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Geography-related Questions 21-30

THE QUESTION:
G30: It’s my impression that many Americans buy handguns, and I feel that this contributes to the problem of crime on the streets and in homes in the United States. Is this an accurate perception, or do gun owners feel that drug addicts and poor people who need money are the main source of handgun crimes in the States?
POSTED SEPT. 22, 1998
M. Chubak <blast@twics.com>, Tokyo, Japan

ANSWER 1:
This is a misconception I believe is perpetrated by organizations such as the National Rifle Association, which would have you believe every red-blooded American owns a handgun. Many people, myself included, feel handguns are meant for one thing, killing people, and would never have one in their home. Every night on the news there are stories of children accidentally shooting themselves with handguns, and my own opinion is that if we didn’t have so many guns around, criminals wouldn’t be able to get their hands on them. The gun control laws in the United States are woefully inadequate; it is harder to get a driver’s license or register your automobile than it is to purchase a weapon. Very scary.
POSTED SEPT. 29, 1998
Laura, 37, white female, Baltimore, MD

FURTHER NOTICE:
First, let me stress that I am by no means a “gun nut” or a supporter of the NRA. With that out of the way, I admit that I own a handgun. The only purpose of owning it is to protect my wife and myself in the event (however unlikely) that an armed intruder were to enter my home. I have no children and children never visit. I also am skilled at handling one properly. I did read an interesting statistic one time: In the Old West the violent crime rate (despite what Hollywood would have you believe) was lower than at any other time in our history. This is, of course, taking into account the population differences. This low crime rate was directly attributed to the fact that everyone had a gun, and that those who wanted to do harm had better have been prepared to deal with the inevitable armed confrontaion. Whether this study was sponsored by the NRA I honestly do not know.
POSTED OCT. 26, 1998
D.S., 29 <dash@netside.com>, Columbia, SC

FURTHER NOTICE 2:
I own three handguns, and I like to target shoot as a hobby. I haven’t killed anybody with them. Gun possession no more makes one a violent criminal than having children makes one a child molester. I support the Second Amendment strongly, but I’m not an absolutist. I agree there are proper and improper uses of guns, but banning them will not stop crime. Crime existed long before guns were invented. I was a victim of an armed robbery just this May. The criminals used a Buick as a getaway car. I suppose I should blame General Motors for contributing to crime, since cars “only have one purpose, to move people,” but that would be ridiculous, wouldn’t it? I wonder if Laura could tell me how forbidding me from owning guns would solve the crime problem. I believe the best way is by long, harsh jail terms for convicted criminals. In my case, one robber got 11 years (no parole), the getaway driver got five years (no parole) and the last robber is coming up for trial.
POSTED NOV. 3, 1998
Michael, 30 <edit15@aol.com>, Stone Mountain, GA
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THE QUESTION:
G29: Why do so many people come to the United States not knowing how to speak English? I would never move to a country without first learning the native language.
POSTED SEPT. 5, 1998
20, American <dawn0621@hotmail.com>, Chicago, IL

ANSWER 1:
Please tell me what the native language of America is first. Many Americans (born in the United States) speak Spanish as their first language. Among Native Americans, there are many languages to select from. English is not the official language of the United States. In fact, the only language to come close to that honor has been German! There are many people here who believe that anyone entering the United States should speak English, but until I see people in this country properly speak the language, I cannot take that stance.
POSTED SEPT. 28, 1998
F. Gonzalez, 30 , White Anglo-Spanish Pagan (WASP) male <gonzalez1@hauns.com>, Alamogordo, N.M.

FURTHER NOTICE:
I live in a city that was built by each ethnic group as they appeared on the scene, starting with the English, then the Irish, Polish, German, etc., right up to and including the latest influx of Hispanics (mostly Puerto Rican) and Koreans and Vietnamese. All these ethnic groups have learned English, even though, as you say, it has never been made the official language of the United States. We are still an English-speaking country. You may not like it, but it is a fact. My ancestors had to learn the language to get ahead here. They did very well, I might add. Today, for some reason, we feel that Hispanics shouldn’t have to learn English. No one expects them to give up their native tongue. I wish I could still speak German, but I feel they (Hispanics) ought to keep it among themselves, as did all the other groups that came here. There were clubs where you went to stay in touch with your roots. I find it odd that no one expects us to include Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese or any other Asian language as the “official” language of the United States.
POSTED SEPT. 30, 1998
Kevin H., 41, American (German-Irish) <kevin@javanet.com>, Holyoke, MA

