Anglosphere

<<And Dude is right -- even though the US is heavily armed, that doesn't mean your average person lives in fear every day. Far from it. I'm sure non-Americans won't take our word for it, so take the word of one of your own -- the BBC's Justin Webb, now returning to the UK after a number of years in the US>>

That's funny. I'd recently read that blog entry and though of referencing it myself. I didn't because I couldn't decide where to include it, and I'd felt that you all had been doing a fine job of making the point yourselves. Anyway, I've lived in America all my life and never been beaten, robbed, mugged, or threatened with a weapon.

Science fiction author Robert Heinlein once said, "And armed society is a polite society." I don't know how much store I would set by that, but it was an interesting hypothesis.

I read Justin Webb's blog with a grain of salt sometimes -- he often got us all wrong or commented on how weird our customs or institutions were -- but then, that was his job. To bring the oddities of American life home to his British readers, and give them a little vicarious taste of it. He didn't embrace it quite as freely as his predecessor, but it's funny to see him missing it now, and see how acculturated he actually became, despite himself. I guess no one can help it -- after a few years you just make those little adjustments.

My cousin married an Australian, who now lives in the US -- in the South, bastion of formality and politeness. He says when he goes back to visit Australia the customs people always notice that he says "ma'am" and "sir" automatically when dealing with strangers in the Southern manner (albeit with his own accent), and comment that he must have been in the US for a long time....

>>That's funny. I'd recently read that blog entry and though of referencing it myself. I didn't because I couldn't decide where to include it, and I'd felt that you all had been doing a fine job of making the point yourselves. Anyway, I've lived in America all my life and never been beaten, robbed, mugged, or threatened with a weapon.<<

Same here*, and I live in a city (Milwaukee) with a reputation, at least here in Wisconsin, of being a "hard" not-very-safe city...

* aside from someone once breaking into my car when I was not in it and stealing my radio, but that's another story.

I was the victim of a crime just once, but in retrospect, I really did bring the incident on myself.