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School shootings - I really don't understand why

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Paul Harper

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Mar 22, 2005, 12:23:42 PM3/22/05
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This is going to sound like a troll, but it really isn't - I am trying
to understand what it is about the situation over there in the States
that makes schoolkids so often commit mass-atrocities like today (and
Columbine, and all the many, many others we've seen in recent years).

It *has* to go deeper than simply removing guns from circulation
though God knows that would be a good start. There does seem to be
some fundamental problem there that for the life of me I cannot see or
understand.

It must be getting to the point where parents are really scared about
sending their kids off to school now. As a parent (of six kids over
the better part of three decades!) I know how frightened I would be at
the frequency that these terrible things keep happening.

Can anyone explain it?

Paul.

--
. A .sig is all well and good, but it's no substitute for a personality
. JMS: "SFX is a fairly useless publication on just about every imaginable front.
Never have so many jumped-up fanboys done so little, with so much, for so long."
. EMail: Unless invited to, don't. Your message is likely to be automatically deleted.

TravNo9

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Mar 23, 2005, 6:13:17 PM3/23/05
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It's the shock and awe method of resolving differences.
There are presidents being set.
Our leaders talk about killing very casually.
If you are convinced of the absolute correctness of your position the means
to deal with it's opposition may be justified by it's end.
The unthinking's unease in a exploitive uncaring world is assuaged by sudden
, sure , sensation.
The most popular thing for the masses is violent spectacle. Roman society
was one example.
Who do the people emulate. Those that are emulated are failing us.


Michael Gray

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Mar 24, 2005, 7:01:51 PM3/24/05
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On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 17:23:42 +0000, Paul Harper <pa...@harper.net>
wrote:

>This is going to sound like a troll, but it really isn't - I am trying
>to understand what it is about the situation over there in the States
>that makes schoolkids so often commit mass-atrocities like today (and
>Columbine, and all the many, many others we've seen in recent years).
>
>It *has* to go deeper than simply removing guns from circulation
>though God knows that would be a good start. There does seem to be
>some fundamental problem there that for the life of me I cannot see or
>understand.
>
>It must be getting to the point where parents are really scared about
>sending their kids off to school now. As a parent (of six kids over
>the better part of three decades!) I know how frightened I would be at
>the frequency that these terrible things keep happening.
>
>Can anyone explain it?
>
>Paul.

Have you actually seen "Bowling for Columbine"?
If so, have you understood it?
Watch it again.
It clearly answers your question.

Paul Harper

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Mar 25, 2005, 1:42:24 AM3/25/05
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On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 10:31:51 +1030, Michael Gray
<fle...@newsguy.spam.com> wrote:

>Have you actually seen "Bowling for Columbine"?
>If so, have you understood it?
>Watch it again.
>It clearly answers your question.

Yes, I have seen it. Several times, in fact. Although it's an
interesting movie, and explains a fair bit about the sort of shallow
thinking that lies behind the gun culture in the US, it doesn't
actually explain *why* it happened. It doesn't go into the reasoning -
however warped - of the kids who think of doing these things.

Unless you're saying that the entire culture is so corrupt that the
NRA and its KKK predecessor have defined morality over there?

Michael Gray

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Mar 25, 2005, 11:12:03 PM3/25/05
to
On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 06:42:24 +0000, Paul Harper <pa...@harper.net>
wrote:

>On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 10:31:51 +1030, Michael Gray


><fle...@newsguy.spam.com> wrote:
>
>>Have you actually seen "Bowling for Columbine"?
>>If so, have you understood it?
>>Watch it again.
>>It clearly answers your question.
>
>Yes, I have seen it. Several times, in fact. Although it's an
>interesting movie, and explains a fair bit about the sort of shallow
>thinking that lies behind the gun culture in the US, it doesn't
>actually explain *why* it happened. It doesn't go into the reasoning -
>however warped - of the kids who think of doing these things.
>
>Unless you're saying that the entire culture is so corrupt that the
>NRA and its KKK predecessor have defined morality over there?
>
>Paul.

