NIU Massacre

jive1 · #1 02-15-2008, 07:17 AM

The last thread got closed, so please leave the gun control discussion out of this. Use something else as the platform for your politics, please.

NIU is my alma mater, and I have grief that this thing happened there. I took classes at Cole Hall, and have probably been in the same classroom that the massacre took place. I still have some acquaintences that work there, and a good friend who is pursuing graduate studies there.

Let me give you guys a little background.......

When I graduated in 1993, NIU was the 3rd most violent college in the US based on violent crime that happened on campus. In case you are wondering, guns are not allowed on campus.

I have personally known people who were involved in shootings, stabbings, attempted vehicular manslaughter, and various fisticuffs while I attended school there. Still, I wouldn't have imagined something like this happening in a million years. And DeKalb isn't some inner-city hood. It's a college town surrounded by corn fields. The university dealt with the violence on campus by focusing on gang related crime, as the campus was just 60 miles from Chicago and prime territory for wrong-doers who want to take a roadtrip to cause trouble away from their home. They got tougher on smaller crimes, checked visitors more carefully, and other precautions.

Now, over 15 years later the most violent crime on campus occured outside of what they geared for back then. It wasn't some gang-banger from the hood. It was a messed up former graduate student. Not even a current student who is easier to keep tabs on. I don't know how you predict this, let alone prevent it without causing a paranoid police state campus.

When I read the reports, it really didn't hit me until I read the names. Based on the names, ages, and places they were from, I could see that the victims came from all walks of life. They were various races, ages, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Similar to the folks I went to school with.

It's all really sad.

My prayers go out to all the victims, their families, and NIU.

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!

Bryan316 · #2 02-15-2008, 07:25 AM

I promise y'all.

If I snap... I'll be swinging swords instead of slinging bullets. I'll give em a fighting chance!

On a serious note... I think it's high time parents started getting lessons on ACTUAL parenting. And setting today's kids straight on how to DEAL WITH LIFE.

So many kids think that life is so hopeless and desolate and think that there's no other alternative than to end it all, either for other people or for themselves. I really would like to meet some of the parents of these killers, to see what kind of life they gave their kids. Guaranteed, they will all be CLUELESS that their child would be capable of snapping and going insane like this.

It ain't about medication. It ain't about psychologists in offices. It ain't about law enforcement. It ain't about video games.

It's about KNOWING YOUR CHILD.

How many parents just fill their kids with activities against their kid's desires, ship them off to day care instead of actually being with them, ship them off to summer camp so they don't have to deal with them for a couple weeks???

George Carlin had it right with his rant on meaningless structure. Stop forcing things upon your kids. Anything other than actual love and affection, is only counterproductive. Let kids be kids, and grow up WITH them, don't WATCH them grow up!

Bryan316 · #3 02-15-2008, 07:43 AM

When I meet a person who I think is unstable and gives hints of being looney, I'm ratting out his ass to the cops and telling them, "This guy is your next college campus shooter. WATCH HIM CLOSELY."

FL Knifemaker · #4 02-15-2008, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

Well there is only one question that is important - are you going to do anything to make sure it doesn't happen again or just stick your head in the sand and hope the problem goes away...?

And, I'm sure you will have the last post in this thread as well

The UK mindset is well represented once again.

hbarcat · #5 02-15-2008, 07:58 AM

NIU is where I went to college (in the 80's) and I took classes in Cole Hall. It's also 8 blocks away from my brother's house, which is where my band now practices, and I know several current students there, including my martial arts instructor.

I was at work yesterday listening to the radio when "breaking news" told me that a shooting took place on NIU campus. I can honestly say that I was NOT shocked, stunned or bewildered that it happened or that it happened there.

Get used to seeing this on a regular basis as angry kooks who latch on to the idea of "going out with a bang" in order to make a statement of some kind seem to be proliferating at an alarming rate.

jive1 · #6 02-15-2008, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hbarcat

I was at work yesterday listening to the radio when "breaking news" told me that a shooting took place on NIU campus. I can honestly say that I was NOT shocked, stunned or bewildered that it happened or that it happened there.

I haven't been back to DeKalb in years. Have you seen any changes that make you think the campus is crazier than before?

**Pacman** · #7 02-15-2008, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

So you want to censor me, just because I come from the UK and we haven't had any of these massacres lately .... why I wonder...?

Why do you say he wants to censor you? He's just sure you'll keep posting until this thread gets closed, the way you always do.

Tegzsa · #8 02-15-2008, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pacman

Why do you say he wants to censor you? He's just sure you'll keep posting until this thread gets closed, the way you always do.

ooOOoo!

hbarcat · #9 02-15-2008, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jive1

I haven't been back to DeKalb in years. Have you seen any changes that make you think the campus is crazier than before?

