Guns, Culture, and Life Updates

To introduce a lesson a American Cultural Etiquette and some of the cultural differences between America and Austria, I asked the students in my 5th Form class today who had been to America. I then asked what observations they had made about cultural differences. This is how part of the conversation went:

Me: For those of you who have been to America, what kinds of cultural differences did you notice during your trip? Or if you haven't been to America, what do you notice from movies, tv, or just general observation?
One Student: I haven't been to America, but I know one differences is that Americans love their guns. For example, after this shooting in Newtown, Americans say all we need is more guns to make these things stop happening. I think that's very wrong. Why will more guns solve the problem?

Now this was not at all the kind of answer I was looking for. I was thinking something more along the lines of "Austrians never talk to random people in the street but Americans are more friendly" or "American servers are much more attentive than Austrian waiters" or something equally fluffy. Luckily,  though, this gave me the opportunity to talk about gun control and the Second Amendment and explain why this is such a controversial issue in America. In the interest of presenting a broad perspective, I tried to defend gun rights advocates, even though I wholeheartedly agree with most of the arguments the students were making. This little interaction, which was really only a small part of a much larger, very fun and interesting lesson, reminded me that there are some ideas so prevalent in American life that people not from America simply cannot understand. Because I'm so used to the NRA and "right to bear arms" arguments, the fact that people own guns and assert their rights to own guns doesn't seem unusual to me. To outsiders, though, Americans appear crazy. Guns are very uncommon in Austria (aside from hunting of course) so these arguments that have been circulating America recently about gun rights make Americans look deranged and excessively violent. All the kids seemed to ask "why do you need guns?" To a group of people who have grown up in a place where the NRA and "my 2nd Amendment Rights" are not household phrases, guns seem unnecessary. To them, the issue is black and white: More guns means more people dying, fewer guns means fewer people dying, therefore fewer guns are better.

I think this gun rights issue speaks to a deeper interest so clearly manifest in the American mindset that isn't so firmly established in Austria: personal liberty and freedom. Of course Austria is a democracy, where voting is incredibly important and freedom is taken seriously, but there is little, if any, discussion of individual liberty and personal rights. Austria's "Bill of Rights" has many of the same provisions as the American Bill of Rights, but it isn't appealed to regularly the way Americans talk about "first amendment rights" or "second amendment rights." It seems that this intense concern for individual liberty and great fear that some person or organization might infringe upon that liberty is a uniquely American phenomenon. At least according to my very limited and amateur observation.

IN OTHER, LESS THOUGHT-PROVOKING AND RAMBLY NEWS, here are some quick life updates, since I haven't written in a while:

• This is the end of the semester, which means we have a break next week! I'll be going to Amsterdam and Bruges with 3 other TAs and one friend of a friend! I have wanted to go to Amsterdam for a long long time and I've heard that Bruges is absolutely beautiful, so I could not be more excited about this trip. Fingers crossed for good weather!
• Tomorrow I am taking a step out of reality and going to a BALL. Yes, Balls are things that still happen in the 21st century! Austrian Ball Season is between Christmas and Ash Wednesday, and there are literally hundreds of balls going on around the country during this time. Most of them are put on by companies, trade unions, universities, cities, social clubs, or charitable organizations. There are some pretty comical ones, including the "Doctor's Ball," the "Volunteer Firefighters Ball," the "BonBon Ball" and the "Kaffeesiederball" (put on by owners of coffee houses). The most famous and most elegant are the Opernball and the Wiener Philharmonikerball. The one I am going to is put on by the Technical University (supposedly the best one for people my age). I'm going with a big group of friends and I fully plan on meeting a prince there, so get excited for that update soon. I'll be sure to write all about my experience, hopefully before I leave for Amsterdam, but if I don't have time, then soon after. I am SO excited. I've been watching lots of YouTube instructional videos on how to waltz...this is going to be interesting.
• School has been kind of dull lately because a lot of classes have been cancelled due to teachers being sick, students taking tests, or skiing field trips. I haven't had too much to do or too many exciting lessons, but once the next semester starts, I expect things to pick up again.

Ready for the Ball!

That's all for now--stay tuned for what will hopefully be grand, elegant, and romantic stories and pictures from the coming attractions!