New Zealand rated most peaceful, U.S. 83
- Thread starter jcdean
- Start date
Keith - There will be no attempt to 'shoot the messenger'. I feel that the quoted magazine uses questionable taste to use those statistics for humor.More correctly,you'll find a large proportion of the casualties in Iraq are from IED's,concussion or schrapnel,not small arms. Not much different in results however. And if you look at per capita,you might be surprised at some of the smaller towns around the world(most of the offenders here in the U.S.).
Still, NZ looks like somewhere that I'd like to live!
A.J.
Still, NZ looks like somewhere that I'd like to live!
A.J.
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The firearm death rate in Washington , DC is 80.6 per 100,000 for the same period. <o> :uneasy:</o
Wow, if figures of that magnitude are true, they are almost incomprehensible to us here.....
In NZ, total population about 4m, every homicide makes the national news. I haven't checked the figures but I would guess our homicide rate would average one or two (maybe less) per week and my impression is that the majority is gang/ethnic/drug related. The "Once Were Warriors" scenario does exist in NZ, but it is generally very much in the minority and generally confined to some of the poorer areas in the North Island. Unless you are involved in the sleazy underbelly the chance of coming to any sort of harm is pretty negligible. And whilst it might be foolhardy to walk down some dark alleyways at night in some of the less desirable areas in the North Island, the chances are you'd be alright.
Here in Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island, population about 400,000, we do have some gangs and every few years some intergang friction arises with firearm incidents etc, but as a rule they co-exist peacefully with each other and the rest of the community.
As a side note, a few years ago my car stalled and the starter motor unexpectedly cried enough, just a few doors from the fortified HQ of the Maori based "Highway 61" gang. I knew there would be some strong guys in there so went in and asked them for a push start. Four big strapping Maoris with tats and patches came out and obliged. All good.
Historically, I think NZ, because of it's isolated geography both externally and internally, has developed a society where people tend to go out of their way to help each other. There is an underlying current of goodwill and cooperation which probably stems from our pioneering days when every community was of necessity largely self reliant. So as a community we have an ingrained disposition to help rather than confront each other, thus I guess we'd be less likely to shoot each other......
I guess an example of this cooperative nature has been effectively demonstrated too in my build thread, where many guys have rallied round to help, particularly when I was attempting to get my car finished for SFOS at the beginning of this year.
Unfortunately NZ society is changing and some of the youth of today seem to be more agressive and confrontational, and more interested in their rights and taking advantage of "the system' rather than being conciliatory, productive and helpful to their fellow citizens. These selfish and arrogant attitudes I am sure are the combined result of trendy left type influences in education and discipline, and the influx of some popular overseas TV programs which tend to show every day life as confrontational, materialistic and self serving, at least when compared to traditional NZ values
With modern communications and transport, the world is shrinking and globalisation is a fact of life. In some respects that is good, but it is however a mixed blessing and I am sure it is already beginning to destroy some of the better aspects of NZ society. I'm just happy that from my point of view I have been fortunate to experience NZ at its best and that I won't be around to see the demise of this great lifestyle that most of us here enjoy!
In the meantime we are surrounded by beautiful scenery, a predominantly clean green environment and great people. Probably explains why we seldom become upset enough to go around killing each other....
I'd go with most of that Russ... same here mate...
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