美国的枪支管制自从上次小学校园惨案以后,再度提上日程,也成为社会媒体的热门话题。 有朋友要做这个课题,希望我帮助利用我们产品去挖掘社会媒体的网民呼声以及统计数据。结果出来以后,发现反对枪支管制的人还是多于支持管制的人,感觉很失望。 就我个人而言,我是恨透了美国的枪支泛滥,生活没有安全感。惨案后不久,有人在网络上征集签名提交给白宫网站,要求加强 枪支管制,我自然欣然参与。奥巴马连任后,开始把枪支管制和移民改革作为优先任务。他指派副总统拜登负责枪支管制事宜,白宫也想借助民意促成一些管制法令的通过。于是,我的电子邮箱,不时会收到从白宫发来的总统和副总统签字的信件,鼓励我们发出更大的呼声,形势似乎不错。 实际上,这条路还很长、很长。 以前以为,反对管制的主要是美国步枪协会和枪支制造销售商,现在发现美国社会普罗百姓对于枪支管制持怀疑反对的人也很不少。普遍流行的一个似是而非的观点是,枪不杀人,人杀人。没有枪,刀也杀人,石头也杀人,甚至拳头也杀人。如果这个道理成立的话,禁止核武器就完全没有理由了。人很多时候不是理性动物,高效杀人武器握在人手里就是个定时炸弹。 美国很多优点,是个比较理想的移民国家,但枪支泛滥是其为数不多的致命缺点之一。一黑遮百美,就凭枪支泛滥这一条,我劝尚在做美国梦的后生在最终决定移民前三思而行。在日本、新加坡的都市深夜(在我记忆中的祖国,也基本如此),甚至半夜也可以看到年轻女性行走在大街上,并没有恐惧感。这种事情在美国是不可思议的。 好了,不多说了,说起来烦死人。 还是面对现实吧。看下列从英文社会媒体挖掘出来的数据吧。 on gun control 日期: 02/05/2013 18:04:58 1. it is talked about most in the last 2-3 months ( 康州惨剧,总统掉眼泪之后引发的大讨论 ) 2. there was quite some discussion between July-Auguest last year (应该是 上次的 蝙蝠侠 恶性枪击事件引发的 ) 3. not a hot topic in other times So let us first focus on the last 3 months Gun Control topic 3-months summary 1. mentions: 1,409,922 2. impressions: 938,597,694 (we call social media reach, roughly eye-balls on this topic) 3. comments: 1,006,548 4. net sentiment: -21% (more people dislike gun control than support gun control, a REAL surprise to me) 5. positive mentions: 40,876 6. negative mentions: 62,199 Word Clouds of Top Terms and Top Attributes on Gun Control 支持和反对GC的主要理由,数据来源,主要作者,男女比例,Sample data 你看,反对枪支管制的最大理由是影响了守法公民的权利(这是宪法 第二 修正案所保障的:据说当年的宪法是怕政府暴政,所以要藏枪于民,人民在忍无可忍的时候,可以组成民兵,有个揭竿而起,造反有理的选项,听上去几乎就是列宁主义者的设计,吸收了 马列主义暴力革命的精髓。如今这条理由早已不适应时代了,谁要是相信美国会出现引发暴力革命并可以以暴力革命来摆平的暴政,那是红卫兵思维,脑筋有问题。最多也就是占领华尔街运动,和平请愿为主 )。你没事玩枪干嘛?即便打猎,当今社会提倡动物保护主义,你也无处可打啊。唯一拿得上台面的理由是自卫和阻遏。可是,一个社会倚仗个人武装来自卫,不是很滑稽可笑么。 其他的理由,正方反方大多针锋相对:支持管制者认为这样可以有效减少恶性事件 (effective solution / work well / reduce crime and violence) 和 拯救生命 (save life),反对者坚持说这根本不是解决途径(no solution / not solve anything / pointless / impossible / ineffective),也不能减少犯罪 (not reduce crime / not stop gun violence / not lower gun death), 甚至有说枪支管制反而会增加暴力犯罪 (increase violent crime),当然还有认为这个有缺陷的政策 (flawed policy) 是非法的 (illegal)。这些观点究竟得到多少认真研究此问题的专家数据的支持,不得而知。更多的情形是,多数人是屁股决定脑袋,先有自己的观点,然后选择性看待和解读数据。 The first sample sounds like sarcastic, not really supporting gun control per se . Not sure. Anyway, sarcasm remains difficult to decode (sometimes even human has difficulty). The second is a popular voice against gun control. 【置顶:立委科学网博客NLP博文一览(定期更新版)】
谈枪支管制问题。感谢我们草民站出来发出呼声。 ZT: A Message from President Obama about Your Petition on Reducing Gun Violence By Bruce Reed, Chief of Staff to Vice President Biden In the days since the tragedy in Newtown, Americans from all over the country have called for action to deter mass shootings and reduce gun violence. Hundreds of thousands of you have signed petitions on We the People . I'm writing you today to thank you for speaking up, to update you on an important development, and to encourage you to continue engaging with the White House on this critical issue. First, you should know that President Obama is paying close to attention to the public response to this tragedy. In fact, he sat down to record a message specifically for those of you who have joined the conversation using We the People. Watch it now: On Wednesday , the President outlined a series of first steps we can take to begin the work of ending this cycle of violence. This is what he said: "We know this is a complex issue that stirs deeply held passions and political divides. And as I said on Sunday night, there's no law or set of laws that can prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. We're going to need to work on making access to mental health care at least as easy as access to a gun. We're going to need to look more closely at a culture that all too often glorifies guns and violence. And any actions we must take must begin inside the home and inside our hearts. But the fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing. The fact that we can't prevent every act of violence doesn't mean we can't steadily reduce the violence, and prevent the very worst violence." Vice President