School Shooting in PA
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast...hool.shooting/
It was bound to happen again... I just didn't think it would be this random, and just violent...
The kid had 3 guns... 3!.... He was 14 years old.... do any of you remember what you were like when you were 14? I think the most important thing in my life at that time was like super nintendo or something... (err end of 8th grade was probably learning about the pro go whoa ad campaign... but I digress) HOMICIDE? SUICIDE? in 8th grade?
What the F*CK is going on?
It was bound to happen again... I just didn't think it would be this random, and just violent...
The kid had 3 guns... 3!.... He was 14 years old.... do any of you remember what you were like when you were 14? I think the most important thing in my life at that time was like super nintendo or something... (err end of 8th grade was probably learning about the pro go whoa ad campaign... but I digress) HOMICIDE? SUICIDE? in 8th grade?
What the F*CK is going on?
Comments
We need to reconsider a lot of things because we can't keep going on like this, yet we will.
Originally posted by ColanderOfDeath
Really it is a wonder this doesn't happen very often. When you consider all of the emotional troubles that teens have and their very high suicide rates it is a wonder that we don't see more rampages against others.
I think there are very real environmental and societal factors that negatively contribute to what we're seeing here.
Anyone care to expound?
Originally posted by ShawnPatrickJoyce
The culture of guns, violent movies and video games, and the lack of corporate responsibility is pretty much heavily to blame.
We need to reconsider a lot of things because we can't keep going on like this, yet we will.
Maybe you could sue the gun makes for making a legal product and steal lots of money for yourself. Oh and the victims to maybe if there's any left over.
Either way, I don't think the media is to blame. No 14 year old sees a violent movie or plays a violent video game and thinks it would be cool to just go out and kill some people. My brother is a very normal 14 year old, and I often see his friends of the same age. No 14 year old would do that sort of thing unless he had serious problems, and there would probably be warning signs leading up to it. Also, what type of video game would promote going up and shooting the principal, then killing himself? Most violent games involve running around and killing lots of people, and many earlier school shootings involved that sort of thing - children firing many rounds at people. This one involved a suicide, so I definitely think it has more to do with a psychological problem. Columbine also involved suicide - do you think those boys really were inspired by a video game or movie? I don't.
From reading the article, it seems that the guns were locked up but the child managed to get them anyway... I don't know enough details to really tell if the parents were irresponsible or not.
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
Scott, the question isn't whether it's actually legal or not, but whether it should be legal or not. I am really torn on the issue, but I think the way I said would be a better way to look at it.
Either way, I don't think the media is to blame. No 14 year old sees a violent movie or plays a violent video game and thinks it would be cool to just go out and kill some people. My brother is a very normal 14 year old, and I often see his friends of the same age. No 14 year old would do that sort of thing unless he had serious problems, and there would probably be warning signs leading up to it. Also, what type of video game would promote going up and shooting the principal, then killing himself? Most violent games involve running around and killing lots of people, and many earlier school shootings involved that sort of thing - children firing many rounds at people. This one involved a suicide, so I definitely think it has more to do with a psychological problem. Columbine also involved suicide - do you think those boys really were inspired by a video game or movie? I don't.
From reading the article, it seems that the guns were locked up but the child managed to get them anyway... I don't know enough details to really tell if the parents were irresponsible or not.
I think the role of the media is more complicated than you let on. But yeah, you're right, something's legality is no excuse for itself.
I would say for some of my friends 14-16 yrs old, if something was consistantly pissing them off, ****ing them over or something else, and they had relativly easy access to a gun, they would think about it, some may plan it, though i doubt any would go through with it.
I think the access to his stepfathers guns are what caused this to happen, besides a serious problem with the school principal.
Originally posted by ShawnPatrickJoyce
The culture of guns, violent movies and video games, and the lack of corporate responsibility is pretty much heavily to blame.
We need to reconsider a lot of things because we can't keep going on like this, yet we will.
SPJ,
To a degree, I agree with you regarding violent movies and video games. I'm totally lost on how corporate responsibility is to blame.
Other factors I see are single parenting, drugs, and alcohol.
Since this kid had it in him to kill the principle, he would have done it if he didn't have a gun. Guns are not the problem. Raising human beings who have a total disregard for the lives of others is the problem.
Here are a couple of recent examples of disregard for others....
