Backyard Dogs

I've thought this from day one of the current war, when every damn day, everything from the nightly news to the Yahoo headlines on my computer's home page tells me about every time somebody dies in Iraq or Afghanastan. Obviously, these are tragedies for the families of those who have died, on both sides of the conflict. These deaths are ugly, scary, and controversial. However, as most people who have actually been there (and anybody with common sense) will tell you, this is not the entire story of what is happenening there -- it is only the most sensational. Common sense will tell you that since there are about 20,000 "insurgents" involved in fighting American forces (or each other) in a country with a population of 25,000,000, not everybody over there hates us. Naturally, most of them want us out of there as soon as possible. And virtually every U.S. citizen wants the same. The number of violent deaths there is taking a toll on the citizens of both sides.

But that's not why I'm writing this. I'm writing this to tell you that the violent death problem is WORSE in the good ol' U.S.A. than it is in Iraq. This focus on the war death toll, while ignoring the U.S. death toll, is selfish, misguided and in dire need of reevaluation.

According to cbsnews.com:"In 2004, the last year for which the Federal Bureau of Investigation has complete statistics, there were 16,137 reported murders in the United States. That is an average of 44.21 murders per day, every day. For the first half of 2005 that figure increased by 2.1 percent, according to federal statistics. In other words, nearly two people are murdered in this country every hour."

According to IraqBodyCount.org, a very anti-war website, these are the numbers of violent deaths in Iraq: "12,617 from 20th March 2005 to 1st March 2006 (346 days: Year 3)...", which amounts to "36 per day in Year 3".

Why is this not reported? Why are we more concerned with people being killed in another country more than our own? First and most obviously, it's because the war is the big story right now. Second, and even more importantly, it's because we Americans are too apathetic and self-involved to do anything real about gun control and our culture of violence and poverty -- not to mention America's unique talent for breeding psychopaths and sociopaths.

We've become so used to this culture of violence that we care more about people being murdered in a country thousands of miles away than in our own. To take care of our own problems, we'd actually have to vote, change our political system from the crooked extremists that dominate it, see activist extremist groups like the NRA and "anti-sin" groups like Smoke Free and even MAAD for the self-aggrandizing frauds that they are -- you know, actually DO something.

But instead, we'd rather send out snarky anti-war emails and blogs, shake our fists at that war-mongering redneck President we (didn't really) elect -- twice -- and put up "Iraq death toll" signs in our yards, as our grand gestures of " civil protest". Where are the "Austin death toll" signs from these knee-jerk hypocrites? And why don't you conservatives cover those ignorant NRA or "These colors don't run" bumper stickers with "My honor student used my gun to kill your honor student" bumper stickers? Funny, don't see those toolin' around town too much.

Yes, the war is a big deal. Maybe it's wrong, maybe it's not. Maybe it's both. But there's a helluva lot more criminal and amoral atrocities going on in your own backyard than what's going on thousands upon thousands of miles away. Why don't we make our country better by starting in.... (drumroll)....... our own damn country. It's time for a big fat refocus on our part.

Roger