people they are on their own on healthcare, childcare, parental leave, and college tuition, so why should they not take responsibility for their own safety too?

On the other hand, the strict gun laws of California have resulted in a firearm homicide rate that is three times less per capita than that of the state of Mississippi, where gun laws are much more liberal. With 35% of the world’s suicides by firearms happening in the United States, one cannot deny that we are living through a mental health crisis. There are those who hide their inaction behind the explanation that school shootings are the fault of insufficient mental health resources. The fact these same people are not willing to fight for universal physical and mental healthcare, makes it clear their stance is mere political expediency. The same goes for those who simply wish to expand gun control laws and proclaim the job as completed. No one action is ever the solution to an existential crisis. (The climate emergency, as another example, will continue to gain momentum as long as those who are convinced by the merits of either technological innovation or government policy view themselves as being on different teams.)

Could it be the reason California has fewer deaths per capita by firearm is because of the social benefits one receives from the government of California? An expansion of such benefits has meant that millions more families have access to healthcare than before the pandemic. Free school meals, economic help with groceries to feed one’s child, state-sponsored college savings funds for school-age children, and even childcare assistance during labor strike days must surely play a part in the mental well-being of the state’s communities? Does a healthier, more content community ultimately have a trickle down impact on the decision as to whether a despairing individual picks up a gun or not? Maybe.

Just as Football is the national religion of the UK and hockey the national sport of Canada, politics is the national obsession of America. With such engagement, one would be forgiven for thinking Americans control their own destiny. Yet, the 2014 study on American democracy conducted by Princeton and Northwestern Universities determined, through analysing 20 years of data, that ‘the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy’. I have travelled this great land for work and have met many people who are well aware that the people who govern them do not care what they think about assault weapons legislation or anything else. These people have not been invited to the great American party, but they still have to live with the hangover.

The geopolitical angle, you ask? I grew up in a time when American supremacy was the guarantor of democracy around the world. So assured was the post world war rules-based order, thanks to America, that other western governments cut back dramatically on defence funding, earning the resentment of the very country they looked to for protection. The war in Ukraine has been a wake-up call on that front. European countries are finally stepping up to the plate. The post-WWII world order is still under threat, though. Because countries like China and Russia understand that if the greatest empire the world has ever known no longer puts the lives of its own children before all else, then it’s dominance over the planet is coming to an end. In turn, totalitarian regimes around the world will grow bolder in their attacks on the rule of international norms and laws. Perhaps U.S. politicians will care about that. And to those in the west who think America’s role on the world stage should be diminished because of its moral decay at home… I promise you, the world will miss the relatively benign dominance of the United States. Better we each do our part to help America find its way through this darkness. However long that takes.