Nope, it’s not Rwanda, Afghanistan or El Salvador. It’s the increasingly terrifying United States of America.
I’ve had some harrowing travel experiences in my time. I’ve been robbed in a tiny town in the middle of Ecuador, where a couple of tourists had been killed days before. I’ve accidentally wandered into Burundi in central Africa, which holds a fairly steady spot on Australia’s ‘reconsider all travel’ list.
But there’s one country on earth that puts my heart in my throat more than either of these places; where I feel a near-permanent sense of unease, simply when I’m walking the streets:
The United States.
The reason? It’s because I am constantly aware that there’s likely to be a loaded gun within a few metres of me, pretty much wherever I am.
That truth became even more evident last week, when the Supreme Court struck down a New York state law that prevented its citizens needing a special licence to carry arms in the street. In plain terms, that means it’s just become even more likely that people you see anywhere in the country – in any state, including California, New York and Massachusetts – is carrying a gun.
And as an Australian – or as anyone who values being alive, really – that’s a really frightening thought.
There have been several times when I’ve been in the US where their out-of-control gun proliferation has really scared me. Once, I went to a huge rally led by the comedians Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert in the Washington Mall in 2010.
It was a peaceful gathering but it was gigantic – it was later estimated that there were 200,000 people in attendance. As I was mushed cheek to cheek with the people next to me I thought, all it would take would be one idiot with a gun to fire into the air – they wouldn’t even need to shoot anyone – and we’d have a stampede. Hundreds would die.
Another time, more recently, I was travelling in rural Mississippi, stunned by all the handwritten GLOCKS 4 SALE signs on the side of the road. While I was there, a mass shooting happened just a few blocks from where I was staying; some nutter went ballistic over a money dispute and ended up gunning down a bunch of hotel workers.
It was so unremarkable, so commonplace that it barely made headlines.
On top of their disastrous gun laws, the US Supreme Court has just made another decision that is going to entrench America’s rapidly increasing poverty problem: overturning Roe vs Wade, which protected women’s right to abortion. Poverty in America is far, far worse and more visible than I ever remember it – parts of Los Angeles at the moment looks like they’re in the third world. Homelessness in San Francisco is out of control. Crime in New York is through the roof.
Add a bunch of unwanted babies being born to mothers without the means to look after them – and give those unwanted children unfettered access to guns as they grow into adulthood – and America in 15, 20 years from now is going to be one of the most terrifying places on earth.
It’s quite stunning watching this once all-powerful nation regress into the dark ages. And it’s deeply sad.
Despite its enormous – and increasing – failings, it remains (only just…) my favourite place on the planet. Americans, despite what many of their lawmakers’ actions would suggest – are some of the most engaging, interesting, brilliant people you’ll ever meet.
Their landscape is unparalleled – from the red rocks of Utah to the pure lakes of Michigan to the wild forests of the Appalachian Trail. Their cities are full of life and spirit and art and ideas. The USA will always be a place of astonishing achievement and vitality and wonder, and it will always hold my heart.
But it’s heartbreaking to watch it destroy itself.
Escape