School shootings, a good read

[JTHunter]

My personal take is:

1. Kids (and others) have lost respect for other people
2. Kids (and others) have become more isolated as their attention is dominated by TV, Computers and video games and less by community and team activities.
3. That is directly correlated to the rise of secularism and the diminishing role of religion in our society.

How do you expect them to have respect for others when (and if) they don't have it for themselves?
For a variety of reasons, far too many people have gotten into situations where others "look down on them". Or they are involved in activities they know is wrong and results in turmoil in their lives they can't resolve. This turmoil also affects any family they might have as well, possibly forcing separation from that family. As a result, in this age of "instant gratification", some stressed individuals "react" instead of thinking, and we see these actions in almost every major city on a daily basis.

 

[TomJ]

I see a lot of speculation in this thread. Speculation is fine. Your opinions are valid, but many of them regarding medicinal use of drugs, family structure stability, and video games are statistically and factually incorrect according to many studies.

There is a break in our society. I agree. Something is wrong, but playing violent video games isn't a primary, secondary, or tertiary cause. Remember the devil music scare of the 1980s? Rap music turning kids into dangerous criminals of the 1990s? Hell, back in the 1950s and early 60s recreational pot supposedly turned you into a psychotic bloodthirsty rapist if you believe Refer Madness.

Some of you are taking anecdotal evidence as universal causation, shoehorning this situation to fit your own societal views of what "ought to be". I don't have an answer. No one has THE answer. If there was one I like to think we would have done it. Then again maybe I'm giving society too much credit. I think a fair number of people are entrenched on both sides. There will always be the extremes that think a child should have a spiritual text strapped to his left and rifle lashed to his right just as some will want all children bubble wrapped and allow them nothing sharper than a spork until they are 25.

I think what sickens me the most is that both sides are digging in their heels....again. No one will drill down to finding the cause, find the common variable that can figure this issue out. Nope. "Ban these weapons of war!" "It's the lack of fathers and the video games!". They all suck.

30 people are dead...again. Children are laying cold on a steel slab being prepped to go in the ground. Children. Kids. People who will never be. Yet still, we dig in. We fold our arms at articles because of the information comes from a source we are told is always bad (left and right leaning). We do nothing. It will happen again. More babies are going to get gunned down over a problem no one is addressing in a rational way...again.

I do find some of the statistical gymnastics some are willing to throw out there apauling. As a parent, you can kindly take the statistical probably of all the ways my kid can die besides through gun violence and shove it. Not place it tenderly and kindly. Shove. It. Don't give me how infinitesimally small of a chance it is to happen then strap on a duty size 9mm and pack 4 extra mags..."just in case". Do not make my kid or any kid a statistic to support your hard line in the sand where you feel lile planting your head. Conversely, I want no one on the far left to make sure we overblow the statistical chances of this happening so that it stokes irrational fear so that everyone is so damn anxious that they can't function. Society is broken in some ways. Gun violence is a sever symptom of the disease. Just getting rid of guns won't stop it, but I think talking about how society can use our great technological advancements to maybe make sure it's just a touch more difficult for people who aren't in the right state of mind to get guns and armor and accessories that can do a lot of damage. I don't know what the fair answer is to that. Where is a fundamental right trumped by what society finds is for the greater good?

My point is that everyone here can speculate into a near-echo chamber where pretty much everyone agrees and pats you on the back for being so smart and so right and for having the bravery to say the things they already believe. Or we can start asking the hard questions. I am aiming this at both sides. No one wants to seem to want to try anything short of throwing barbed spears at the other tribe.

The issue we run into is that these shooting have become politicized, in that they're used by the anti's to push for more gun control while they're silent about what's happening every week in Chicago, Baltimore and other cities. To them if your poor, black and your death can't be used to promote a political agenda your life has no meaning. Their proposals are meant to chip away at 2A rights, but they can't explain how they would prevent these shootings. Negotiating with people who lie and won't negotiate in good faith is difficult, if not impossible. If both sides worked to come up with proposals which would help curtail violence (you'll never do away with it) while protecting law abiding gun owners, I'm all in. I'll take a pass on proposals which accomplish nothing but are an end around the 2A.