Kids beat man to brain death
And another (the link doesn't work anymore)
Teens Charged After Man's Death
Video Records Lethal Attack
http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-b...eadlines-local
April 7, 2003
By DAVID OWENS And DON STACOM, Courant Staff Writers
What began as several teenagers tormenting a mentally retarded man in the lobby of his Hartford apartment building Saturday afternoon escalated into an attack that left him dead, according to two men who viewed a videotape of the incident.
One teen flung a full bottle of soda against Ricky Whistnant's head so hard the 39-year-old man fell over sideways, hitting the other side of his head against a wall as he collapsed, said the men who watched the surveillance camera videotape.
The teens then surrounded Whistnant, kicking him and opening more soda bottles to pour over his motionless body, according to Oscar Negron, superintendent of the building, and his brother, Elliott, the assistant manager.
Other tenants entering the lobby called 911, and paramedics arrived to try to revive Whistnant. He was pronounced dead soon afterward at Hartford Hospital.
The attackers ran off as police began arriving, witnesses said, but within several hours detectives arrested three juveniles. Police did not release their names or ages Sunday, but Whistnant's family said investigators described them as teenagers.
Fellowship
Originally posted by xionja
More and more teen violence will probably occur, till the general populace realizes its out of hand,
Events such as these are relatively isolated and only happen on a sporadic basis. If a school shooting happened every week on a regular basis I would agree with the above comment. However, I don't believe teen violence is out of hand per se, rather it seems so when school shootings occur and there is a large media coverage.
and then the government will completly restrict violence from TV and video games, (not movies, that would just be cruel). Who knows after that.
Eh? First Amendment anyone?
RE: Societal and Environmental factors:
These people are making a concious decision to shoot someone else. Yes, environmental factors play a large role, however when someone shoots another person, they are solely responsible for their actions. They made the decision to take another person's life and thus must be held responsible for their actions. After all, they pulled the trigger, not society.
its definatly not media, i havn't shot anyone and i watch more violent movies and play more violent games...i think majority of it is how u are raised, i think that is the basis of everything
now when i start robbing banks, and i have to shoot my way out, i wont think its right, but when its life or death i'll be prepared now! (not appropriate? sorry if so)
Originally posted by ShawnPatrickJoyce
The culture of guns, violent movies and video games, and the lack of corporate responsibility is pretty much heavily to blame.
Events like this or Columbine, terrible though they might be, pale into insignificance when compared to other social problems. Despite routine media feeding frenzies over this sort of thing, our students and teachers are probably far more at risk of dying from junk food, cigarettes, sports injuries, or riding in cars to school.
We humans seem to have found endless reasons to behave violently and barbarically in the past without movies and video games to blame for it. Sure, maybe such forms of entertainment aren't helping, but even if you could wave a magic wand and suddenly create a sanitized, Care Bear/Barney/Teletubbies approved world of gentle, soothing, nurturing fun for the whole family, I doubt you'd notice any great improvement in the general disposition of humankind.
The culture of guns, violent movies and video games, and the lack of corporate responsibility is pretty much heavily to blame.
This kind of support of censorship something I'd expect to hear from a a conservative homemaker that attends weekly PTA meetings while leaving her kids at home in front of the TV.
All the violence in the world hasn't led me to shoot any of my previous principals or headmasters. I guess in my case Mortal Kombat isn't to blame!
No. The lack of violence on TV isn't going to help much if a kid doesn't learn right from wrong to begin with.
Originally posted by ShawnPatrickJoyce
The culture of guns, violent movies and video games, and the lack of corporate responsibility is pretty much heavily to blame.
We need to reconsider a lot of things because we can't keep going on like this, yet we will.
I haven't yet seen anybody just sit there, and blame the kid. Maybe he actually knew what he was doing, and maybe he was smart enough to understand what he was about to do. I don't hear anybody blaming poor parenting, or really blaming the kid. They just blame random companies, or something that may have had a "psychological effect" on him. What the **** ever happened to free will? Is the kid that stupid that he has to learn about realtiy from TV? Or from what he read? Nobody forced this kid to pick up that gun, nobody forced him to do that shit, he was just that ****ing stupid and he did it. People ask for reasons why, maybe he just hated the principle that much, maybe he had some issues with anger but how that automatically means TV influenced him, or the media, or the gun makers is beyond me.
Originally posted by ShawnPatrickJoyce
The culture of guns, violent movies and video games, and the lack of corporate responsibility is pretty much heavily to blame.
We need to reconsider a lot of things because we can't keep going on like this, yet we will.
You are so insane.
The culture of guns, violent movies and video games, and the lack of corporate responsibility is pretty much heavily to blame.
dude, he was being funny, right..........?