(HL-정치/사회/경제) Why Are Americans So Divided?

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Mike from Florida got right to the point. Calling into C-SPAN TV Thursday, Mike said he did not like the gun control bill supported by that morning’s special guest, Rhode Island Congressman David Cicilline. “Where to start? First of all, it is not your job to keep Americans safe,” Mike said. “It is your duty to uphold the Constitution and the Bill of Rights…You are playing on people’s emotions. We know what your intentions are.” Mike suggested that Congressman Cicilline really wanted to take away guns from America’s 100 million gun owners. Cicilline said that isn’t the case. “My most important responsibility is to keep people safe and honor the Constitution,” he said. “I think you can do both things.” Doug McAdam is a Stanford University sociology professor who co-wrote a book on divided America. “People are so convinced that their opinions are righteous and that others aren’t just wrong, but morally suspect,” he said. McAdam’s opinion is that most Americans are not so divided. He said most people share moderate views on the top issues facing the nation. But increasingly, he said, the people calling C-SPAN and writing strong opinions on Facebook and Twitter are very conservative or very liberal.
* get to the point = 요점을 언급하다; 핵심에 이르다/ bill = (국회에 제출된) 법안/ uphold = (법・원칙 등을) 유지시키다[옹호하다]/ constitution = 헌법/ the Bill of Rights = 권리 장전(權利章典)/ play on[upon] ~ = (남의 감정 등을) 이용하다/ intention = 의도, 의사; 목적/ take away = 제거하다; 치우다/ honor = 지키다, 이행하다/ be convinced of[that ~] = ~라고 확신하다/ righteous = (도덕적으로) 옳은/ morally = 도덕[도의]적으로, 도덕적 원칙에 따라/ moderate = 중도의, 온건한, 보통의, 중간의            

After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C., Democrats and Republicans in Congress gathered for a moment of silence and to sing “God Bless America.” But the response was not quite as unified after the attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on June 12. The gunman claimed his allegiance to the Islamic State as he killed 49 people and wounded another 53. Some Democrats walked out as a moment of silence began Monday in the U.S. Capitol for victims of the worst mass shooting in modern American history. Cicilline was one of the Democrats who walked out. He said he was angry that such events are not followed by action to make future killings less likely. Divisions in America are nothing new. In the 1770s, there were divisions in America between “loyalists’’ to Britain and those who wanted to end English rule. From 1861-1865, the Southern and Northern U.S. states fought a deadly civil war. During the 1960s and 1970s, there were bitter fights over civil rights for African-Americans and the U.S. war with Vietnam.
* terrorist attack = 테러 공격/ moment of silence = 묵도/ unified = 통일된/ claim = (~이 사실이라고) 주장하다/ allegiance to ~ = ~에의 충성[헌신]/ mass shooting = 총기난사/ division = (특히 사회・단체 내의) 분열/ loyalist = (특히 변혁기의) 충신, 현 체제 지지자/ English rule = 영국 지배/ civil war = 미국 남북 전쟁(1861~1865년); 내전     

Why Are Americans So Divided - WTS.mp3