Plenty of countries have mandatory military service and all adults have firearm literacy -- more than most Americans. Terror-ridden countries like Pakistan have entire cottage industries making AK-47s in villages. So... what's unique about US gun culture is its religiosity.
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I guess this is why I'm meh on US gun culture and besides being aware of the weird risks (mass shootings, possibility that random minor conflict could involve guns), I just can't take the *culture* seriously, even though guns are serious.
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My view of gun culture is the same as my view of creationism, which is another thing exceptional in the US among developed countries with high education levels. Nobody else anywhere takes creationism seriously.
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And both gun culture (which is not the same as non-religious levels of firearm literacy) and creationism are things that I think make America significantly dumber in its response to serious societal problems.
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Specifically, this means everybody who lives here has to pay an annoying "gun culture literacy" tax and accept the higher risk of really stupid ways of dying. Just like in India you have to accept a "sacred cow literacy" tax and accept higher risk of violence around it.
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More generally, native-born Americans tend to have an all-or-nothing approach to their exceptionalism. They demand that you either accept that all the great things like tech innovation etc come from the same roots as gun culture, creationism etc. or keep your mouth shut.
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Of course, the rest of the world -- including immigrants here with significant experience of other cultures, simply rolls its eyes and indulges the self-congratulatory American view of itself. For the same reason you might agree with a powerful boss you need to keep happy.
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The rest of the world has its own different account of the source of American strength, and contrary to insecure American fears of it, it is NOT an unflattering one that tldrs to "smallpox and slavery." People genuinely admire America and believe in a positive story about it.
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It's in general a more accurate one, that more correctly separates truly exceptional features of America vs. the features that Americans just assume is exceptional. The overall picture that emerges is actually more flattering to Americans than the one they paint for themselves.
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Replying to @vgr
What about America do outsiders like yourself consider actually beneficially exceptional? I'm really curious.
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Acting with serious boldness and imagination at scale, extreme OCD/nerd-capacity, self-effacing sense of humor, not standing on ceremony, capacity for intellectual dissent, institution-building energy, a basic non-ironic sincerity in approach to life, genuine egalitarianism...
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Replying to @vgr
That's less far off from my own impressions than I was afraid it would be. Thanks.
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