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thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world 13 hours agoHow do you mean? That heat related deaths do not actually mean heat related deaths? People drowning in an overcrowded pool and kids left in hot cars are heat related. Just like a suicide by firearm is firearm related.
But please, explain to my feeble American mind how heat related doesnt actually mean heat related.
Saryn@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
I shouldn’t have to explain it because it’s common sense.
In fact, I’m willing to bet that if we were to change the focus of our comparison from apples and oranges (which is what comparing gun-related deaths in the US to heat-related deaths in European countries comes down to, not to mention the vast differences in data collection approaches across disciplines, countries, etc.) to another pair of equally uncomparable fruit but one that you are not so strongly predisposed to thinkinking a certain way about, you would have the same reaction as I. Chuckle a little bit.
Why, you might ask? For the simple reason that comparing apples to oranges doesn’t make sense unless you’ve been predisposed for it to seem like it makes sense.
And no, this is obviously not a uniquely American issue (I wish it were but it’s definitely universal for all of us chimps). It’s just that this specific comparison, absurd as it is, has a uniquely American flavour because it’s clearly meant to rationalize the exceptially high levels of gun violence in the US.
And yes, “exceptional” is definitely the right word to describe gun violence in the US. You start to appreciate just how exceptional when you compare US numbers to literally any other wealthy nation. Now we’re comparing apples to apples and things start making a lot more sense, don’t you think?