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Today’s newspaper featured a heart rending story of an 18-year-old boy in Texas who shot and wounded three students, one of them critically (link), and one of whom declined medical attention. Of course, is very hard to interview these people because once they are arrested, they cannot really talk freely. Still, I would love to ask so these people why do you think using moral force in a schoolyard dispute is worthwhile.
In another story, a 29-year-old women cover for no good reason, attempted to push another woman how to Subway tracks in New York City (link). Again, why?
Are there any serious studies other than agenda-driven tracts about these fairly common, purposeless and tragic situations? Or in lieu of such studies, does anybody hear have any ideas?
Today’s newspaper featured a heart rending story of an 18-year-old boy in Texas who shot and wounded three students, one of them critically (link), and one of whom declined medical attention. Of course, is very hard to interview these people because once they are arrested, they cannot really talk freely. Still, I would love to ask so these people why do you think using moral force in a schoolyard dispute is worthwhile.
In another story, a 29-year-old women cover for no good reason, attempted to push another woman how to Subway tracks in New York City (link). Again, why?
Are there any serious studies other than agenda-driven tracts about these fairly common, purposeless and tragic situations? Or in lieu of such studies, does anybody hear have any ideas?
My theory on the school shooting is that disturbed teens follow the Columbine template. They are being neither clever or smart. They simply follow the known template. The reason? An hour of feeling feared and powerful perhaps. A desire for vengeance maybe. A striking out because of an unhappy life, or hope for notoriety.
There are so many guns out there, what do we really expect these days?
My theory on the school shooting is that disturbed teens follow the Columbine template. They are being neither clever or smart. They simply follow the known template. The reason? An hour of feeling feared and powerful perhaps. A desire for vengeance maybe. A striking out because of an unhappy life, or hope for notoriety.
There are so many guns out there, what do we really expect these days?
I expect to see no correlation between gun ownership and gun crime, because it's not the mere presence of guns that causes crime.
Here are the 10 states with the highest rates of gun ownership per capita:
Montana
Wyoming
Alaska
Idaho
West Virginia
Arkansas
Mississippi
Alabama
South Dakota
North Dakota
If the availability of guns was a primary driver of the gun crime rate, one would expect the same states to appear in both lists at more or less the same order. And yet, only two states (Alaska and Mississippi) appear on both lists. Montana and Wyoming are awash in guns, yet they rank only 33rd and 34th (respectively) on the gun crime list. Idaho and both Dakotas rank even lower.
The fact is, we don't have a gun problem in this country. We have a moral problem.
There are different reasons such as mental health and anger issues. Some people just aren't happy with their life and want to project their misery onto others. Then others who have legitimate mental health issues. People are animals. The most intelligent animals on the planet but animals nonetheless. We can be unpredictable. There will always be conflicts and problems. Not a new issue at all.
I think it is the "normalization" of extreme, pointless violence on TV.
Just look at what's Number One on Netflix---apparently the MOST popular show they've done so far.
"SquidGames"---hour after hour of video-game-like killing but with real actors getting murdered en masse just for a "game". I was really alarmed to see this transition from game characters to real actors----this is a step in the wrong direction.
Violence is in almost every movie but this is a new LOW.
Kids absorb all this and unconsciously imitate it, probably not thinking of the ramifications. Nursing some affront they've experienced, as someone said.
I think it is the "normalization" of extreme, pointless violence on TV.
Just look at what's Number One on Netflix---apparently the MOST popular show they've done so far.
"SquidGames"---hour after hour of video-game-like killing but with real actors getting murdered en masse just for a "game". I was really alarmed to see this transition from game characters to real actors----this is a step in the wrong direction.
Violence is in almost every movie but this is a new LOW.
Kids absorb all this and unconsciously imitate it, probably not thinking of the ramifications. Nursing some affront they've experienced, as someone said.
I definitely think this is a factor. Not the only one, for sure, but one that used to get more attention than it does now.
These days, it's all "guns, guns, guns". I think that's the easy "go to" answer these days. I'm not a gun owner, but I definitely think there's an ulterior motive for pushing the "get rid of guns" narrative.
Kids absorb all this and unconsciously imitate it, probably not thinking of the ramifications. Nursing some affront they've experienced, as someone said.
I remember seeing in the news a while ago, that some guy was injured in a shooting that he was involved in, but he got caught because he was surprised that, unlike in the movies, being shot actually hurts and means that you can't just get up and run away at full capacity.
I think it is the "normalization" of extreme, pointless violence on TV.
Just look at what's Number One on Netflix---apparently the MOST popular show they've done so far.
"SquidGames"---hour after hour of video-game-like killing but with real actors getting murdered en masse just for a "game". I was really alarmed to see this transition from game characters to real actors----this is a step in the wrong direction.
Violence is in almost every movie but this is a new LOW.
Kids absorb all this and unconsciously imitate it, probably not thinking of the ramifications. Nursing some affront they've experienced, as someone said.
This is hardly new. Battle Royale came out in Japan in 2000 and was hugely popular. We then got movies like the Hunger Games in the US. There have always been movies with scenes where there is one guy fighting a band of like 20 baddies and at the end of the battle, there is a set full of bodies that the hero(ine) killed with no mention of them again.
I do think that people in some countries find it odd that the US in particular (Japan is weird too, Korea not so much) allows extreme violence on TV/movies but it is so puritanical about other things.
The fact is, we don't have a gun problem in this country. We have a moral problem.
No we have both. Only narco/gang states like Colombia, Brazil, El Salvador etc. rank up with the US in gun deaths per capita.
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