Shooting in another school

[Brendan]

I hate the media. They constantly exploit footage from Iraq, various school shootings, the Schiavo case, etc. to get more ratings. Whether you're for or against these things, you have to admit that the media is constantly shoving them in our faces because bad news sells.

The larger problem is that we blame "the media" as thought it's an independant entity. We're part of it, one and all, and every single one of us is to blame for "the media." It's not like one person is shoving something down our throats; we ask, we deliver.

 

[Ericman197]

I think he is referring to the US as a whole. this, unfortunately, is true.

BUT, and I know I sound like a broken record, this hasn't changed in the 230 years that the US has been a country.

We started by violently kicking the British Empire out. We used guns and knives to carve are way into the North American Interior to the West Coast.

We've had a civil war that makes some of the modern equivalents look like school-yard tiffs.

We've invaded both countries we share a broder with.

We've fought in numerous wars, large and small, in the 19th-21st century.

Gang violence has been around since the 1800's.

The big difference betwen the past and now is we are the bully on the block. We glorify violence as the sole means to an end. In the past, parents taught their kids to use it when needed, but find alternate means first.

Someone pisses you off, you "take them down". The media glorifies this AND they perpetuate it, especially in the music community.

blaaaah *L* My ranting is incoherent, but you get the point.. It goes back to parenting. Parents who take an interest in their children's lives, set-up boundaries and rules and live by them create good kids. Parents who know what their kids are up to catch the "psychos" before they get a gun and go waste their classmates.

It's not just the US. It's human nature. After all, if we're to talk about killings and violence, most of the incidents in America pale in comparison to the millions killed in Europe during WWI, WWII, the Holocaust, Stalin, etc. Genocide is being committed as we speak in the Sudan. I don't mean this to sound political; I'm not advocating anything in particular. My point is that war and fighting are universal; there's no one particular race, culture or ideology that's responsible. As long as we remain human, we will commit and even glorify violence. People tend to be revisionists. After all, who is to say that we have only just begun to glorify violence?

 

[jazzbo]

Okay, I just spent about 20 minutes editing page one of this thread, I WILL NOT spend more of my time doing this.

So, here's the rule, if people feel like they wish to discuss this topic, no problem, under the following rules:

- Absolutely no references to gun control, (or the overall issue of the politics of guns), however thinly veiled or subtle they may be. None. Zero. Z-E-R-O.
- No references to US politics or politicians. None. Zero. Z-E-R-O.
- I reserve the right to add more rules to this list at a later time if I see a problem.
- Rules one and two are effective now. So, if someone posted something about politics or guns that you want to reply to, don't.

If any of these rules are broken, the thread is closed. Sorry guys, but that's the way it has to be.

 

[Bard2dbone]

Bard, I swear you're like my long lost brother or something, man.

What was that old saying? 'Beards of a feather...'