【有文稿】歪果仁真的怕放鞭炮

Lincoln: A new social media campaign was launched in the Balkans recently to raise awareness about the dangers of the custom of celebratory shooting ahead of the New Year's celebrations. Michael, could you tell us a little bit more about what exactly is happening here? Michael: Yeah. So, this is the practice of, you know, when a happy event or occurrence happens, you know, taking your gun out and impulsively having a bit of a shoot. (Lincoln: Oh really?) Yeah, you know, just to make a bit of noise and have a bit of a celebration. Now, this social media campaign was launched in the Balkans, so, you know, the former Yugoslavia, around that sort of area. Now, this was abandoned during the Cold War and communist period, and it experienced something of a dramatic comeback in the 1990s. Now, the organization behind the campaign is called the SEESAC. They say that celebratory shooting takes place across the Western Balkans to different extents and for a variety of reasons, so you’ve got weddings, after the birth of a child, religious festivals, holidays and New Year's Eve, and apparently this is a big deal on New Year’s Eve, which is why this campaign is coming out now, and it’s also culturally accepted in parts of the Middle East, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of Northern India, as well as Latin American regions. It’s also practiced somewhat illegally in parts of the US and Puerto Rico on New Year’s Eve as well. Now, this organization said that every year, many people end up wounded or even dead as a result of celebratory gunfire. Lincoln: It seems like the countries where it’s taking place themselves are actually criticizing it also, [that] they’re also trying to take steps to try and prevent going forward, Wu You. WY: I think so, and also this is culturally accepted in parts of the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and also Northern India, as well as Latin American regions, and I can understand that this is sort of the tradition of the country, but [considering] the injuries and wounds it may cause, I think it is quite dangerous, and if it is only used during the celebrations, anniversaries, or all those kinds of festivals, I think it works the same way as the Chinese fireworks. Ten years ago, or even longer than that, it was very [commonly] seen in China that during the Spring Festival, there can be various fireworks lit up, even by little kids, and then we can see there are several injuries caused by the fireworks, and after that, the Chinese authorities strictly regulated the use of fireworks during the Spring Festival Lincoln: So, yeah, we’re talking a little bit more about dangerous celebrations – there’s an element of danger to these things, especially when you’re working with fireworks; more so when you’re working with firearms, in many ways, but especially fireworks, because it’s a combustion – something’s exploding, that’s very dangerous. Fireworks are necessarily very, very strictly enforced, but it’s also something that seems to be having a very clear negative effect. I’m looking at some of the figures here – 23 people were electrocuted after celebratory gunfire brought down a power cable. That was during a wedding party in Saudi Arabia in 2012. And then we’re looking at other things as well – at least four people killed and 17 others wounded in Baghdad, following a [victory] of the Iraqi national football team. Michael: There was the Balkans War in the 90s. Obviously the Middle East is a particularly volatile part of the world, and we’re talking about places where, maybe, firearms and guns are more readily available than they are in other parts of the world, and maybe aren’t regulated as strictly as they ought to be, and more than 20 people were reported killed in Iraq following celebratory gunfire [after] the deaths of Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay in 2003, when that was announced. Lincoln: It seems that the authorities, they’re taking steps, they’re trying their absolute best to stop this happening any more, but it’s the start of the process and we should give it a bit of time. Maybe, in the future, going forward, this is something that we can leave behind in the past.