beyond logic

Reading up on the gun culture in the US, the one thing that i'm getting from all the studies and op-eds is this: culture and values are beyond logic. It's impossible for me to understand why America continues to cling to its guns when it seems so clear, to me at least, that the cost in lost human lives far outweighs any benefits that might come with sticking closely to the Constitution, protecting the "rights" of sportsmen and hunters, or even the need for self-defence against those very same firearms that can so easily be bought and used by other people (vicious circle, i know...).
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And i think that blaming politicians, or the NRA gun lobby, or whatever, is really just dodging the issue. It seems like the truth is that Americans just love their guns. And that there are enough Americans who love their guns enough to make it difficult for politicians to effect any changes to gun laws within their democratic electoral system. And that there is no reasonable explanation for that love -- it is fundamentally irrational.
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Culture is irrational, values are irrational -- and i mean that in a neutral, non-pejorative sense -- and that's the glory and the horror of it. i guess i'm thinking now of things like America's gun culture that i find myself not just not sharing, but opposed to. But the same fundamental irrationality applies to beliefs / practices that i'm not opposed to, even if i do not share them; and of course also to my own most deeply-held beliefs and values.
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Which is why it's really pointless to get into conflicts with other people over culture or values. Such conflicts can only end in stalemate, or in an endless cycle of attacks and counter-attacks that just keep on doing more and more damage without ever coming any nearer to any sort of resolution. Which, as a friend pointed out, is where the guns (whether literal or metaphorical) eventually come into the picture.
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Human Nature 101.
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