Biden has been asked to work with members of the Administration, Congress, and the general public to come up with a set of concrete policy proposals by next month -- proposals the President intends to push swiftly. The President asked the Vice President to lead this effort in part because he wrote and passed the 1994 Crime Bill that helped law enforcement bring down the rate of violent crime in America. That bill included the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004. As the Vice President's Chief of Staff, I'm going to do everything I can to ensure we run a process that includes perspectives from all sides of the issue, which is why I wanted to respond to your petition myself. Two decades ago, as domestic policy adviser in the Clinton White House, I first worked with Joe Biden as he fought to enact the Crime Bill, the assault weapons ban, and the Brady Bill. I will never forget what a key role the voices of concerned citizens like you played in that vital process. The President called on Congress to pass important legislation "banning the sale of military-style assault weapons," "banning the sale of high-capacity ammunition clips," and "requiring background checks before all gun purchases, so that criminals can’t take advantage of legal loopholes to buy a gun from somebody who won’t take the responsibility of doing a background check at all." An issue this serious and complex isn't going to be resolved with a single legislative proposal or policy prescription. And let's be clear, any action we take will respect the Second Amendment. As the President said: "Look, like the majority of Americans, I believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. This country has a strong tradition of gun ownership that's been handed down from generation to generation. Obviously across the country there are regional differences. There are differences between how people feel in urban areas and rural areas. And the fact is the vast majority of gun owners in America are responsible -- they buy their guns legally and they use them safely, whether for hunting or sport shooting, collection or protection. But you know what, I am also betting that the majority -- the vast majority -- of responsible, law-abiding gun owners would be some of the first to say that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few from buying a weapon of war. I'm willing to bet that they don't think that using a gun and using common sense are incompatible ideas -- that an unbalanced man shouldn't be able to get his hands on a military-style assault rifle so easily; that in this age of technology, we should be able to check someone's criminal records before he or she can check out at a gun show; that if we work harder to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, there would be fewer atrocities like the one in Newtown -- or any of the lesser-known tragedies that visit small towns and big cities all across America every day." The President said it best: "Ultimately if this effort is to succeed it's going to require the help of the American people -- it's going to require all of you. If we're going to change things, it's going to take a wave of Americans -- mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, pastors, law enforcement, mental health professionals -- and, yes, gun owners -- standing up and saying 'enough' on behalf of our kids." So let's continue this conversation and get something meaningful done. If you have additional ideas and are interested in further engagement with the White House on this issue, please let us know and share your thoughts here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/share-your-thoughts-reducing-gun-violence Thank you for speaking out and staying involved. Stay Connected Tell us what you think about thisresponse and We the People . Stay connected to the White House by signing up for periodic email updates from President Obama and other senior administration officials . Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr Google+