FURTHER NOTICE 2:
This country is still a land of opportunity for people from countries without the vigorous economies of the United States. I married into an immigrant family. My wife knew some English when we met, and my in-laws knew less. My wife learned to speak excellent English but my inlaws never quite learned to cope with it. They came here not knowing English because my father-in-law saw good employment opportunities here in a field in which there was an extreme shortage of employees. He was able to work without speaking much English because his employer spoke a language both of them knew. That is probably true of the folks the questioner has been observing.
POSTED SEPT. 30, 1998
Jerry T. <gmt@GTE.net>, Tampa, FL

FURTHER NOTICE 3:
To Gonzalez: English is the official language of the United States. This issue has been raised on ballots across the country and has consistently been unanimous. Imagine the chaos that would and does exist in America because of the variety of languages. No other country in the world tolerates and caters to people who do not speak the official or dominant language of that country. The expense of providing things such as voting ballots in multiple languages is staggering, and still all languages are not covered. The past election was clear evidence that Americans want English to be the official language. They voted in the proposition to teach English in public schools, rather than providing bilingual classes where non-English languages are taught. English is not the official language of the world, only the United States, and rightly so.
POSTED SEPT. 30, 1998
39, female of German/Irish descent, Roseville, CA

FURTHER NOTICE 4:
While there is no “official” act to proclaim American English as the U.S. language, it is clearly used as a first language by 96 percent of the nation. (Reference Time Magazine and Compton’s Encyclopedia.) All of our national documents, laws, recordings, etc., are in American English. Really, who is to say that we do not speak English “correctly”? And I’m not sure where you are coming from as far as German being the closest to being the official language. I believe Dawn may not have meant “Native language” when describing our nation’s “official” language. I do agree with her that to go to a foreign country with such a language barrier causes much frustration for both parties trying to understand each other. To come to this nation with no American English, or just English for that matter, and believing that any other language will get you around the country well enough is foolish. By the way, why the cut on WASP?
POSTED SEPT. 30, 1998
T.B. , 41, American white male, Denver, CO

FURTHER NOTICE 5:
To the female from Roseville, Calif.: There is not a single correct fact in your post. English is not the official language of the United States, and it has not been voted on nationwide or statewide in a single state. And there are many countries that cater to multiple languages, including Canada, Nigeria, South Africa, Israel and numerous others.

And to the director of Y?: If someone is going to make up “facts,” please make them cite sources or don’t post their ridiculous, false claims. What’s the point of having a moderated forum if you’re going to allow obvious falsehoods to be submitted as “fact?”
POSTED OCT. 6, 1998
Andrew, 34, white descendant of non-English speakers <ziptron@xoommail.com>, Huntington, NY
(Director’s Note: It should be noted that the objective of Y? is not necessarily to post only correct factual information about people’s differences or subjects related to diversity – though accuracy certainly is the preference. Our goal is to try to accurately document the level and content of the current public dialogue on these issues in the United States and elsewhere. Additionally, while there is merit to filtering out incorrect data – and we do – we also feel that letting our users point out and correct such errors directly on the site can at times have a greater educational impact than leaving out the incorrect facts altogether.)

FURTHER NOTICE 6:
The Founding Fathers voted on what the official language of the United States should be early on. English came in third, after German and Dutch. But there was no language in the majority, so wisely none was ever adopted as the “official” one. Thomas Paine pointed out that only a third of the whites at that time were Anglo and argued that England should thus not be considered the “mother” country. Still, Anglos dominated the economy and culture, as they continue to do so today. Anglo-conformity – the belief that all others must and should Anglicize themselves to become “true” Americans – continues to be a dominant belief even among groups who have lost or abandoned their culture, including its language. The idea that all others nations have only one language is nonsense. Ever heard of Switzerland? How about Mexico, Canada, Belgium, the Phillipines (with 162 languages) and yes, even Great Britain, which is making great effort to preserve the Welsh language. In America we have a lot of language discrimination as a thin cover for racial hatred. Think of this: People object to Spanish and Asian languages, but never to French or German.
POSTED OCT. 6, 1998
A.C.C., Mexican and American Indian, San Antonio, TX

