Recent rash of shootings, thoughts/opinions wanted [Archive]

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THCDDM4

08-27-12, 15:41

Magic_Salad0892

08-27-12, 15:56

I think these shooting get published specifically for the government to futher it's agenda.

Name more than one mass shooting that got publicized with a republican president.

THCDDM4

08-27-12, 16:23

I think these shooting get published specifically for the government to futher it's agenda.

Name more than one mass shooting that got publicized with a republican president.

Yeah, I hear that and it does make sense given the agenda's of the media/POTUS at the moment.

But I can't recall a time in the last ten years where there were so many shootings of this sort- seemingly random shooting spree style shootings with people who seemed to break from reality all of the sudden. All occuring in the same proximity of time and seemingly happening more and more each week/month.

A lot of "motivated" shootings happen all the time; but this many seemingly random, "break-from reality" type shooting sprees happening in the same proximity of time (And all over the world too)I have not seen; or maybe I have not been paying enough attention in the past?

Maybe I am putting too much thought into all of this/trying to connect dots that aren't there; maybe they are truly random events with no coinciding factors; it just seems there is more going on to me somehow and I am trying to figure it out and put the pieces together.

Doc Safari

08-27-12, 16:30

VooDoo6Actual

08-27-12, 18:13

Been posting here for over 2 years regarding this, just as Irish, Moose Knuckle et al have as well.

Yes we see it too. A lot more people do than what the membership here does as well. Some people are just more tuned in, others don't have a clue.
I avoid those types & people as fast as possible. They are a liability to me.

I work in Los Angeles on a Protective Detail. It is eroding in LA @ warp speed. People's driving, the increase in homeless, disoriented & druged, depressed, whacked out behavior, more aggression verbally & aggressive physically than I have ever seen in inter city.
Thank goodness I'm not living here anymore. Have deal w/ client to remain until SHTF so no telling. Then I'm gonzo.
Enjoy the conflagration & entropy in progress.

LMT42

08-27-12, 19:53

I think these shooting get published specifically for the government to futher it's agenda.

Name more than one mass shooting that got publicized with a republican president.

I think it's more about media than politics. We live in a country where every story has to be more sensational than the last.

Here's a list of mass shootings, most of which I remember well. The type of administration under which they occurred means nothing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9414540/A-history-of-mass-shootings-in-the-US-since-Columbine.html

An Undocumented Worker

08-27-12, 21:26

I have believed for a long time that if it were illegal to release the shooters' identities then these shootings would come to a halt overnight. I think they do it as much to become famous or infamous as anything else. They exist in their little fantasy worlds where the shooting is some great act of defiance or something. Take away any chance of fame and the shootings will stop.

Just my HO.

While that is a great idea, in practice it would be impossible to prevent the media from finding out the identity of the shooter. People would know who it was, familiy, friends, etc. And with long protracted court cases, the info will get out.

FromMyColdDeadHand

08-27-12, 21:48

Random? If I were the NRA spokesperson on a news show I'd ask them what the NRA has to do with all these shootings- why not ask (and indict) the mental health professionals who were involved with almost all of these mass shootings murderers.

If the CIA had contact with as many mass shooters as mental health practitioners, people would say that the CIA was behind all the shootings. No one mentions a peep about how all these guys were on medications and thearapy.

300,000,000 guns and about .0002% of them are used every year in a mass shooting. It aint the Zero, its the Kamikazee pilot.

Honu

08-27-12, 22:29

all these mass shootings still seem like a drop in the bucket compared to gang shootings and deaths ?

seems the gov and media have a agenda for sure about bad things happening

chadbag

08-28-12, 01:12

Chicago on any given weekend has a lot more shootings than all this put together.

But you never hear about it...

---

Magic_Salad0892

08-28-12, 04:03

I think it's more about media than politics. We live in a country where every story has to be more sensational than the last.

