oh my goodness
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My brother went to Virginia Tech, met his future wife there and got married in the war memorial chapel on campus where they had the invocation w/ Bush today. It's a beautiful campus set in a bucolic area. It is also where he met one person who ended up committing suicide and two roommates who were on the edge and had very real problems. I talked to him today and we discussed how I didn't meet similar people in college. It's funny that it's taken close to 10 years since he graduated to discuss this...but he really thought that most people's college experiences were like his...knowing a lot of people like that. Well...not funny ha ha...just sort of strange.
Last edited by Miggy on April 18th, 2007, 1:22 am, edited 2 times in total.
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- kaci_beeler Offline
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- kaci_beeler Offline
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I can't get over this event. It has bothered me more than any other national crisis ever has for some reason. More than 9/11 and more then Columbine. I just can't stop thinking about it. All of those random people - he didn't eve know them. 19 and 20 year old kids taking a foreign language class! He chained the fucking doors!
What would I do in a similar situation? I've thought about keeping fake packets of blood on me in case I need to look dead.
Could I charge the person and save others? I suppose you can't know until you're in that situation.
I thought St. Edward's was pretty safe but today we had a bomb threat that closed down the whole campus.
I really don't feel safe.
I want to lock every door behind me and carry pepper spray that can shoot up to 40 feet away. Take that mofo down with a kick to the groin and then in the head until he is unconscious I get others to hold him down and take his gun away. But, this all seems unlikely.
Seriously, I am freaked out.
What would I do in a similar situation? I've thought about keeping fake packets of blood on me in case I need to look dead.
Could I charge the person and save others? I suppose you can't know until you're in that situation.
I thought St. Edward's was pretty safe but today we had a bomb threat that closed down the whole campus.
I really don't feel safe.
I want to lock every door behind me and carry pepper spray that can shoot up to 40 feet away. Take that mofo down with a kick to the groin and then in the head until he is unconscious I get others to hold him down and take his gun away. But, this all seems unlikely.
Seriously, I am freaked out.
here's my two bits. i think what will come out in the news this week is that in regards to the first two people shot in the dorms, the girl was a friend of his ex's and wouldn't tell him where she was. the guy has been said to be coming to the girls aid and got shot for it. All the other shootings will probably coincide with his ex-girlfriends schedule in some way as i bet he was trying to find her or at the very least some of the people who "made fun of him". from all the accounts he was calm and matter of fact during the shootings which leads to him going over this quite a bit in his head and finalizing his plans. anyway, that's my thoughts.
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- nadine Offline
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Sorry dude. It did cross my mind to post there. Maybe you can start a thread there and people will post on the correct thread?Miggy wrote:also...this shouldn't be under 'stump', but rather 'general discussion'.....or perhaps 'major havoc' given the subject material. I'm as political as anyone...but let's keep them separate threads.
And then when the political ramifications come out we can post here?
Anyways, that's me. Never appropriate.
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- nadine Offline
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I think it prob hit you way too close to home.kaci_beeler wrote:I can't get over this event. It has bothered me more than any other national crisis ever has for some reason.
I'm following the news and people are trying to rationalize his behaviour.... maybe they could've stopped this kid earlier and such. But, I don't know. When your mother is mean to you, you can maybe rationalize it (you know the problems she's going through), she's in your worldview, but when a random stranger is mean to you.. all you can think was: i was in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
And that feeling of lack of control is one of the worst feelings to have. that you cannot stop random people you don't know, from doing bad things.
You cannot stop a determined person. Period.
That's the real stupidity in all this is that everyone will spin it and exploit it and set-up strawmen arguments around it. This proves we need more gun control! (crock) This proves we should arm teachers! (and if the teacher goes psycho?) This could have been stopped if...
It's all bullshit.
This is an isolated and EXTREMELY RARE incident in which one determined nutcase, with a lot of apparent preplanning, decided to cause widespread destruction and then kill himself. People like that simply cannot be easily stopped.
This isn't about guns (pro or con), this isn't about video games and cultural desensitation to violence, this isn't about a lack of security, this isn't about you, whomever you are. This is about one psychopath acting out like a psychopath does.
And no, you can't predict these things, but you can't live every day scared of them. Again, this is EXTREMELY RARE, despite our mass media's coverage of it.
That's the real stupidity in all this is that everyone will spin it and exploit it and set-up strawmen arguments around it. This proves we need more gun control! (crock) This proves we should arm teachers! (and if the teacher goes psycho?) This could have been stopped if...
It's all bullshit.