Yes. Gangs seem to have become more active in recent years in DeKalb and in nearby cities such as Rockford and Rochelle. I think it's because gangs see this area as convenient locations to carry on business away from Chicago 50 miles to the east. I don't have statistics to back this up so take this anecdote with due skepticism: local papers seem to have more and more 'anger' type crimes than in the past, such as fights and domestic abuse that one normally associates with slums or depressed areas. I've personally witnessed more than a handful myself in the past few years.

I don't know that this has anything to do with this incident, however, as it seems to be the result of a random kook angry at who knows what.

jive1 · #10 02-15-2008, 08:26 AM

Like I asked politely when I started this post, keep your political platforms out of this.

*** ever happened to friggin condolences and prayer?!?!

FL Knifemaker · #11 02-15-2008, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

Well - I just contribute to whatever is at the top of the "New Posts" list - are we now excluding people from threads on grounds of their country of origin - will it be race next?

Contribute?? Right...........

Contribute to getting intelligently discussed threads closed

Beautifully played race card by the way

jive1 · #12 02-15-2008, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hbarcat

Yes. Gangs seem to have become more active in recent years in DeKalb and in nearby cities such as Rockford and Rochelle. I think it's because gangs see this area as convenient locations to carry on business away from Chicago 50 miles to the east. I don't have statistics to back this up so take this anecdote with due skepticism: local papers seem to have more and more 'anger' type crimes than in the past, such as fights and domestic abuse that one normally associates with slums or depressed areas. I've personally witnessed more than a handful myself in the past few years.

I don't know that this has anything to do with this incident, however, as it seems to be the result of a random kook angry at who knows what.

If it were a gang related incident, I wouldn't have been surprised. But, a wierdo-kook thing is a little different to me. It wasn't a high pressure school, and the suicide rate wasn't high compared to other college campuses. For the most part it was a suitcase school where most kids went home for the weekend, and those who stayed partied alot. Maybe that has changed.

hbarcat · #13 02-15-2008, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

So you want to censor me, just because I come from the UK and we haven't had any of these massacres lately .... why I wonder...?

Is this a guessing game?

I guess it's because the U.K. has been a country for so long that nobody has the ambition to take action that involves risk for any reason, good or evil. As the Pink Floyd song says:

...hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.....

But don't worry, not too many more decades will pass and the U.S. will mature to be as tranquil and lifeless as all of Europe now is.

JonathanD · #14 02-15-2008, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

I would be thinking : "Metal Detector"!!!

I do not think that forceful, intrusive, or oppressive control is what is called for to fix these problems. How about starting at the home.

People are as they are, until people change no amount of policing is going to change it.

**baba** · #15 02-15-2008, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jive1

Like I asked politely when I started this post, keep your political platforms out of this.

*** ever happened to friggin condolences and prayer?!?!

Some people are constantly more concerned about being "right" than respectful. It's an ego thing as far as I can tell.

ChiliPepper · #16 02-15-2008, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jive1

Like I asked politely when I started this post that you keep your political platforms out of this.

*** ever happened to friggin condolences and prayer?!?!

+ 1

Thanks Bruce...very mature

Tegzsa · #17 02-15-2008, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FL Knifemaker

Contribute?? Right...........

Contribute to getting intelligently discussed threads closed

Beautifully played race card by the way

Well...by the same token there were those from the US who thought it was "shocking" and "disgraceful" that Fassa Albrecht couldn't go and buy herself a firearm that time she thought she was being stalked, despite the UK's very clear laws on gun ownership.

The first time she was getting stalked, that is.

Horses for courses, I guess.

Diggler · #18 02-15-2008, 08:38 AM

Unbelievable.

JonathanD · #19 02-15-2008, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hbarcat

Is this a guessing game?

I guess it's because the U.K. has been a country for so long that nobody has the ambition to take action that involves risk for any reason, good or evil. As the Pink Floyd song says:

...hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.....

But don't worry, not too many more decades will pass and the U.S. will mature to be as tranquil and lifeless as all of Europe now is.

I believe you are being antagonistic.

Skipping the obvious,
The US is a much larger country. The state I live in is medium size for the US and almost as big as the entire UK.

_______________________
From a pragmatic view point

I really hope not to see censorship rise because of the paralyzing effect of fear. People die, people snap, if the world was a completely peaceful place and no one died, we would overpopulate quickly.

I am not saying that anyone deserves to die, please do not drag my comments into the dualistic realm of consciousness.

_______________________

FL Knifemaker · #20 02-15-2008, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegzsa

Well...by the same token there were those from the US who thought it was "shocking" and "disgraceful" that Fassa Albrecht couldn't go and buy herself a firearm that time she thought she was being stalked, despite the UK's very clear laws on gun ownership.

The first time she was getting stalked, that is.

Horses for courses, I guess.

I have NO idea what that has to do with my post

Are you even sure you quoted the right post??