Safety & Security

How do you judge the security of a nation? Does having tough stands on gun control promote security?
In the nation of Yemen ,which is fueled by tribal rivalries and hosts terrorist, The instability encourages a large percentage of the population to carry arms. Because of that, Many Americans would not feel "safe" walking the streets of Sana'a.
The tribal rivalries of Yemen have parallels in rural and urban American. Stark ethnic or gang alliances divide communities or schools. Somehow unarmed Americans still feel "safe" amid these tense rivalries. But are they? The government enforces gun control laws and in some cases buy back policies.
In New York, incentives like gift certificates to the mall encourage citizens to trade in arms. The government is positive acquiring these guns will cut back on crime. The coloration between arms and crime is blurred by society preference and seems to be all a factor of national policy.
So is America really safer because it has a smaller percent bearing arms or is Yemen actually just as or more secure?


NYS Gun Buy Back -
http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2009/09/20/news/doc4ab5a609cf6b1252907792.txt
Civil/Tribal Wars in Yemen
http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/33294454/Updating-Yemeni- National-Unity-Could-Lingering-Regional-Divisions-Bring-Down-the-Regime
Anti-Yemen Gun
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090814/FOREIGN/708139911/1135

One Nation Under God

We often idealize the United States as one cohesive unit. To an extent this vision is true, however there are many differences and differences in our nation. We had a native to Yemen come speak to us on his country and attributes of it. Unfortunately, Yemen is infamous for the divisions that thrive there. The terrain and distracted government enables terrorist to seep into the nation's more deserted or elevated elements. With around 2% of the nation is land arable, most of the population is centralized into cities. leaving much of the nation unattended. 1

In the United States our divisions are closely guided by the constitutions; from legislators to PTA members we all abide by the ideas of our founding fathers and those in violation are brought to justice. The United States is too strong of a nation to have the magnitude of terrorist thrive within its borders. Terrorists do harbor in the United States, such as those involved in the Sears Tower incident. 2 So does our biggest threat comes from those in the mountains of the middle east or will these small homegrown terrorist become a much larger problem for the United States?

1.http://www.middleeastdirectory.com/cs_yemen.htm#Geo
2.http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-30-homegrown-terror-suspects_x.htm

Shepherds

Mob mentality can be identified as a forceful factor. It is seen through literature and society . An ever present demonstration of the sheer insecurity of people. People tend to take the easy way to be sheep to a big Shepherd such as Li Hongzhi or Jiang Zemin.
1992 marked the beginning of a revolution not quite planned by the communist party. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa began taking his then private cultivation practice, to the public. He gave 54lectures between 1992-1994¹. All the sheep began to flock, baaing and moving in dictated ways.
Now, as often happens with competing farmers, envy struck the Chinese powers. Agitated with fear as the number of Falun Gong practitioners rose from a few to over 70-million², greatly out numbering the members of the Chinese Communist Party.
The Chinese Communist Party saw the future, knowing without some change their time was running out. Propaganda against Falun Dafa filled media and practitioners were arrested and imprisoned or forced into Labor camps. This type of invalid government is irrational for the twenty first century. How do the people of China allow their fellow citizens to be arrested for no reason? This brings to mind a poem about another time.

"They first came for the Communists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —

and by that time no one was left to speak up."

- Pastor Martin Niemöller³

I’d like to think we would speak up for those forced into silence.

In the United States our officials stand on a delicate balance beam. We have the power to tip it. If citizens found officials were violating human rights as they do in china, they would be easily impeached or just not reelected. United States politicians walk to fine line of making changes verse upsetting the people.

We are the Shepherds and leaders, our sheep.

Sources:

1. http://www.faluninfo.net/topic/24/

2. http://www.falundafa.org/eng/intro.html

3. http://www.serendipity.li/cda/niemoll.html

Falun Gong (Falun Dafa)

Mob mentality can be identified as a forceful factor. It is seen through literature and society . An ever present demonstration of the sheer insecurity of people. People tend to take the easy way to be sheep to a big Shepherd such as Li Hongzhi or Jiang Zemin.
1992 marked the beginning of a revolution not quite planned by the communist party. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa began taking his then private cultivation practice, to the public. He gave 53 lectures between 1992-1994. All the sheep began to flock, baaing and moving in dictated ways.
Now, as often happens with competing farmers, envy struck the Chinese powers. Agitated with fear as the number of Falun practitioners rose from a few to over 70-million, greatly out numbering the of members of the Chinese Communist Party.
The Chinese Communist Party saw the future, knowing without some change their time was running out. Propaganda against Falun Dafa filled media and practitioners were arrested and imprisoned or forced into Labor camps. Which only adds more flavor to the mess. It is profitable for the CCP to invoke jurisdiction against the practitioners, even more when they turned the camps into labor and organ harvesting stations.
This type of invalid government is irrational for the twenty first century. How do the people of China allow there fellow citizens to be arrested for no reason? This brings to mind a poem about another time.

"They first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up."
- Pastor Martin Niemöller

When appeasement and fear were the easy ways to avoid your own death. In an economic light it is feasible to be selfish to care for your well being and survival more or at least enough to try to haggle down the prices that little bit. However humanity does not praise those who would rather walk alone to the mall then with another to the grave. This is why the mob mentality can be so easily involved. People want to belong, to be recognized as making a change. Falun Gong practitioners continued to belong to the flock. Blend into to the famous crowd be recognized if only by themselves as making a difference. In response the CCP shook in fear, knowing all too well of their fragile standing as power in China.