Here's a list of mass shootings, most of which I remember well. The type of administration under which they occurred means nothing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9414540/A-history-of-mass-shootings-in-the-US-since-Columbine.html

Maybe not as much as I may have thought, but I do think it means SOMETHING.

I think that democrat administrations tend to sensationalize, or publicize these shootings way more than conservative administrations.

Did I spell anything wrong?

a1fabweld

08-28-12, 04:39

I find it interesting that all of a sudden, as election time approaches, people start flipping out & going on shooting rampages. I'm sure the media is masturbating themselves raw these days with all this good gun violence porn. The anti's have been waiting for their fearless leader to implement more gun restrictions but have been dissapointed. If the scales are not in Obama's favor, I wouldn't be surprised if he signs a midnight EO in the coming months with some new regulation. If he wins, I believe he'll do the same.

As mentioned above, why don't we hear about gang shootings these days? It's those damn evil white folks "Clinging to their guns & religion".

Waylander

08-28-12, 06:24

Maybe not as much as I may have thought, but I do think it means SOMETHING.

I think that democrat administrations tend to sensationalize, or publicize these shootings way more than conservative administrations.

Did I spell anything wrong?

Only 15 were reported during the entire 8 years of the Bush presidency (11 in the 2007-2008 period) and if you count the Empire State Building nearly just as many (13 I think) have been reported during just the 4 years BHO has been in office.

We have just become more racist ;)

austinN4

08-28-12, 06:39

Chicago on any given weekend has a lot more shootings than all this put together. But you never hear about it...

"(CBS News) CHICAGO - Chicago is in the grips of a deadly gang war. At least 275 people have been killed in the city so far this year and many more have been shot, many of them innocent bystanders to the gang violence."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57470618/chicago-police-sergeant-tribal-warfare-on-the-streets/

A quick Google search found this as reported on July 11. I am sure the number is higher now over a month later as I have been seeing reports of numbers killed each weekend.

Waylander

08-28-12, 07:34

I just heard a high school kid in Maryland posted on his FB page something like "first day of school...last day to live" and shot one who's in critical condition.

QuietShootr

08-28-12, 08:02

Magic_Salad0892

08-28-12, 08:14

Only 15 were reported during the entire 8 years of the Bush presidency (11 in the 2007-2008 period) and if you count the Empire State Building nearly just as many (13 I think) have been reported during just the 4 years BHO has been in office.

We have just become more racist ;)

But I don't remember them being as mainstream, or publicized as this.

Maybe I'm wrong, and wasn't paying attention then...

The_War_Wagon

08-28-12, 08:20

I think these shooting get published specifically for the government to futher it's agenda.

Name more than one mass shooting that got publicized with a republican president.

Other than the numbnut in the McDonalds in San Diego in '88, and the Luby's Cafeteria shooting in TX (also in the '80's, I think, and therefore both during the end of the Reagan Administration), you don't get the media sensationalism with such shootings, because it's not something the libtertarian/right wants to make political hay with.

You can't stack bodies high enough for the left though, in order for them to get their panties in a bunch over 'the shoulder thing that goes up'... :rolleyes:

Waylander

08-28-12, 08:53

But I don't remember them being as mainstream, or publicized as this.

Maybe I'm wrong, and wasn't paying attention then...

Which ones are you referring to? During the Bush years? Because I wasn't disagreeing with you since I don't remember any of them either and really very few of the ones in the last four or five years. Maybe it was the fact that they were all overshadowed by Columbine.
I saw your point because in only the last four years almost as many shootings have been reported (14 if you count the Maryland high school shooting now) in the entire eight years of the Bush presidency even though more may have actually happened.

Now that election time is here the "reporting" seems to be getting more thorough...almost like they're trolling for them.
Also the media jumps at the chance to label the shooters (Aurora CO for example) as members of the Tea Party yet BHO and no one on the left calls them on it.

