School Shootings

[DoC]

How does everyone feel about the recent slew of school shootings taking place across the U.S.? In case those of you who are overseas haven't heard, the U.S. has recently been burdened with a growing phenomenon of kids showing up to school with guns and brutally killing classmates.

I for one am absolutely sickened by the easy access children have to guns and how kids are being accustomed to such violence.

Any thoughts??

[bellthecat]

This might seem extreme - but I think the victims sort of got what they deserved, or at least contributed to it, because they went along with a society where such events are inevitable.

In all these schools the "classmates" seemed to have treated their eventual killers as worthless persons because they did not fit society's stereotype of what makes an "ideal" American. Did they really think they could do such things to people without any consequences? Are all American schools like this? The way the victims of the Columbine shootings have been elevated to almost saintly status is just sickening - showing an attitude of do anything except face the actual causes of these events.

As to the "victims" becoming "victimisers" by resorting to such extremes of violence - perhaps this is because America as a whole seems to be a country that thinks violence is the answer to all problems, both at home and abroad.

And what is the useless Bush doing condemming the latest killings as "cowardly" - this is from a person who thinks nothing is wrong in resolving disputes with the barrel of a gun. If the killer had just used his bare hands - would that have been "brave" in Bush's eyes?

Steve

[Kazza]

There are two sides to every story and I don't see why this is any different. I think the shootings are awful. When something similar happenned a while back involving a teenage boy I use to go along with the thought of what evil people the killers were- and that everyone around him was blameless. until I saw a programme which really, really opened my eyes. It made you wonder what could drive a young boy to something like that and as the programme went on I could see why,. Excuse me if this comes out to be a little bit lame, but his is from emory and I dont really remeber all the correct names, dates, details, etc. His parents were these academic bigshots in the society which they lived in. His sister was top of the class in everything. When the boy came along, he didn't quite excel at everything. In fact he struggled. and that made his parents shun him all his life, it made the relationship with his father so bad that he totally rejected him. All becasue he didnt live up this dream that his parents dreamed up for him. It turned out later on that he was dislexic. And of course he was rejected at school, and the rest of it. Anyway, his parents said "i know, what will make him bright? Wee will get him the internet and see if that will help/or motivate him" meanwhile, the boy was developing an interest in guns- the only way, he felt- that he could express his anger. And what did the internet do, but feul this to a dangerous point. And of course, his parents werent even aware of what he was doing. He made a girlfriend at school (who later on rejected him, but that is a different story) and this made him even more angry. Now I mentioned bfore in his house the parents ruled over it so that he could not answer back, or express his feelings whatsoever. So the only way he knew about retailating was with guns, with disastrous consequences. Demands of american society. he funny thing is that he shot his own mother first, was so tramatised that not only was she dead but he killed her, then shot his dad because he didnt want him finding out. The other funnier thing is that some could argue that his parents were partly to blame for what happenned then the boy ended up paying for their, mistake with his life. If his life want miserable before he will end up in prison for the rest of his life. Others could say he is a total monster and deserves more that he got. The class mates did contribute but I still think they are victims.

[Kazza]

Everybody becomes a victim the end of the situation and the end of the day.The least america can do is take responsibility for the way it's society treats each other!!! I'm all for laws banning gun use with adolecents for a start. I'm sure all of you can think of at least some examples ou could count on your hand that americans are bad to each other and instances where nothing is done, just ignored. If society chooses to whine on about how terrible things happe, why dont they do something or try to help the situation?

[shiner]

Steve,
It is interesting how you make it sound as if the victims were targeted specifically. The media makes it sound as if the victims were random. The gunman entered the school and started shooting randomly; some of the people that got hit could have been complete strangers to the gunman. Should me or you have been there we could have been shot too, just because we happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If the media's version is right then the victims did not deserve to be victimized at all and it is truly a tragedy. If your version is correct then it changes things somewhat, but it is still very sad. Does anybody know for sure if in all these school shootings the victims are targeted specifically or just randomly?

[bellthecat]

I don't live in America - so did not get detailed news of this latest incident, but I think the reports went that the victims were
all shot in the same place, the school toilets - this sugests that it was not just random. And in the Columbine school shootings, didn't the killers have the intention to shoot specific people (the school's sporting elite) and warned some kids not to attend school that day, and also deliberately avoided shooting certain people.

But I didn't mean to suggest that anyone deserved to be killed - just that the attitudes of the victims led to such events happening - and the hagiography (...ooh - big words ) that is attached to these victims, and the easy demonization of the killers, blinds people from looking at the causes of these violent events. And if the causes are not examined then these horrible things will keep happening.

America is not unique in this - look at what happened at Dunblane, Scotland. Nobody ever did truthfully look at that event - not at the events that led up to it and not at the way it was subsequently presented.

Steve