RYNSA: WORDS

This evening I came across a news article from the LA Times describing something called the ‘Global Peace Index’, a ranking of countries according to their propensity for peace.  The GPI is fairly young, apparently, as it is only in its second year.  It was initially developed by an Australian businessman named Steve Killelea (poor last name for a peace index, if you ask me), who is now heading up a multi-part initiative called Vision Of Humanity.  Killelea’s organization(s) include the Institute for Economics and Peace and One Tree Films, a movie company (shades of Jeff Skoll and his highly successful Participant Productions).

In any case, on the Vision of Humanity  website there is an interesting function that allows guests to select individual countries and compare them.  I decided to compare Australia, China, and the United States–three nations that are near and dear to me–just to see how they stack up against each other.  Tragically, my beloved US of A fared poorly, ranking 97th internationally, exactly thirty spots behind China and seventy behind Australia.  Ugh.

I’m not entirely sure of the research methods used to evaluate a given country’s peace score, but there is a whole slew of big name individuals and organizations behind the GPI, including former President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Columbia University, Amnesty International, and so on.  So, on face value at least, I have to give it some credence.

I also have to give pause.  It’s unsettling to know that my own country, the United States, is so very far behind its counterparts around the world.  We Americans aren’t at the bottom of the list, but we’re pretty damn close.  From what I understand of the comparison listed above, it looks like gun violence and prison population are the two main factors contributing to the low score. 

Honestly, this validates what I have been feeling for a number of years, namely that the United States can no longer be viewed as a legitimate bastion of freedom and prosperity.  This is a quite literal truth, mind you, when you consider our incarceration numbers, but it also extends, I’m afraid to admit, into the economy, the political system, and even out into the street-level culture itself.  There is an air of danger in the states, fear and powerlessness.

Ah, what to do, what to do?!  A bummer finding.  Now I’ve made myself depressed.  

I can only hope projects like the GPI will serve as a kind of wake-up call for my fellow ‘Yanks’ (though a true Southerner like myself would never identify under that word).  We’ve got some serious problems to address.  

Perhaps naively, I sincerely believe we Americans can improve ourselves and move towards peace.  But let’s not kid ourselves, it’s gonna be painful. You cannot divorce yourself from long-standing systems of disempowerment and violence overnight.  I think we’re talking about some serious analysis and appraisal of the American experience.  We’re gonna have to cut some fat, for real.

Paulo Freire once likened human liberation to childbirth.  Unfortunately, I think he was absolutely right.  But it’s got to be done.  The baby needs to live.