Perhaps the version that you saw had been censored.
The comparison between Canada and the US clearly showed that gun
violence that is exclusive to the States, stems mainly from the fact
the U.S. elite (government, buisness, religion and media), inculcate a
tradition of fear, ignorance and distrust of anyone who is
"different", amongst the great unwashed.
It serves the elite minoritie's needs extremely well, at the expense
of large sections of the rest of the population.

I don't wish to go into too much detail, as you can watch that section
again.

Paul Harper

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Mar 26, 2005, 2:20:39 AM3/26/05
to
On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 14:42:03 +1030, Michael Gray
<fle...@newsguy.spam.com> wrote:

>Perhaps the version that you saw had been censored.

We don't censor stuff over here, nor do we blindly believe everything
the media feeds us.

>The comparison between Canada and the US clearly showed that gun
>violence that is exclusive to the States, stems mainly from the fact
>the U.S. elite (government, buisness, religion and media), inculcate a
>tradition of fear, ignorance and distrust of anyone who is
>"different", amongst the great unwashed.

Yes, I know. That blatant manipulation has been obvious to us outside
observers for some considerable time. It doesn't explain why kids go
on mass-murdering rampages, though.

>It serves the elite minoritie's needs extremely well, at the expense
>of large sections of the rest of the population.

Yeah. They're trying that over here too, but are fairly disappointed
at the lack of interest from the general populous. We've always had a
loony right-wing element (usually detected by them reading the Daily
Telegraph) but they are a small minority these days, thank goodness,
since the Thatcherite tendencies of the self-obsessed 80's died out.

>I don't wish to go into too much detail, as you can watch that section
>again.

I don't need to. The idea of Michael Moore being able to test whether
front doors are locked in New York makes me smile every time.

hachiroku

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Apr 8, 2005, 2:27:57 PM4/8/05
to


It goes long before that, and you know it.

hachiroku

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Apr 8, 2005, 2:27:31 PM4/8/05
to
On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 17:23:42 +0000, Paul Harper wrote:

> This is going to sound like a troll, but it really isn't - I am trying
> to understand what it is about the situation over there in the States
> that makes schoolkids so often commit mass-atrocities like today (and
> Columbine, and all the many, many others we've seen in recent years).
>
> It *has* to go deeper than simply removing guns from circulation
> though God knows that would be a good start. There does seem to be
> some fundamental problem there that for the life of me I cannot see or
> understand.
>
> It must be getting to the point where parents are really scared about
> sending their kids off to school now. As a parent (of six kids over
> the better part of three decades!) I know how frightened I would be at
> the frequency that these terrible things keep happening.
>
> Can anyone explain it?
>
> Paul.


We've had this discussion before, Paul; it really does have a lot to do
with the pop culture over here.

From the violent video games, to the flip attitudes of rap stars (and the
lyrics...look up Cop Killer) the life of another is reduced to having No
Meaning. I can't really give you a lot of details, but stand in on a
conversation in a ghetto somewhere. That m-f stole my girl, I'm gonna blow
his ass away. Really, it is like that. The glamourization of criminals
really is something over here. Missy Elliot, another hip hop star, used to
bill herself as Missy (Misdemeanor) Elliot. She's dropped that since; must
have finally gotten a brain on E-Bay or something...

Notorious B.I.G. was reveled as a martyr when he got his ass shot away as
a result of a gang turf war. Same with numerous others who got ass-blasted
of some silly nonsense. I live in rural Mass, and in the two nearest
cities if you are in certain areas you can hear gunfire. Being 'notorious'
is cool, and the image is projected by radio, tv, theatre and other media.
So, it come back to us in our society, the lack of respect for life and
theat if you have a beef with someone, instead of giving him a bloody
nose, you blow him and his friends away, and take out a few more while
you're at it.

Even in the small town I live in, there was a murder of a 16 YO by a 14YO.
Why? Over a girl. And the 14YO was under 'house arrest', with an ankle
bracelet that was supposed to alert the authorities if he left a certain
area around his house. He managed to defeat the system, disappear for over
2 hours and beat another kid to death with a baseball bat, while about 10
other kids stood by and watched.

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