Magic_Salad0892

08-28-12, 08:59

Which ones are you referring to? During the Bush years? Because I wasn't disagreeing with you since I don't remember any of them either and really very few of the ones in the last four or five years. Maybe it was the fact that they were all overshadowed by Columbine.
I saw your point because in only the last four years almost as many shootings have been reported (14 if you count the Maryland high school shooting now) in the entire eight years of the Bush presidency even though more may have actually happened.

Now that election time is here the "reporting" seems to be getting more thorough...almost like they're trolling for them.
Also the media jumps at the chance to label the shooters (Aurora CO for example) as members of the Tea Party yet BHO and no one on the left calls them on it.

I read your post wrong. I was trying to send a text, and email, drink coffee, watch a movie, smoke a cigerette, change the music on my computer (movie is on mute, with subtitles), eat a french fry, and button up my shirt.

So we're in agreement.

Now... here's what's interesting...

the vast majority of mass murderers have left leaning political stances.

Stolen from the Gabrielle Glifford thread, by member 500grains:

Abraham Lincoln (1865) - killed by John Wilkes Booth, a Democrat
James Garfield (1881) - killed by Charles J. Guiteau, a Democrat
William McKinley (1901) - killed by Leon Czolgosz, Democratic Anarchist
John F. Kennedy (1963) - killed by Lee Harvey Oswald, Communist (emigrated to USSR then returned)

Attempts on:

Andrew Jackson by Robert B. Randolph, Democrat Liberal
Franklin D. Roosevelt by Giuseppe Zangara, Democrat Liberal
Harry S. Truman by Pedro Albizu Campos, Nationalist Socialist
Gerald Ford by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, Socialist
Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley, Jr., Registered Democrat

I generally disregard the Lee Harvey Osward part, but the rest hold serious water.

montanadave

08-28-12, 09:01

I think it's more of a combination of factors. A "perfect storm" confluence of factors including but certainly not limited to social changes, shifting demographics, political and economic instability, and a media environment which foments and feeds on crisis situations.

Our political system is broken, our government seemingly paralyzed by partisan politics and incapable of coping with major issues which we are continually told demand immediate attention. Thus we are continually told we are facing one crisis, fiscal cliff, apocalypse, feel free to pick your own hyperbolic adjective, after another. Yet nothing gets done. And we limp forward, licking our wounds, bracing for the next hit.

Folks are frustrated and angry. We elect one group and they **** us over. So we shift gears and elect the other guys. And the ****ing continues. So people become disenchanted, increasingly cynical, and feel powerless to effect any substantive change in the status quo.

And to deflect blame, our political leaders simply point the finger at the other guy and say "it's their fault." The notion that it's somebody else's fault is reinforced at every turn. **** personal accountability. Embrace a victim mentality. Blame the poor, blame the rich, blame the illegals, blame the religious right, blame angry white guys, blame gays and lesbians ... blame anybody but me.

We have families that sit in the same room and never say a word to one another because everyone is texting their "friends," taking emails from work, checking whether anybody responded to their last post on that forum, whatever. Social media has people plugged in 24/7 put, paradoxically, all this social interaction results in a poverty of intimate personal "face-to-face" interactions. A lot of people feel isolated and alone.

The clinical evidence is sketchy and difficult to quantify, but there seems to be a pattern amongst a significant number of these shooters. They are either isolated, suffer from some form of mental illness, and fall through the cracks or they are angry, frustrated individuals who latch onto some crackpot ideology or another and use the internet and other social media to reinforce their beliefs and foment their rage. Either way, they eventually reach a crisis or breaking point and go off the rails.

Then the 24/7 media news cycle kicks into high gear, pouring gasoline on the fire, and providing incentive to every other "invisible" malcontent who feels a need to lash out at all those bastards who have denied him his due.

It's a ****ed up situation and, frankly, I can't see a whole lot that can be done to stem the tide.

Waylander

08-28-12, 09:43

I read your post wrong. I was trying to send a text, and email, drink coffee, watch a movie, smoke a cigerette, change the music on my computer (movie is on mute, with subtitles), eat a french fry, and button up my shirt.

