What the hell is going on?

[TomK]

Carey, thank you. I'm not sure if you've seen this, but think you'll appreciate what was said here. The 1:05:00 bit is worth watching.

https://youtu.be/vKblXAikzEc

[Carey]

Tom, This is not a first time for a students at a Puna school to claim that a school is a target... it may have been noticed more this week because of the current national focus (& that is probably WHY action was taken on it this week)....
Students in Puna schools have copied violence that has been reported from other schools, both local kine & national
Puna high schools have had violence on campus, have had lockdowns because of student actions & high school student from Puna high schools have even caused other schools in Puna to go on lockdown, heck, even University students here have threatened violence ....

None of this should be "news" to anyone.... esp for those of us that have been around for a while...

http://www.punaweb.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17530
http://www.punaweb.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16996
http://www.punaweb.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20930
http://www.punaweb.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9543
http://www.punaweb.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9537
http://www.punaweb.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2476
http://www.punaweb.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2295
http://khon2.com/2015/12/09/teachers-wan...iolence-2/

[knieft]

quote:

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Originally posted by TomK

Well, I started the thread because I was hoping to understand why young people were now basically making copycat threats about gun violence at our schools.

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Perhaps because they are jerks?

Perhaps that sounds glib, but the responsibility for school shootings (or threats) may lie largely with the individuals who do so, as opposed to Trump, lack of "counselor screening", medication, "assault" rifle ban, corporate profit, "bullying", enabling by American lawmakers, evil invading the White House, lack of personalized education, the billionaire class, etc.

It sometimes seems that the issue is something of a Rorschach test in the sense that it is almost impossible not to have an emotional response and then fill in the blanks according to your predisposition (including my jerk comment).

The Monty Python joke line that "society's problems cause society's problems" seems apropos as a way of removing individual responsibility whenever someone, child or adult, is completely out of line.

It may be that these incidents are in a strange way the "price of freedom" in the way that 30,000+ deaths a year are the price of automobile transport.

HotPE, we may want to look to Syria to see how to handle gun violence...?

Cheers,
Kirt

[randomq]

I don't disagree, Kirt. No doubt some parents bear responsibility for raising the jerks as well. I do think fairness, hope, and personal attention are grease that keeps our rough-edged society working. The grease is being siphoned away and the friction is heating things up.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

HotPE, we may want to look to Syria to see how to handle gun violence...?

Thanks for the top o the mornin' chain yanking knieft, better than a strong cup of coffee! I think you understood my intentionally overly broad statement though:

"We just need to follow the example of almost any other nation except our own on this one issue."

...but to clarify, I intended it to mean shootings in schools, not in war zones where almost all the norms of society are set aside.


Perhaps because they are jerks?

Then the question(s) as it relates to recent threats in Puna schools become:
1) does Hawaii have more jerks per capita than in other countries?
2) Are those jerks encouraged in some way (movies? TV? games? social media?) to act out at a greater frequency than foreign jerks? Don't foreign jerks have access to the same things?
3) Do Hawaiian and American jerks have the ability to increase their actions, sometimes exponentially, as compared to other jerks, increasing the likelihood that they think they can make a statement, or even get away with it?
4) Is it simpler, faster, and easier for jerks in the United States or Hawaii to obtain highly destructive technology than it is in other countries? (To be clear, I am not talking about hunting rifles, shotguns, BB guns, etc. I have owned all of those and have nothing against them. They are not part of the problem on this one issue. On my farm and my neighbor's farms they were like any other tool, a tractor, a cultivator, a shovel, etc)

[fishenjim]

Ever see a drug analysis of any of these shooters?? Any of them? kids adults. No. Ever wonder why..don't think the pharmaceutical companies would like that.

[Durian Fiend]

quote:

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Originally posted by fishenjim

Ever see a drug analysis of any of these shooters?? Any of them? kids adults. No. Ever wonder why..don't think the pharmaceutical companies would like that.

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US is 5% of world population and consumes 50% of pharmaceuticals sold world wide. When it comes to narcotics, we suck up 95% of them.

This from a recent medical journal.

[Guest]

Yer right Carey. I would add it comes down to parenting as well. For now still, I'm stoked to see Officer Mike @ the school everyday.

[EightFingers]

Those who want to “blame guns” are simply being lazy and do not want to put any effort to solve the real problems. Their loud demands for more gun control give them a feeling of self importance and fuel for their egos thinking “We have the answer!”

[glinda]

quote:

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Originally posted by EightFingers

Those who want to “blame guns” are simply being lazy and do not want to put any effort to solve the real problems. Their loud demands for more gun control give them a feeling of self importance and fuel for their egos thinking “We have the answer!”

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Whatever brah! Guns are instruments of evil. Look at the stats, worldwide, and yes let's keep Syria out of the discussion. But look.. America is possessed with an unjustifiable desire to hold, own, and use against each other, guns. It's a very bad, ie sick, way to solve a problem. In fact, I don't care what amendment you want to spout, guns need to be taken away from us because the American society isn't mature enough to handle them. If we'd grow up and act like responsible adults fine. That's a different discussion. But as it is, statistically, America fails and guns have to go.