FURTHER NOTICE 7:
I grew up in a town in California where many of the people are of Hispanic descent, either immigrants, children of immigrants or descendants of the Californios. Spanish was as common as English, and it was not uncommon to go a day without speaking much English. Most people were bilingual, but Spanish was the preferred language. There were many people who did not speak English, and although this caused some problems when dealing with the outside world, such as filing taxes, there was always a friend or family member to help people get the things done that they needed. I believe learning English can help a person take advantage of the opportunities available in the United States, but it should not be a requirement.
POSTED MARCH 26, 1999
Jennifer K. 28, female, San Jose , CA
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THE QUESTION:
G28: In Brazil, Southerners are considered rude, busy and smart people, because this region is richer. On the other hand, Northerners are considered slow and lazy, but friendly and warm. Why, in the United States, is it the opposite? Are there any economical or historical reasons?
POSTED SEPT. 4, 1998
Guillherme, 16, white male <theguis@hotmail.com>, Brasília, Brazil

ANSWER 1:
My opinion is that it has more to do with being nearer the equator than North or South … people seem to slow down considerably in hotter climates.
POSTED SEPT. 9, 1998
Colette <inkwolf@earthlink.net>, Seymour, WI

FURTHER NOTICE:
As a Brazilian living in the United States I can tell that the location and the economic aspect has nothing to do with being polite. Like in the United States, many poor people in Brazil still having some education and good moral standards. An example is your city, where rich boys “burned”a native as a joke, and they where from very good backgrounds. Of course, the more populated the area, the more you have chances of finding different cultural levels. Many cold states have a population that has a balanced cultural level, because of historical and migratory factors. But the aspect of north/south is not the main reason for politeness.
POSTED NOV. 27, 1998
Rosi, 34, Delray Beach, FL
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THE QUESTION:
G27: I am curious to know the difference in the illiteracy rates of the general populations of the United States and Brazil. Also, how does Brazil rate when compared to other South American countries?
POSTED AUG. 14, 1998
Lyle, white Brazilian <lylef@rocketmail.com>, Sao Paulo, Brazil

ANSWER 1:
I do not know the illiteracy rate for Brazil, but I can offer you this information from a 1985 article: 72 million Americans can’t read beyond a fifth-grade level. 27 million of these are functionally illiterate; they can’t read a street sign, write a check or fill out a job application form. Their numbers are growing at the rate of 2.3 million a year. The United States ranks 49th in literacy level among 158 United Nations countries.
POSTED FEB. 15, 1999
Dru, 33, Asian, former volunteer adult literacy tutor
Honolulu , HI
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THE QUESTION:
G26: Why is it that lately many Americans are postponing or cancelling their trips to Croatia and Slovenia, with the excuse that war in Kosovo, which is in Yugoslavia, is too near? Why don’t they check on a map before deciding this, if only for their own education?
POSTED AUG. 10, 1998
Natasa, Croat <natasa_@hotmail.com>, Zagreb, Croatia
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THE QUESTION:
G25: After living in Japan for two years, I’ve found that “gaijin,” or foreigners, are treated differently than Japanese people. We’re looked at, talked to and watched differently than Japanese people. I would like to know if people of other races who live in North America feel this same pressure or sense of “difference.”
POSTED AUG. 10, 1998
Trevor C., 17, white male <trevorc@gol.com>, Kobe, Japan

ANSWER 1:
I am a Japanese national who has lived in the United States, Italy and Thailand for more than 10 years. The feelings of “difference” vary from country to county and where you are from, in my opinion. In the United States, the reaction was quite natural, except for insufficient linguistical capabilities, and I didn’t feel I was treated in special ways. Americans are used to people of different races as well as people from other counties. Is was also true in the United Kingdom from my rather short experience there. In Italy, the situation was a little different. All Asians are considered “Chinese” and in some ways treated as “these poor illegal immigrant people” regardless where they are really from. They actually don’t know much about other counties. Meanwhile, they tend to treat other whites as equals. In Thailand, the Japanese (and Westerners) are in some ways looked up to as “people from developed countries.” We are curiously looked at and talked about.