So we're in agreement.

Now... here's what's interesting...

the vast majority of mass murderers have left leaning political stances.

Gotcha.
Good grief, man! Could you be any more of a multi-tasker? :lol:

I think it's more of a combination of factors. A "perfect storm" confluence of factors including but certainly not limited to social changes, shifting demographics, political and economic instability, and a media environment which foments and feeds on crisis situations.

Our political system is broken, our government seemingly paralyzed by partisan politics and incapable of coping with major issues which we are continually told demand immediate attention. Thus we are continually told we are facing one crisis, fiscal cliff, apocalypse, feel free to pick your own hyperbolic adjective, after another. Yet nothing gets done. And we limp forward, licking our wounds, bracing for the next hit.

Folks are frustrated and angry. We elect one group and they **** us over. So we shift gears and elect the other guys. And the ****ing continues. So people become disenchanted, increasingly cynical, and feel powerless to effect any substantive change in the status quo.

And to deflect blame, our political leaders simply point the finger at the other guy and say "it's their fault." The notion that it's somebody else's fault is reinforced at every turn. **** personal accountability. Embrace a victim mentality. Blame the poor, blame the rich, blame the illegals, blame the religious right, blame angry white guys, blame gays and lesbians ... blame anybody but me.

We have families that sit in the same room and never say a word to one another because everyone is texting their "friends," taking emails from work, checking whether anybody responded to their last post on that forum, whatever. Social media has people plugged in 24/7 put, paradoxically, all this social interaction results in a poverty of intimate personal "face-to-face" interactions. A lot of people feel isolated and alone.

The clinical evidence is sketchy and difficult to quantify, but there seems to be a pattern amongst a significant number of these shooters. They are either isolated, suffer from some form of mental illness, and fall through the cracks or they are angry, frustrated individuals who latch onto some crackpot ideology or another and use the internet and other social media to reinforce their beliefs and foment their rage. Either way, they eventually reach a crisis or breaking point and go off the rails.

Then the 24/7 media news cycle kicks into high gear, pouring gasoline on the fire, and providing incentive to every other "invisible" malcontent who feels a need to lash out at all those bastards who have denied him his due.

It's a ****ed up situation and, frankly, I can't see a whole lot that can be done to stem the tide.

I think you hit some good points. Many of these events through time have been precipitated by a "perfect storm" and they have the outcast in common who is isolated or feels let down by parents, school, govt., society, etc. They're largely seen as random acts of violence since anybody these days is bound to come unhinged any time due to the 24/7 cycle. Anger, frustration, depression, etc. lead to insomnia and what do most people do when they can't sleep? Turn on the computer, TV, or radio which only makes things worse. It's an addictive cycle of sensory stimulation.

Our adrenaline and endorphins are probably off the charts based off a generation or two ago. People aren't forced to do hard work and appreciate what they have so they can sit around the house and bitch about what they do have. "Assisted" people are bitching because they don't have ultra-fast broadband for dirt cheap prices so they can stay on a level playing field with the rest of the "non-assisted" people. What ever happened to walking your ass to the library to check out a book? Let along bearing the agony of a low speed DSL or dial up connection to learn something in writing - not watching a streaming broadband video. There's the urge to outdo the Kardashians next door.

People stay plugged into the grid...they post their rants on FB, get a team behind them encouraging or bullying them, etc. and they have a reason to go schizo. Go to YouTube and 9/10 of the videos and especially the comments are of people bickering either over the content or how "true" the video is or how "stupid" the other poster is. It's either kids that are far too young or adults acting like children posting "you're stupid" and "well, UR stupider!" type shit. It's the "I'm totally right and you're totally wrong" dismissive mentality. It's far easier and feels much better to be in one group versus the other rather than thinking for yourself and questioning the motives of the group you're becoming a part of. Far too few people are taught how to debate or argue rationally or intelligently anymore.

