Quirky America

Religion and politics are generally topics I choose not to write about here, because we all know where that leads (finger wagging, hair pulling and other highly refined and sophisticated social behaviour)… oh don't pretend like you've never been tempted to shove your fingers in your ears and do the lalalalalalala while someone else was trying to convince you that Ketchup chips are WAAAAAAAYYYYAAAYAAAAYAAAY better than BBQ (they aren't). And that's not even a remotely controversial topic.

So in the wake of the Dark Knight Rises massacre in Colorado, I've chosen to not make an eloquent and well supported attempt to examine American culture surrounding gun control, for fear of it stirring up a serious debate. Instead, I'll just point out the absurdity of this contrast in the US:

Guns (responsible for 31,224 deaths in the US in 2007) = perfectly legal.

Kinder Surprise Eggs (responsible for an astonishing 6 choking related deaths worldwide between 1991 - 1998) = illegal. See this article for more info on how serious US border guards are about illegal Kinder Egg smuggling rings.

So the take home message is, murderous firepower to mow down masses of innocent movie goers? "HELLLLLLLL YEEEEAWWWWHHHH, we gots rights down here ya'll, don't you try and take away our freedom, ya freedom hating communist!" But chocolate covered eggs with a little toy inside? "Get the Tasers Jim, we gots us a smuggler to DEEEE-TAIN!"

*source of the stats quoted above come from Wikipedia. Now, I know, there's a strong possibility that these stats aren't fully referenced (don't believe everything you read on the interwebs). So take the death tolls (SIX vs. THIRTY ONE THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY FOUR) with a very large grain of salt**.

**If you actually do question the validity of those very largely divergent stats, stop reading this blog and don't ever come back, cause you're a fucking moron. Thanks.


Photo totally unrelated to crap rant above. Taken during our fooding and beering adventure this past weekend at MKT.