RIP Anthony Bourdain

Certainly a huge loss to the culinary and entertainment world. I particularly enjoyed his literary and oratory skills, as well his love of the far east. I believe was in the process of opening a Taiwanese style night market on one the piers on the West Side of Manhattan. But as a few others had posted above, I did not agree with his politics. I think his constant alt left ramblings may have just been part of the production agreements that he had with CNN. Either way, I felt like they detracted from his aforementioned talents. Bordain was also heavily into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and he trained frequently with Renzo and company at the NYC location. His ex wife was even an Abu Dhabi champion I believe.

I actually remember meeting him and his ex wife at a West Side bar that was telecasting a UFC event years ago. I had no idea who he was at the time (2006), but he did have sort of a miserable prick type of attitude thinking back on it.

 

What data are you referring to that proves this is nonsense?

 

Armchair academics with no data? There are studies going back decades that all indicate the risk of suicide increases with a gun in the house. Gun ownership rates are down from 1994, but significantly up from rates in 1999, and pretty much on par for where they were in th 70's. There are many things that contribute to suicide, however guns facilitate the action. Chemical dependence also plays a huge role in suicide rates, which puts myself in a risky demographic being both a gun owner and a Beer Advocate.

 

From what I have been able to glean from Bourdain's journalism over the years, I'd say his politics was genuine Bourdain, not CNN prompting. That's an odd proposition. He was an arrogant prick, gifted traveler, and a fine journalist.

 

The percentage of homes owning a firearm is down. The number of guns per capita in the country has doubled since 1968. The rural areas where the percentage of homes owning a firearm has not actually decreased are also the areas with the largest increases in suicide rates.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32842.pdf (see page 9)

@SFACRKnight I'm really sorry to hear of how close to home suicides have hit you. We agree here much more than we disagree, so I don't want to belabor the point we're a little at odds on.

I've liked a number of posts here that have already well expressed my feelings on Bourdain, but I'd just like to add that his episode in Beirut is one of the best episodes of TV I've ever seen, in any genre.

 

Just a quibble, since the topic of suicide and suicide statistics were brought up.

What would you say about the fact that suicide is typically higher in European countries and East Asian countries despite low levels of firearm ownership? Most European countries have comparable suicide rates before assisted suicide is factored (N.b., most European countries don't add assisted suicides to their suicide statistics, so their numbers - despite being comparable with ours in studies - are likely much higher).

Interesting topic, but I don't think guns are the proximate cause of suicide (they may facilitate such suicides though, but since it's really easy to kill yourself, I doubt limiting access to firearms would cause a reduction in suicides).

 

Well, in my perspective, Americans are enamored with firearms like no other country on earth. I think that firearms may factor more in homicide in America relative to similar crimes anywhere on the planet. It is plain to see. As you say, there are lots of ways to kill yourself, but easy access to firearms in America is a constant cause of astonishing homicide rates relative to Europe, or anywhere. But guns in the house is often cited as a reason for increasing suicide rates across the country. I have loved guns in my life, been trained to use many different types, but now I own none and have zero fear that being unarmed is dangerous to me and those around me. I do not want to take guns away from people, I just wish that the prophetic words from The Beatles White Album, "happiness is a warm gun", and the song by the same name wasn't so true.

 

I think that we're actually 108th in homicide. We're probably #1 in the "developed" world, however, but there are other developed countries with liberal gun laws (the Czech Republic, for instance) that have almost zero gun crime. I think that America's uniquely affected because of its demographics i.e., high income inequality.

Also, I don't think those suicide statistics distinguish between people who already have guns and use them to commit suicide and people who buy guns for the express purpose of committing suicide (i.e., not sure if those studies really demonstrate that owning a gun makes one more likely to commit suicide).

Note: I don't own guns myself - but I think that statistics can be misleading sometimes.