How many videos on YouTube and the internet are doctored by conspiracists or just flat out untrue? We've given crazy people a stage to post their thoughts to the world for other lemmings to latch onto. Some people take anything as the gospel these days. There's always someone or some group getting outraged and the media know they're fueling the fire just to rake in more ratings and dollars.

Enough parents especially aren't telling, yet alone asking, their kids to unplug from the grid and go outside for a change. Even though I enjoy reading and posting here, I've thought quite a few times about "unplugging" for a week or so just to see how it affects me. We get a false sense of camaraderie by being in this forum, this collective...and often times we end up at each others throats against people we barely know.

Magic_Salad0892

08-28-12, 10:16

Gotcha.
Good grief, man! Could you be any more of a multi-tasker? :lol:

I think you hit some good points. Many of these events through time have been precipitated by a "perfect storm" and they have the outcast in common who is isolated or feels let down by parents, school, govt., society, etc. They're largely seen as random acts of violence since anybody these days is bound to come unhinged any time due to the 24/7 cycle. Anger, frustration, depression, etc. lead to insomnia and what do most people do when they can't sleep? Turn on the computer, TV, or radio which only makes things worse. It's an addictive cycle of sensory stimulation.

Our adrenaline and endorphins are probably off the charts based off a generation or two ago. People aren't forced to do hard work and appreciate what they have so they can sit around the house and bitch about what they do have. "Assisted" people are bitching because they don't have ultra-fast broadband for dirt cheap prices so they can stay on a level playing field with the rest of the "non-assisted" people. What ever happened to walking your ass to the library to check out a book? Let along bearing the agony of a low speed DSL or dial up connection to learn something in writing - not watching a streaming broadband video. There's the urge to outdo the Kardashians next door.

People stay plugged into the grid...they post their rants on FB, get a team behind them encouraging or bullying them, etc. and they have a reason to go schizo. Go to YouTube and 9/10 of the videos and especially the comments are of people bickering either over the content or how "true" the video is or how "stupid" the other poster is. It's either kids that are far too young or adults acting like children posting "you're stupid" and "well, UR stupider!" type shit. It's the "I'm totally right and you're totally wrong" dismissive mentality. It's far easier and feels much better to be in one group versus the other rather than thinking for yourself and questioning the motives of the group you're becoming a part of. Far too few people are taught how to debate or argue rationally or intelligently anymore.

How many videos on YouTube and the internet are doctored by conspiracists or just flat out untrue? We've given crazy people a stage to post their thoughts to the world for other lemmings to latch onto. Some people take anything as the gospel these days. There's always someone or some group getting outraged and the media know they're fueling the fire just to rake in more ratings and dollars.

Enough parents especially aren't telling, yet alone asking, their kids to unplug from the grid and go outside for a change. Even though I enjoy reading and posting here, I've thought quite a few times about "unplugging" for a week or so just to see how it affects me. We get a false sense of camaraderie by being in this forum, this collective...and often times we end up at each others throats against people we barely know.

It could be way worse.

As for the rest of your post. I find myself agreeing.

By the way. I ended up reading all 19 pages of the Gabrielle Gliffords thread because of this thread.

VooDoo6Actual

08-28-12, 13:42

Wait till the Joisey Crew shows up to call you a tinfoiler.

Funny you mention that. I turned that exact gig down 2 years ago for 2 reasons.
#1 I don't do Buddyguard/babysitting gigs.
#2 their daily rate of pay was rediculously low for the amount of hours.
Unfortunately many Hollweird type EP/Protective details are truly a joke. Not going in the correct direction. Cleaning up a clients Chiquaqua's poop is something I don't do. Of course there are other's who will as the Hollyweird saying goes. Pay peanuts you get Monkeys. Some guys working armed for $12.00 hr. & thats just rediculous.

