Domestic violence in the Homeland
I was wondering if what happened in Las Vegas could be called domestic violence? It's sort of feels as if the US should own this tragedy. Domestic violence usually refers to a family member committing a violent act against other family members. In this case the US is the family and what has happened is affecting everyone else that is a member of the American family. Can we even think of a country as a family, does a nation bear any resemblance to a family?
A family has many features that are shared and help to define it. The members are usually but not always related and mostly have a way of relating to each other that identifies them as part of a similar group. They mostly share a language,and often share cultural characteristics and will define themselves as a family to others. Families also have differences, different ways of living their lives, different places they live, different allegiances and ways of thinking about the world. But the things that connect them as a family are recognised by the family members and they choose to identify themselves as a family. These same characteristics can be applied to nations, on a grander scale. This used to be thought of as Nationalism. Nations have shared features and in the modern world where global networks break down national barriers, countries do try to cultivate national identities, a way of defining themselves as a unity within the international community. This is a very old tradition.
So how does this lead me to consider this case as domestic violence?
At the moment the man who committed this crime is being described as a terrorist. If we look at the definition of the word he does seem to be a terrorist, however I think he's also someone who has behaved in this way because he could, because he lived in a country that expects this sort of behaviour and in fact has gone out of its way to develop a language that enables American people and the rest of the world to think about this as a possibility.
I'm not sure if I'm saying that domestic violence is an act that only occurs when we create a set of conditions that deems it possible but perhaps this is the case. I think there is a culture that exists around domestic violence, a set of conditions about the way of life that can make violence a consequence of that way of life.
If I was American I have a feeling I would be feeling pretty desperate right now about the hopelessness of this situation.That laws and my own constitution, which should be an honourable tradition would seem to be the mechanisms for the huge section of the American family who believe having access to firearms is a right. What would be worse for me would be that as an American the accepted rhetoric is that US citizens need to think about owning guns for protection and this appears to be the dominant discourse. I would be asking myself, who are we as Americans protecting ourselves from and why do we need protection from each other?
In New Zealand I don't think many of us ever think about the need to protect ourselves. Why is this? Why don't we consider that we need to protect ourselves from each other in New Zealand society? I'm sure there are sections of our New Zealand family who do feel they are in danger from each other in some parts of the country but as a nation we think of this as undesirable and as a problem we need to discuss and try and solve. It seems that in the American family rather than seeing people needing to protect themselves as a problem it is in fact part of the culture of many people and unfortunately this has been a dominant voice in recent years. The many Americans who oppose their gun laws have been marginalised by the power and might of the gun lobby.
Domestic incidents are ones that happen at home. And that's the thing about what has happened in Las Vegas, it's happened in America, the home of Americans. Homeland security investigates suspected terrorist activities in America. This is their homeland. Maybe the state department instead of brandishing this name as if it's a weapon, should be paying attention to the combined voice of the thousands probably millions of Americans opposed to the culture of violence perpetrated by their violent domestic discourses.The violence in this domestic setting that the world has just witnessed, fits the bill for the state departments homeland security, so now I guess they'll be investigating this as an act of terror in their homeland.
Homeland used to be a fantastic concept, a word that held so many softly spoken ideas,of water and coast, and families and green hills and bush and open skies, especially for us here in Aotearoa. Years ago Trinity Roots an iconic New Zealand band sang a song from an album entitled Home land and sea. For me this idea embodied my love of my homeland and my identification with Aotearoa as a community.
This man killed many people from his American family from within his homeland because he could, because the messages he got had already established a model for his monstrous behaviour. Perhaps he could already see himself as part of a culturally accepted norm.
A family has many features that are shared and help to define it. The members are usually but not always related and mostly have a way of relating to each other that identifies them as part of a similar group. They mostly share a language,and often share cultural characteristics and will define themselves as a family to others. Families also have differences, different ways of living their lives, different places they live, different allegiances and ways of thinking about the world. But the things that connect them as a family are recognised by the family members and they choose to identify themselves as a family. These same characteristics can be applied to nations, on a grander scale. This used to be thought of as Nationalism. Nations have shared features and in the modern world where global networks break down national barriers, countries do try to cultivate national identities, a way of defining themselves as a unity within the international community. This is a very old tradition.
So how does this lead me to consider this case as domestic violence?
At the moment the man who committed this crime is being described as a terrorist. If we look at the definition of the word he does seem to be a terrorist, however I think he's also someone who has behaved in this way because he could, because he lived in a country that expects this sort of behaviour and in fact has gone out of its way to develop a language that enables American people and the rest of the world to think about this as a possibility.
I'm not sure if I'm saying that domestic violence is an act that only occurs when we create a set of conditions that deems it possible but perhaps this is the case. I think there is a culture that exists around domestic violence, a set of conditions about the way of life that can make violence a consequence of that way of life.
If I was American I have a feeling I would be feeling pretty desperate right now about the hopelessness of this situation.That laws and my own constitution, which should be an honourable tradition would seem to be the mechanisms for the huge section of the American family who believe having access to firearms is a right. What would be worse for me would be that as an American the accepted rhetoric is that US citizens need to think about owning guns for protection and this appears to be the dominant discourse. I would be asking myself, who are we as Americans protecting ourselves from and why do we need protection from each other?
In New Zealand I don't think many of us ever think about the need to protect ourselves. Why is this? Why don't we consider that we need to protect ourselves from each other in New Zealand society? I'm sure there are sections of our New Zealand family who do feel they are in danger from each other in some parts of the country but as a nation we think of this as undesirable and as a problem we need to discuss and try and solve. It seems that in the American family rather than seeing people needing to protect themselves as a problem it is in fact part of the culture of many people and unfortunately this has been a dominant voice in recent years. The many Americans who oppose their gun laws have been marginalised by the power and might of the gun lobby.
Domestic incidents are ones that happen at home. And that's the thing about what has happened in Las Vegas, it's happened in America, the home of Americans. Homeland security investigates suspected terrorist activities in America. This is their homeland. Maybe the state department instead of brandishing this name as if it's a weapon, should be paying attention to the combined voice of the thousands probably millions of Americans opposed to the culture of violence perpetrated by their violent domestic discourses.The violence in this domestic setting that the world has just witnessed, fits the bill for the state departments homeland security, so now I guess they'll be investigating this as an act of terror in their homeland.
Homeland used to be a fantastic concept, a word that held so many softly spoken ideas,of water and coast, and families and green hills and bush and open skies, especially for us here in Aotearoa. Years ago Trinity Roots an iconic New Zealand band sang a song from an album entitled Home land and sea. For me this idea embodied my love of my homeland and my identification with Aotearoa as a community.
This man killed many people from his American family from within his homeland because he could, because the messages he got had already established a model for his monstrous behaviour. Perhaps he could already see himself as part of a culturally accepted norm.
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