It seems that in the United States, it has been assumed that good people should live on high alert.
Several years ago, as a newcomer to the University of Iowa, I signed up for a training course in how to survive and face violent events called “Violent Incident Survival Training.” It is a kind of course offered by the local police in many public and private American institutions. I have basic notions of Kenpo and Capoeira, martial arts that I studied during different periods of my life, so the violence survival course offering was interesting to me. They showed us a video followed by images of terrifying shootings in which they explained that, since the 90s, a phenomenon had been occurring which involved serial killers, armed to the teeth.
The police could not be everywhere to defend us, and, by all accounts, lenient state law allowed almost everyone without a criminal record to buy a weapon. And what weapons! On a table, they had replicas of the most popular guns sold in the city, including semi-automatics, which weigh nothing and are the favorite of psychopaths. I could not believe the scene. The police officer stoically accepted that his fellow citizens, without having graduated from any academy, could buy any weapon. They explained how they had tried to transform classrooms into safe places until police reinforcements arrived to “get us out of hell.” They had barred the doors with a belt and made barricades out of furniture.
In the martial arts part of the lesson, we had to strike a major blow to a rapist´s Adam´s apple and run away. The important thing here was to have fast reflexes and throw books and blunt objects at a madman shooting us. Apparently, we have more chances to save ourselves if we all attack a shooter at once and if the killer does not expect it, especially if we are cornered in a classroom and he has managed to enter. They recommended being seated or placed facing the door, living in a state of permanent readiness and being aware that such subjects exist within the American landscape.
The poor people from the Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs did not have time to react and throw their Bible, purses, cellphones and shoes at the murderer. They missed the workshop where they were taught how to confound perturbed assailants with semi-automatic rifles, because apparently good people should live in a permanent state of alert. And all to please some politicians who are unable to reach agreement and create new laws that adjust and control the reality of guns which look nothing like the ones from the American Old West.
Paren esas balas
En Estados Unidos parece que se ha asumido que la gente de bien es la que debe vivir en alerta máxima
Hace algunos años, recién llegada a la Universidad de Iowa, me apunté a un cursillo de formación para poder sobrevivir y enfrentarme a sucesos violentos que en inglés denominan Violent Incident Survival Training. Es un tipo de curso que ofrece la policía local en muchas instituciones públicas y privadas estadounidenses. Tengo algunas nociones de kempo, y de capoeira, artes marciales que estudié en diferentes épocas de mi vida, por lo que la oferta de aquel curso me resultó curiosa. Nos mostraron un vídeo acompañado de imágenes de terroríficos tiroteos en el que nos explicaban que desde la década de los noventa había comenzado un fenómeno de asesinos en serie armados hasta los dientes. La policía no podía estar en todas partes para defendernos, y por lo visto las flexibles leyes del Estado permitían que casi cualquier persona sin antecedentes pudiera comprarse un arma. ¡Y qué armas! Sobre una mesa tenían reproducciones de las más populares que se vendían en la ciudad, incluidas las semiautomáticas, que no pesan nada y son las favoritas de los psicópatas. No daba crédito a la escena. El policía asumía estoico que sus conciudadanos, sin haberse graduado en ninguna academia, pudieran comprar cualquier arma. Nos explicaban cómo tratar de transformar el aula en un espacio seguro hasta que llegaran los refuerzos policiales a sacarnos del infierno. Trancar la puerta con un cinturón y hacer una barricada con los muebles. En las lecciones de artes marciales había que darle un golpe rotundo en la nuez a un violador y salir corriendo. Aquí lo importante es tener reflejos y lanzarle libros, y objetos contundentes a un loco disparándonos. Por lo visto tenemos más posibilidades de salvarnos si todos lo atacamos a la vez y el asesino no se lo espera, especialmente si estamos acorralados en un aula y ha logrado entrar. Recomiendan estar sentados o ubicados frente a la puerta. Vivir siempre alerta y ser conscientes de que existen este tipo de sujetos en el paisaje estadounidense. La pobre gente de la Iglesia baptista de Sutherland Spring no tuvo tiempo de reaccionar y lanzarle al asesino sus biblias, sus bolsos, sus móviles, sus zapatos. Les faltó un cursillo en el que les explicaran cómo sorprender a los perturbados con rifles semiautomáticos, porque al parecer la gente de bien es la que debe vivir en alerta máxima. Y todo para darle gusto a unos políticos que son incapaces de ponerse de acuerdo y crear nuevas leyes que se ajusten y controlen la realidad de unas armas que no se parecen en nada a las del viejo Oeste americano.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link
.
These costly U.S. attacks failed to achieve their goals, but were conducted in order to inflict a blow against Yemen, for daring to challenge the Israelis.