There's a Saudi Prince in town now who's @ Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Daily rate is again rediculously low. It's really getting bad out there. Most agents have no real EP training, do not know what an AED is & have ZERO idea how to use one, have no real driving skills, do not know how to embus/debus correctly, route selection is a thing of the past, no COMO skills. It has been deteriorating since about 08'.

My guy is pretty good, great meals, pays on time pretty easy to deal with, get's it & sees the deterioration of society as well, lets me take other contracts, been w/ him on & off over 9 years.

sandman99and9

08-29-12, 16:39

"(CBS News) CHICAGO - Chicago is in the grips of a deadly gang war. At least 275 people have been killed in the city so far this year and many more have been shot, many of them innocent bystanders to the gang violence."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57470618/chicago-police-sergeant-tribal-warfare-on-the-streets/

A quick Google search found this as reported on July 11. I am sure the number is higher now over a month later as I have been seeing reports of numbers killed each weekend.

I was in Chicago the 2nd week of june for a work convention and it was on the radio about the 33 shooting/murders in the Chicago are over the weekend.

That's more than the VT shooter killed !! But of course I felt so safe with all the anti-gun laws in that town :rolleyes:

I loved visiting that town and the food was awesome but I could never live there. Besides the gun laws the winter is an ass kicker up there. Give me the sunshine state anytime :)

S.M.

Magic_Salad0892

08-29-12, 17:44

I was in Chicago the 2nd week of june for a work convention and it was on the radio about the 33 shooting/murders in the Chicago are over the weekend.

That's more than the VT shooter killed !! But of course I felt so safe with all the anti-gun laws in that town :rolleyes:

I loved visiting that town and the food was awesome but I could never live there. Besides the gun laws the winter is an ass kicker up there. Give me the sunshine state anytime :)

S.M.

We have great winters here. But I'd do anything to have a Chicago winter. I love the cold.

Denali

08-29-12, 17:49

I've been telling my wife for years that the "people" have been being "backed into a corner" for a long time now; and some who realize they are fed up but not quite sure why are quite frankly being driven over the edge into psychosis/insanity and we will see a lot more mass murders and cases involving fed-up "shooting spree" scenarios as things come to a head- socially and politically speaking.

So here we are well into 2012 with more and more seamingly "Random" shooting sprees occurring every week; at a pace that is hard to believe at times, and really sad to see happen.

So is anyone else of the mind set that people are "reacting" to being f'd with by the gummint, media, etc; but they are so asleep and complacent they just have a break and are going ape-caca all of the sudden?

It seems most people are constantly at the "breaking point" in their lives these days and more and more are acting out, not being able to cope with the pressures of an increasingly totalitarian/controlling gummint; biased agenda driven media (Not to mention the Red VS Blue fight the media/gummint have been fomenting to high hell) constant taxation and build up of law after pointless law, restriction after pointless restriction, regulation after regulation, etc...

I've told my wife for years now that when the country/world is getting close to meltdown; some people will start to meltdown on the individual level first and we will see an increase in violent behavior from these individuals as a precursor to future events/paradigm shifts.

For me it seems simply that the "reaction" (So to speak; meaning people have been coping unhealthily for too long and now they are just getting to a breaking point since it has been so slow and built up for so long) is catching up to the initial/subsequent "actions" and some are just having a mental break before they can figure out how to direct this anger and utilize it in a non-violent way.

It isn't just with these shootings either. I've noticed in day to day life that people are quick to get angry and fly off the handle even for the slightest of reasons; just thin nerves in general all around...

Part of me also thinks 4GW/5GW/6GW et all is being used to "break" people psychologically; and "push" them to act out. Maybe I am just crazy...

What do you fellas think?

In my opinion, much, if not most, of the rampage shootings that are becoming endemic within the USA are squarely the consequence of the conquest of America by Marxist/Leninists! We had far greater access to firearms in my youth then we do today, you could buy them via the mail, we shot at school as part of PE, not a single episode of an American boy/girl showing up at school and lighting it up can be presented!