This is an isolated and EXTREMELY RARE incident in which one determined nutcase, with a lot of apparent preplanning, decided to cause widespread destruction and then kill himself. People like that simply cannot be easily stopped.
This isn't about guns (pro or con), this isn't about video games and cultural desensitation to violence, this isn't about a lack of security, this isn't about you, whomever you are. This is about one psychopath acting out like a psychopath does.
And no, you can't predict these things, but you can't live every day scared of them. Again, this is EXTREMELY RARE, despite our mass media's coverage of it.
The weirdest thing about all this is the modern media.
This is hardly the first mass shooting, or even campus shooting, but it amazes me how much we've heard about it, how fast, and from how many outlets. When the Texas sniper fired off his rounds, some of it was covered live on the radio, but by and large people waited hours to hear the details and days and weeks to hear about the shooter and his background and motivations. But in this case, besides live reports from traditional media outlets, you have just regular students taking video on their cell phones and uploading to the web within minutes, not even hours. Within hours you have blogs from former classmates posting scans of plays the shooter wrote for class a semester before. Now, two days later, you have 27 video clips and 40+odd photos arrive at NBC news sent from the shooter himself.
It's not that this is so much worse than so many things that have come before (in some ways it is obviously), but the sheer rate and volume and variety of angles we're getting on the story is what is making it so overwhelming and difficult to consume and process.
Also, I have to say that this kid looks...well...like a kid.
He has all these "frightening" photos of him with guns, but he looks so young and he's trying so hard that they just don't look scary at all, save for the fact he's holding a gun. Weirdness.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18169776/?GT1=9246
This is hardly the first mass shooting, or even campus shooting, but it amazes me how much we've heard about it, how fast, and from how many outlets. When the Texas sniper fired off his rounds, some of it was covered live on the radio, but by and large people waited hours to hear the details and days and weeks to hear about the shooter and his background and motivations. But in this case, besides live reports from traditional media outlets, you have just regular students taking video on their cell phones and uploading to the web within minutes, not even hours. Within hours you have blogs from former classmates posting scans of plays the shooter wrote for class a semester before. Now, two days later, you have 27 video clips and 40+odd photos arrive at NBC news sent from the shooter himself.
It's not that this is so much worse than so many things that have come before (in some ways it is obviously), but the sheer rate and volume and variety of angles we're getting on the story is what is making it so overwhelming and difficult to consume and process.
Also, I have to say that this kid looks...well...like a kid.
He has all these "frightening" photos of him with guns, but he looks so young and he's trying so hard that they just don't look scary at all, save for the fact he's holding a gun. Weirdness.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18169776/?GT1=9246
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- arthursimone Offline
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here's a classic political dilemma-
should gun control laws prohibit people with a history of mental illness from buying weapons *always*?
or
should mental health records be kept confidential *always* to keep from discrimination?
discuss, and this becomes a true Stump post...
should gun control laws prohibit people with a history of mental illness from buying weapons *always*?
or
should mental health records be kept confidential *always* to keep from discrimination?
discuss, and this becomes a true Stump post...
"I don't use the accident. I deny the accident." - Jackson Pollock
The goddamn best Austin improv classes!
The goddamn best Austin improv classes!
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- nadine Offline
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what kind of mental illness? depression? is it going to list the kinds of mental illness?arthursimone wrote:here's a classic political dilemma-
should gun control laws prohibit people with a history of mental illness from buying weapons *always*?
or
should mental health records be kept confidential *always* to keep from discrimination?
discuss, and this becomes a true Stump post...
if you could do background checks on potential roommates (which you can) and it shows that the person has a history of mental illness, wouldn't you want that information? i know i would.
it would also make people less likely to want to go to therapy.
I worked for a while in the 90's at a home for mentally ill people. These were people who could not really function by themselves. One time one of the guys ran away (easy since we were not supposed to be locked.) Since he did not have his medications I can only assume that he got even crazier than usual. He went to 3 gun stores in town. The first two wouldn't sell him any guns or ammo because he really looked crazy by this time. The third had no problem with this and sold him everything he needed. We were in contact with the FBI who picked him up at a shooting range. He wasn't charged with anything, but his family put him in a more secure home after that. The thing that scares me is this guy did not look sane at all. In fact he talked some scary shit. I'm really glad this resolved well for everyone (including him) but I could easily see where it wouldn't. This is not the same as the Virginia Tech shooting, but ever since then I've voted/stumped for the 3 day waiting period. 3 days is a long time in a crazy persons head, often things can be resolved before they go too far. But, like Wes said, shit happens no matter how careful you are.
