What is your response to this deadly issue occurring repeatedly in American Universities ? Why does this happen? CNN: 02/15/2008 A former student opened fire in a lecture hall Thursday at Northern Illinois University, shooting 21 people before fatally shooting himself. Seven people died, including the gunman. We want to hear from you. Share your thoughts on the NIU shooting in the space provided below. How has this most recent campus shooting impacted you? Who, if anyone, do you think is to blame? Is America a more violent society than others around the world? Why does this happen?
I think professors should be armed just like airline pilots. Campus security is doing good job and the law enforcement is doing its part but that doesn't seem to be enough. You fight fire with fire not with velvet gloves. There is no need for Campus Marshalls,... yet. However, issuing hand guns to university professors, in my opinion, I don't think is such a bad idea. When professors are armed, the loonatics out there will think twice - if they are capable to think - before they storm into a classroom and start shooting indiscriminately.
True! It's a shame. I agree with you but, unfortunately, it's happening over and over and something has to be done about it. However, what peaks my curiosity is the question: Why it's happening only in America?! The movie 'Moneytrain' with Woody Harlston and Leslie Snipes was shown in the US and around the world. ONLY in America there was a copycat murder/crime in a subway booth in NY. Why only in America?! What makes America so different from the rest of the world?!
The only way I can figure it is that the these lunatics don't care about being killed when they enter the school and start shooting. Let's back it up and try to think about what's going through their minds to bring them to the point of wanting to commit mass murder. First of all they would've had to have been treated really bad by a large group of people, so much so that they feel that the world would be a better place without those bastards in it. They would also think that their life sucks so bad that they no longer wish to live in this kind of world, so suicide is their only remaining option. Now that he already decided to die, why not do the rest of the world a favor and take those rotten bastards with him. So the threat of killing him isn't a real threat in his eyes because he was planning on dying anyway, it may only postpone it if he hasn't completed killing everyone on his list of those he feels should die. It all starts with the classic Kamikaze mindset, he already views himself as a future martyr, therefore the death penalty is not a deterrent. If you arm the professors with guns, the lunatics will use bombs instead which will only result in the deaths a larger number of innocent lives.
I don't know, I'm not a psychiatrist, but I believe there are two scenarios. Either way, it's an imbalance in perspective. One is culture shock and the other is acceptance of your surroundings. 1 way: culture shock Children can be really cruel, even more so when they become teenagers, and some people never grow up. I've met a lot of adults that are real assholes that simply love to tease the shit out of people. It seems the more it bothers you, the more they want to tease you. They live by the idea that if you can't raise the bridge then lower the river. They feel if they can't improve themselves then they should degrade others. I've learned long ago not to let these assholes bother me, but there are others that are far more sensitive to that kind of criticism. Maybe it was just my upbringing, I didn't grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. My father was an alcoholic and my mother was lazy and hated house work, but I still grew up in a loving family even though my brothers and sisters teased each other all the time. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the people most likely to snap were the ones that were over protected by their parents or had too many rules. Mothers in America today are being trained to do everything in their power to protect their children from harm. We never wore helmets, knee pads and elbow pads when we learned to ride bikes. We weren't escorted around the neighborhood by our parents on Halloween. And if you didn't make the football team, too bad. Some parents also expect far more out of their children and set standards impossible to obtain. When these children are so intensely groomed for success and then grow up and enter the real world, they don't know what to do when they fail. Their whole world comes crashing down around them and they just snap. It's like a girl raised to read the bible and go to church every day, then when you turn her loose on the world she becomes a prostitute. Or a boy with a policeman for a father, and then grows up and becomes a drug dealer. They don't know where to draw the line between right and wrong without a reference point. A person can have it drilled into his head every day that drinking alcohol is wrong, then he enters college and not only finds out that alcohol is legal but all his friends drink. Without a frame of reference it's very likely that he'll drink too much. Now you take a sheltered child that learns that he can purchase a weapon, coupled with watching TV shows that portray heroes with guns where they shoot and kill evil people without consequences, he now believes that he too can shoot the bad guy and be a hero in some people's eyes. Although he knows it's against the law, he still feels that it's the right thing to do and that the police just don't understand. 2nd way: acceptance of your surroundings Some children grow up in bad neighborhoods where people are killing each other all the time. After a while this becomes a natural thing to do, if you don't like them then kill 'em. It's a shame that it happens far too often in our inner cities, but it's a cycle that's hard to stop. It's said that you can take the boy out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the boy. For this same reason you're not going to stop the killing in Iraq because they've been killing for thousands of years. When you've grown up with killing all your life, it becomes an accepted way to live. It reaches a point where walking into school and killing your teacher, or walking into work and killing your boss, is just as normal as putting a dog to sleep when he bites someone. It really has to do with raising your children to know right from wrong, but not coloring everything simply black and white. When you realize that everything has shades of gray and the world is far from perfect, it makes it easier to cope with everyday ups and downs. Your son totals your brand new car drunk driving, don't cry over spilled milk, learn to deal with it. People should be taught to take everything in moderation. It's OK to drink alcohol, just don't drink too much. It's the extremes that ultimately create the problems.
You gave a very insightful speech. Well done Donski! Anybody else wants to share his/her opinion. " This is Dr. Fraiser Crane, and I'm listenig..."
When professors are armed, the loonatics out there will think twice It's a compelling argument, but professors aren't immune to mental and moral illness. One of the most famous serial killers of the last century (the Unabomber) was extremely educated- he was a fulltime Harvard student by age 16, solved "unsolvable" mathematics problems, was a National Science Foudation "Fellow," and by age 25 had his Masters, Ph.D, and worked as an Asst. Professor teaching math at Berkeley. He wrote papers that only the leading experts in his field could even understand, and won some huge recognitions for it. Along the way he excelled in everything from chess to music composition to drama to philosophy to foreign language. Had he not changed occupations to become a killer, he really might have been the next Einstein or Newton. The guy who did this most recent shooting was probably qualified enough to be teaching some classes, if that was his interest. I don't have any good ideas to share on this. When someone decides to die, and take people with them, there's almost no chance of successfully intervening no matter what is tried. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would argue that the government is just testing their latest batch of psychological warfare drugs. While I've not heard whether or not this latest killer ever participated in any such government tests, it's now known that the Unabomber was a volunteer in a government study of interrogation methods. I don't remember whether that program was part of MK-Ultra or not, but I think I remember that it was some of the same people doing the experiments. But I remain skeptical on it.
it's not just at universities but high schools and shopping malls too. perhaps it's a result of the fear many people live under. fear and embarrassment are used in the media and the adverts to condition people to believe things and buy products. obviously i don't have all the answers but living each day full of fear has got to really mess with your mind.
Hand any American three year old child any object even remotely shaped like a gun and he'll point it at you and yell "BANG!" As crazy as it sounds, when I become dictator I'll ban toy guns only.
SunLion, I'm voting for you, pal. You got a point. Why not buy a child a giraffe or a toy car but a gun. I'm with you on this one.
Pixeewinged, Thank you for sharing your opinion which seems very constructive. Sunday, Feb. 17, Albanians were celebrating Kosova Independence Day and rightfully they were the happiest people on Earth. However, the very same day, on '60 Minutes' I saw an intervew regarding happiness. According to the polls, the Danish are the happiest people on the planet. At the end the journalist asked a Danish student, " What is your advise to Americans watching this show? " He said, " My advise to Americans is simply this: Do not believe too much in the " American Dream " because you may get disappointed." It is very disappointing when you grow up thinking you are going to be a rock star and one day you wake up and realize it will never happen.