What has changed since those days? Its simple, marxist/leninists infiltrated, then successfully subjugated the American public school system to their political ideology! They have carefully been deconstructing traditional American values, replacing them with a series of radicalized social concepts, all centering around "victimhood" and the individuals supposed inability to regulate themselves, and their reactions to the world around them, this was to become the "social justice" mantra that is the banner of Obamunism today.

As a boy growing up in the sixties, we were introduced to these radically permissive concepts via the budding drug culture of the day. You see as a boy, it was unthinkable to impregnate a girl out of wedlock, it happened, rarely, but it was totally socially unacceptable, just as it was unacceptable to lie, cheat, steal, vandalize, disrespect an adult, shoot heroin into your veins, smoke crack, sleep with the neighbor boy, or shoot up your school...ect...

These are the people that would have you believe that we are evolving, but thats a lie! We haven't evolved, we have been intentionally deconstructed from within, our culture & traditions compromised, as a result, a boy who is bullied is a victim, and the bullies nothing but criminals. This is a lie, bullying is an essential part of growing up, everyone has bullied, and everyone has also been bullied, a simple fact. Its an important step in a childs development that they learn from these episodes, its a mechanism for growth, one where self-esteem is enhanced through the hard knocks of life, where one learns that it isn't always fair, but that they can stand up to it anyway!

However, that is no longer the case, now the bullies are criminals, and the bullied just a defenseless victim, helpless in the face of the real evolutionary mechanism. Instead of teaching the bullied to stand their sand, the marxists have encouraged them to run & rat! Where is the self esteem in that?

Now keep in mind that the above is just one narrow vector, marxists have infested every area of our society, much of it with the backing and support of the former Soviet Union, China, and company. The vector has become virtually pandemic in its breadth & scope, it is applicable accross the broad spectrum of our entire society...

a0cake

08-29-12, 18:28

It's my belief that some people are "losing it" because the level of complexity of our increasingly global civilization is swelling exponentially. The average person is nowhere close to being equipped to even begin understanding the complicated nature of world affairs.

Not too long ago, the average person knew what their life would be like from a very young age. Your father works at the local coal mine? You probably will too. Daddy's a farmer? You'll spend your life in the same town you were born doing the same job. This kind of certainty and the comfort that comes with it is quickly eroding. People more than ever have to forge their own futures to be successful in a marketplace full of jobs and job titles that didn't even exist before.

Simultaneously, the level of general education is stagnant and in some locales, regressing. Most people can't even tell you why the winter is colder than the summer, or why the sun appears to rise and fall. They carry iPhones but haven't the slightest clue how it works. People "don't know shit about shit," let alone how the economy works, where money comes from, where their food comes from, etc.

And simultaneously, the leading minds in various fields - physical science, economics, sociology, etc - are daily making massive strides in uncovering the secrets of the cosmos, putting incredible technologies in our hands, and increasing the level of understanding about everything - but only for a select few.

This causes a huge amount of cognitive dissonance for the average Joe Smith, "1 each."

People feel detached, disconnected, and confused - like a cog in a machine operating for an unknown purpose. As we collectively grow more advanced, there are inevitable growing pains that have to be endured. So these people feel disenfranchised in the interim. And they don't understand the world, so they look for either simplistic explanations or fantastical boogeymen to blame. They blame the Jews, or the liberals, or the conservatives, or the Mexicans, or the Rothschilds - whatever demon you choose - pick your poison. People will always prefer a bad theory or a conspiracy theory over no explanation at all. The explanation is out there, it just takes education and rational thinking to access it. Don't take advantage of those tools, and it's easy to become a fanatic ideolog. It's easy to engage in vitriolic hyperbolic hate. Look at my case here: I'm an average liberal American who's fought in two wars for this country, but to some here I'm a traitor, a commie bastard, a scourge. Exaggerate much? It's easy to lose it when you think like that. It's easy to snap and go on a shooting spree because you're frustrated and looking for someone to blame.