The Japanese treat “gaijins” in a manner similar to the latter example. Western society and people still symbolize the Japanese ideal in terms of culture and beauty. They are curious. They are afraid of the unknown (most Japanese still don’t have direct contact with foreigners or think they are unable to communicate well enough with them). I think that is why you feel treated in a different way. However, this does not necessarily mean the Japanese are innocent when it comes to racism. Japanese people will treat immigrants from other counties differently than they treat Americans – again, as “these poor illegal immigrant people.”
POSTED AUG. 17, 1998
Masaki N. <ssde@ptty.loxinfo.co.th>, Bangkok, Thailand

FURTHER NOTICE:
I have spent a month or so in Japan during a series of business visits. During these I became acquainted with a Korean engineer. He was part of the third generation of his family to live in Japan. He naturally knew the Japanese language and etiquette. Yet, he was considered gaijin, as are many native Japanese who have lived outside Japan. The Japanese have a special alphabet reserved for providing a phonetic representation of foreign words. They use this alphabet for anything a gaijin says regardless of whether they are speaking Japanese for foreign words. Another Occidental friend studied Japanese while living in Tokyo. He repeatedly had the experience that when he spoke to someone who did not realize he was gaijin, they responded naturally. As soon as they realized he was gaijin, they claimed not to be able to understand him. After considering these and many other examples, I have concluded that the Japanese are among the most racist cultures in the world. However, the Japanese people seem to be polite about it.
POSTED AUG. 31, 1998
Ralphe, white American, Cambridge , MA
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THE QUESTION:
G24: I love Canada as a great melting pot of different races, cultures and so on. My question is: If I immigrated to another country and tried to have laws changed to suit my Canadian ways and beliefs, how would the people of that homeland deal with or react to it ? I would appreciate responses from people from a variety of different cultures.
POSTED AUG. 7, 1998
Jim, 34, Canadian <jjewellcmm@aol.com>, Windsor, Ontario
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THE QUESTION:
G23: I’m a Southerner and would like to know why it seems a higher percentage of people from New Jersey are rude. I work in an environment where my coworkers and I deal with a lot of people. Most of us agree that those from New Jersey are the rudest people we come across. Why is this?
POSTED AUG. 3, 1998
Kristen, Charlotte, NC

ANSWER 1:
I have lived in New Jersey 20 years (we moved here when I was 2) and have never really found my neighbors, friends or co-workers to be particularly rude. I think you might be mistaking our fast-paced lifestyle and need to get things done quickly as hostility. I was fortunate enough to view the difference between life in the North and the South when I spent my first year of college in Virginia. I found that although people were extremely friendly (yes, more friendly than in New Jersey), everything (including service in restaurants, traffic and just people in general) was horribly slow. I think it is very important when communicating with new people to consider their background (where he or she is coming from) before making a generalization about that person.
POSTED FEB. 4, 1999
Nic, 22 <nicole_1976@hotmail.com>, NJ
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THE QUESTION:
G22: I’m a Japanese student in the United States. I’d like to know why, in many American movies, the Americans try to save the earth by themselves. Don’t Americans feel other countries can give them help?
POSTED JULY 28, 1998
Yasu <nyasu@hotmail.com>, San Francisco, CA

ANSWER 1:
You know, I never really thought about it, but you’re right. Have you ever noticed that the movies usually take place in New York, too?
POSTED NOV. 16, 1998
Michele, 14, Battle Creek , MI
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THE QUESTION:
G21: Why are so many Americans fat? Why don’t they take care of their health, especially when the supermarkets here are filled with low-fat health foods?
POSTED JULY 28, 1998
Yoshiko <yukofujita@hotmail.com>, San Francisco, CA

ANSWER 1:
In my opinon, Americans are doomed by the culture of the car and the hype of diet food. In other countries of the world, people do not drive their cars like Amercians do. The gas is cheap (about 25 percent of what it is in most European countries) and driving is faster and more convenient than other modes of transportation. So most Americans drive to work, drive to the store, drive to the health spa and miss out on the simple exercise of riding one’s bike to work every day or walking to the store, which can make a person reasonably fit. The fat-free craze in the United States has probably hurt more than helped. People tend to treat “fat-free” as “calorie-free” and overeat. When they don’t exercise, the body efficiently turns the carbohydrates into fat. So we end up with chubby Americans driving their cars to the store to buy more Snackwell’s.
POSTED AUG. 11, 1998
Carolyn M. <carolyn@manis.bt.nu>, Sweden

