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2-27-12 Another high school shooting.

C_Felix said:
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/27/shooting-reported-at-ohio-high-school/?hpt=hp_t1

I wonder what the rest of the world think of the US when they see events such as this on the news.
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I am not sure the court of world opinion matters much to folks in the U.S., and in any case similar incidents have occurred outside the U.S., although maybe not on a per capita basis as frequently. That given, I can predict with a high level of confidence that it will result in more bickering inside the U.S. over guns/not guns and then die off with no significant solutions, until the next school shooting occurs.
 
C_Felix said:
I wonder what the rest of the world think of the US when they see events such as this on the news.
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Depends on which country you're wondering about. The Japanese probably wonder why it wasn't knives instead of guns, the Russians probably think "at least it wasn't terrorists and bombs", the British probably think "at least they were high school and not kindergarteners". Violence is not confined to the US, nor are guns and gun control the problem or the solution.
 
Monketey Ghost said:
Probably many different things.

But among the most common, I suppose, might be that our kids have easy access to guns and are perhaps a bit thin-skinned.
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While coating all of our children in metal to thicken their skin enough to deflect bullets has some merit, I feel it might have some unintended consequences.

;)
 
The USA gets what, maybe one or two of these every few years? Out of how many high schools and colleges across the entire country? It may not be pleasant but it's certainly not an epidemic.

If you want to talk about heartbreaking trends among high school and college students then just look at the suicide rate in Japan. They even have websites dedicated to explaining how to kill yourself while causing the least amount of trouble to others.

I'm just saying, despairing students doing desperate things is universal.
 
The Dark Lord said:
Count me as one of the people who couldn't care less what people outside of the US think.
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Oh, thank you... :rolleyes:

crimresearch said:
I doubt that too many people anywhere think the rational thought...

Namely, that the media is making a profit by sensationalizing an extremely rare event and trying to make it look like an epidemic, thus encouraging copycats.
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I'm mostly familiar with European and especially German shootings.
The Jokela, Kauhajoki and Emsdetten shootings apparently were inspired by earlier shootings. The Winnenden shooting less so, though the Alabama shooting a day before might have been a trigger.
The Erfurt shooting certainly seemed to have been on the mind when Winnenden and Emsdetten happened. School shooters seem to have exactly the same cultish following as serial killers. There seems to be an appeal to young men. The perpertrators get stylised into "the last true outlaws".
What I found somewhat remarkable is that most German shootings had a higher number of female victims. Female teachers are more prevalent and yet Winnenden mostly targeted female pupils. I'm not sure if it actually means anything and if so what.
 
The place is somewhat startling, it's a well to do town whose claim to fame is its maple sugar festival, and that is not known for much of anything beyond maple syrup, maple sugar candy, and having pretty rich people living there.

Oh, and their yearly chainsaw race.

ETA: I recall something like this happening up in Scotland, too, Dunblane or something like that.

It's ugly no matter where.
 
Weak Kitten said:
The USA gets what, maybe one or two of these every few years? Out of how many high schools and colleges across the entire country? It may not be pleasant but it's certainly not an epidemic.

If you want to talk about heartbreaking trends among high school and college students then just look at the suicide rate in Japan. They even have websites dedicated to explaining how to kill yourself while causing the least amount of trouble to others.

I'm just saying, despairing students doing desperate things is universal.
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The suicide rate in America is terrible as well, but no one wants to talk about it.

Yet the White House felt compelled to hold a 'summit' on the 'epidemic of schoolyard shootings' 20-some years ago.
 
Moss said:
Oh, thank you... :rolleyes:



I'm mostly familiar with European and especially German shootings.
The Jokela, Kauhajoki and Emsdetten shootings apparently were inspired by earlier shootings. The Winnenden shooting less so, though the Alabama shooting a day before might have been a trigger.
The Erfurt shooting certainly seemed to have been on the mind when Winnenden and Emsdetten happened. School shooters seem to have exactly the same cultish following as serial killers. There seems to be an appeal to young men. The perpertrators get stylised into "the last true outlaws".
What I found somewhat remarkable is that most German shootings had a higher number of female victims. Female teachers are more prevalent and yet Winnenden mostly targeted female pupils. I'm not sure if it actually means anything and if so what.
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Yes, 'going out in a blaze of glory' is now firmly associated in the popular culture with taking a gun to school.
 
jj said:
The place is somewhat startling, it's a well to do town whose claim to fame is its maple sugar festival, and that is not known for much of anything beyond maple syrup, maple sugar candy, and having pretty rich people living there.
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Perhaps the shooter was tired of maple.
 
Perhaps people outside the US will conclude that this sort of incident is quite rare and that kids in the US are far more likely to die in a car accident than to be shot by a classmate while in school.
 
It seems in many societies there is a sort of meta idea floating around for people concerning how a person behaves when they just "can't take it anymore", and these often involve indiscriminate killing. The term "running amok" is a good example, based on a behavior in Malaysia where people would attack others in public, often with a machete, without provocation.

"Going postal" is another example. What seems to have changed recently is, whether due to the severity of the situation or other factors, after Columbine, the media reports on these incidents with a fervor that was not seen seemingly prior to that school shooting.

People as a result seem to think this is an epidemic that is somehow once again indicative of the decline in moral values or something. Meanwhile, violent crime is at record lows in the past 50 years.

Blame Christian Slater and Winona Ryder.
 
Halfcentaur said:
Blame Christian Slater and Winona Ryder.
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Are you suggesting that people who have been pushed over the edge by misery should seek to end it all by watching Christian Slater on television or Winona Ryder in a movie (if you can find one with her in it, lately, I mean)? That's pretty harsh. I mean, suicide is a personal choice, but there are some methods just too horrible to contemplate.
 
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