A few days ago I marked the 49th anniversary of arriving on this planet.  A milestone!

Why would I say that?  Nothing particularly distinguishes 49.  Fifty is the big half century mark.  Most people make a big deal out of that, but let most of the forties slide so far as importance.

The best way I can describe it is that every birthday is, to me, a huge event.  This is mainly due to the many, many times I was utterly convinced I was about to die, but was wrong.

So every click of the clock is a victory!  Every birthday a parade!  I’m putting my thumb in the eye of the Grim Reaper, and enjoying every second!

In fact, I fully intend to become decrepit and feeble from the weight of years that fall like rain upon my head.

I don’t think I’ll be eating too much corn on the cob by then, though.

I’ve been considering the two graphics that can be viewed at this site.  For many countries in the world, low gun ownership seems to correlate with higher murder rates.  North America, South America, and sub-Saharan Africa all strongly support the notion that the fewer people who own firearms, the more people are murdered.

But I find Great Britain to be particularly interesting, as it seems to be an outlier.  Low gun ownership, and yet the people living there also enjoy low homicide rates.

There is, in fact, large swathes of the globe where the same thing can be found.  And that is throughout most of Asia.  It seems to me that a link can be drawn between Confucius and the trend of the people in some Asian countries to avoid murder.

Although Confucius is generally regarded in the United States to be the source of pithy sayings that find their way into fortune cookies, his teachings were widely and enthusiastically embraced by many cultures.  It could be argued that the man was one of the most influential figures in all of human history, with the philosophy he authored shaping the very destiny of mankind.

The main reason for this, the single most significant factor which ensured that Confucius would be so strongly intertwined with the fate of most of humanity,  is that his writings are full of admonitions to obey authority.  People rise to their social positions due to their inherent quality, those who are above you on the social ladder should be obeyed because they are better than you are, and strict obedience to civil authority is an expression of the highest virtue.

As you can imagine, kings and emperors grabbed at this philosophy with both hands.  The man on the throne was there because he was closer to perfection than anyone below his station, and was deserving to rule.  Revolution, rebellion, or even disagreement with the edicts handed down from on high was not only morally wrong, but extremely foolish as well.  Since the guy in charge was best suited for the job, the next person to fill his shoes would naturally be inferior.

So we can attribute, at least in part, the tendency for most Asian countries to have low homicide rates to a brutal indoctrination program that has lasted for more than two millennium.

This isn’t true of all the places that have low firearm ownership as well as low homicide rates, of course.  For one thing, the teachings of Confucius have not been embraced and incorporated into all of the cultures found in Asia.  But I think the same Pavlovian conditioning to follow the law can be found in many.

So how does that explain Great Britain?  Do the people living in the UK have a greater regard for a strict adherence to the law than those in the US?

These are questions that I cannot answer, as I have never even visited the UK.  But I do think that the map very clearly shows that the culture and society found in the United States are very different than that which is prevalent in the United Kingdom.  This should be considered by those who insist that Americans should adopt the gun control laws which hold sway across the Pond.

The breed of dogs collectively known as pit bulls were once known as America’s nursery dog.  When a child was born, a pit bull puppy was acquired.  The idea was that the kid would have a loving and protective companion until the dog died of old age, usually when the newborn had grown into their teen years.

(Please click on all pictures to see the largest version.)

One thing owners of pit bulls report is that the beasts have an almost supernatural ability to recognize when someone means harm to their owners.  Even when a criminal is trying their best to gain the trust of the intended victim, the pit bull can sometimes see through the facade to recognize the intent for violent attack.

That happened recently, as this news story reveals.  A woman walking her dog approached a bicyclist in obvious distress, only to be shocked when her pet exhibited extremely protective behavior.  She received a further jolt to her preconceptions when the supposedly injured and helpless cyclist reacted to the snarling dog by leaping up from the ground, only to straddle his pedal powered contraption in an effort to escape the jaws of justice.

And escape he did, as the pooch was anchored to the petrified woman via a leash.

The fact that the dog could not pursue the erstwhile criminal is all to the good.  If the cyclist had been bitten, then the news story would be about a crazed and enraged pit bull that had to be destroyed after suddenly “going off“ and attacking a helpless man, instead of a loyal and loving family pet that was going all out to save the innocent.  Makes me wonder if many of the incidents which caused people to conclude that the breed was unstable and prone to violence was due to dogs trying to protect their families.