I think those statistics are pretty grim. People don't always want to hear them, as they run contrary to what they want to believe about their home, but it points to a nation that clearly has a problem with violent crime. It is distressing that many of the victims are innocent in all respects. Each person may have their own opinions as to what causes the problem and/or what should be done about it, but pretending it's not a problem doesn't do anyone any good.
I heard that some of the kids are being buried today. :candle:
Again, I dont think this thread is here to argue about what caused this tragedy, and without going into politics I have to say that I dont know of anyone that says that 22 dead kids isnt a problem. WE have a
violence problem. Our society is bombarded with violence on tv, in the movies and in today's popular music. That is always justified and ignored. Sociopathic, violent people will always find a way to commit violence. They always have...
Anyway, I wonder if this guy or kid who did this left any kind of note or any evidence of why he did this? I havent heard of any, and usually when this happens every 1-3 years at a school, or elsewhere they make it clear as to their motives. Its important to understand why.
I was watching a psychiatrist last night talking about this, and he made several good points. He was criticizing the way the media jump to the conclusion that these are just shy, troubled kids who overreact. They come to this conclusion because they hear that the kid is a "loner" and often very private. Well, the fact is that kids who are shy and bullied usually are angry at what they suffer, but at the same time they dont have it in them to commit mass murder! That takes a sociopathic mentality. Sociopaths are also very private and dont tend to tell everyone whats going on in their minds. They can also be loners. The point this guy was making was that the media need to stop taking a few basic symptoms and drawing incorrect conclusions based on those symptoms. Kids that do things like this arent good kids who were just pushed a little too far. In order to do something like this, its pretty clear they dont care about about their fellow humans like most healthy people do.
WE need to look deeper into sociopathy. I think its important to stop school bullying and make all kids more comfortable while in school, and to discourage the cliches and the social competitiveness that leads to bullying. Competitiveness is fine in gym class. But still we need to find ways to detect whatever genes lead to sociopathic behavior that causes some people to have absolutely no care or concern for the feelings or welfare of others. They are really just scratching the surface with this stuff, and there are different types of sociopaths. There are many functioning sociopaths who use their lack of empathy to move ahead in business and politics, but they dont usually commit mass murder. They couldnt care less when people die or get hurt around them, but at the same time they do care enough about their own welfare that they wont do anything that will destroy their own lives, or at least they try and be careful when they commit crimes. I can speak to this because my cousin is a functioning sociopath who has done fairly well for himself, often at the expense of others, and he seems to enjoy being deceptive, cheating on his wife right under her nose in the most risky manner possible to get more of a rush from the experience. He can and will stab anyone in the back, and has probably done so to everyone around him many times, but he's gotten so good at it you usually dont even realize he's done something til later. AT the same time, nobody even suspects him because he easily fools people into believing he's this nice guy! He can be charming when needed, and he can walk all over you and get off on it.... He would never kill anyone, and doesnt own a gun anyway, because he's not in the business of hurting himself by going to prison.
Thats the type of behavior that has been around since the dawn of humankind, but its been mostly ignored and not studied enough. If we could detect who has the gene that can lead to murder, then we need to find a way to counteract it.