FURTHER NOTICE:
Americans all have one thing in common: What we do, we do to excess. We like big cars, big houses, lots of open space, lots of entertainment and lots of food. I have lived for short periods of time in other nations, and I felt like I was starving. The portions just seemed so much smaller. Our love of movies, television and now computers has us sitting down quite a bit, too. The result is an overweight majority.
POSTED SEPT. 4, 1998
Joshua, 20, male <schnids@bigfoot.com>, Pittsburgh, PA

FURTHER NOTICE 2:
I think the answer to this question stems from a few things: A lack of education in basic nutrition and dietary health, the socio-economic status of food consumers in North America, and the obvious marketing tactics by food advertisers and supermarkets to sell the pre-packaged foods to a “target” crowd (such as children, business people who don’t have “time” to cook, college students living away from home, or men who “can’t” cook and need an easy, pre-made dining option).

In terms of the educational issue, the ratio of public education on proper nutrition to TV advertisements for high-fat, high-sugar snack-foods is quite substantial. Children and adults alike are taught that fruits and vegetables are healthy, lean meat is preferred to cuts of meat with skin or high fat content, and that high-fat, high-sodium, high-sugar diets are the root of many serious medical conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and hypertension; however, these messages are not thrown at us in the fun, cost-effective and enticing way that selling chips, Coke, pizza and McDonalds are. If kids and adults get one message among 10 that they should be eating healthier than they do already, chances are they’re not going to listen as effectively as they would otherwise, when the message is constant and intriguing to them.

My second point: Everyone is not financially endowed to be able to choose from a varied diet. Many people who eat according to their limited budgets choose their foods based on abundance (i.e., how much food will feed a family of four for a month for under $300?), how the foods will best satiate them (i.e., carbohydrates over vegetables), ease of preparation (a busy working mother’s schedule requires her to be able to have food prepared within minutes, as opposed to elaborate made-from-scratch meals that can take hours of preparation), and personal taste.

Lastly, the advertisers and manufacturers of snack foods have a huge budget with which to sell their product to the unsuspecting public. Supermarket shelves stock the most popular snack foods, with the brightly colored, enticing packages on the shelves at eye level so that shoppers will see these first and be persuaded to purchase them on impulse. Impulse shoppers are a huge market for advertisers. They cater to those people who tend to go out without a defined shopping list, and will buy whatever is eye-catching or attractive to them at the time. Target audiences are chosen and led by the growling stomach through television, print and radio ads to believe that every snack-food item is “nutritious” and “satisfying,” when in fact it’s usually the opposite that is true. Saturday mornings are prime times for advertisers of high-sugar cereals to target the child population, while they’re busy watching cartoons. I remember when I was a child watching cartoons on Saturday morning, seeing “Cookie Crisp” cereal on TV and being told this particular case of cookies and milk was supposedly high in nutrition and perfect for breakfast! Now, I pride my Canadian mother for choosing non-sugar cereals and fresh fruits and vegetables over the quick, convenience foods. See http://www.nedic.on.ca for more.
POSTED DEC. 9, 1998
Amy, 25, The National Eating Disorder Information Centre <taneia@sprint.ca, mbear@torhosp.toronto.on.ca>, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

FURTHER NOTICE 3:
I live in a city where it is next to impossible to survive without a car. Also, most of us are too busy to exercise – I have very little free time, and I spend it reading, doing needlework, socializing – or on the net. Then, too, America has always been a “land of plenty” – my mother may have had to save 50 cents a week to buy us kids shoes, but almost any fruit or vegetable grew right out the back door, and Daddy could always walk down to the creek and come back with a string of catfish, or walk into the woods and get us a deer or some rabbits.
POSTED FEB. 10, 1999
Molly S., 38, white immigrants’ child <stormborn@uswest.net>, Phoenix , AZ
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