I'm not saying there aren't problems. There are, and they need to be worked out. Those who want to outlaw guns, etc, need to be stopped. We do need to raise the level of discourse in the 24/7 news cycle. But we also need to learn to see the merit in eachother's individual arguments, and not completely demonize otherwise well-intentioned people over single points of disagreement. I'm guilty of that too.

If people can learn to tone back the hyperbole and demonization, they'll see that we're not headed for collapse. The world isn't on a crash course with destruction under some shadowy plot.

The truth is we're living, right now, in this present time, in the very best conditions humanity has ever seen. These are growing pains and nothing more. We're hungrily operating on the margins of a potentially great harvest of future knowledge and wisdom.

Until average people stop worshiping the NFL, celebrities, etc - or latching on to equally mindless conspiracy theories - and start truly engaging with and understanding the world, they will be susceptible to extremism and the violence that follows. The average American Idol obsessed idiot, or intelligent but misguided Alex Jones follower may never progress to this point and go on a shooting spree. But it's this same culture of ignorance and disengagement as a whole that leads to the cognitive dissonance that leads to violent out-lashing.

Yeah, some of the violence is due to normal work-place friction and frustration that has nothing to do with any of this, but much of it does. Education is the way out.

"I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us - then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls. The candle flame of reason gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir.” - Carl Sagan

Clint

08-29-12, 20:03

This seems like an incredibly lucid analysis of the current situation.

I think it's more of a combination of factors. A "perfect storm" confluence of factors including but certainly not limited to social changes, shifting demographics, political and economic instability, and a media environment which foments and feeds on crisis situations.

Our political system is broken, our government seemingly paralyzed by partisan politics and incapable of coping with major issues which we are continually told demand immediate attention. Thus we are continually told we are facing one crisis, fiscal cliff, apocalypse, feel free to pick your own hyperbolic adjective, after another. Yet nothing gets done. And we limp forward, licking our wounds, bracing for the next hit.

Folks are frustrated and angry. We elect one group and they **** us over. So we shift gears and elect the other guys. And the ****ing continues. So people become disenchanted, increasingly cynical, and feel powerless to effect any substantive change in the status quo.

And to deflect blame, our political leaders simply point the finger at the other guy and say "it's their fault." The notion that it's somebody else's fault is reinforced at every turn. **** personal accountability. Embrace a victim mentality. Blame the poor, blame the rich, blame the illegals, blame the religious right, blame angry white guys, blame gays and lesbians ... blame anybody but me.

We have families that sit in the same room and never say a word to one another because everyone is texting their "friends," taking emails from work, checking whether anybody responded to their last post on that forum, whatever. Social media has people plugged in 24/7 put, paradoxically, all this social interaction results in a poverty of intimate personal "face-to-face" interactions. A lot of people feel isolated and alone.

The clinical evidence is sketchy and difficult to quantify, but there seems to be a pattern amongst a significant number of these shooters. They are either isolated, suffer from some form of mental illness, and fall through the cracks or they are angry, frustrated individuals who latch onto some crackpot ideology or another and use the internet and other social media to reinforce their beliefs and foment their rage. Either way, they eventually reach a crisis or breaking point and go off the rails.

Then the 24/7 media news cycle kicks into high gear, pouring gasoline on the fire, and providing incentive to every other "invisible" malcontent who feels a need to lash out at all those bastards who have denied him his due.

It's a ****ed up situation and, frankly, I can't see a whole lot that can be done to stem the tide.

sammage

08-30-12, 08:34

Simultaneously, the level of general education is stagnant and in some locales, regressing. Most people can't even tell you why the winter is colder than the summer, or why the sun appears to rise and fall. They carry iPhones but haven't the slightest clue how it works. People "don't know shit about shit," let alone how the economy works, where money comes from, where their food comes from, etc.

Spot on, most people do not have all that much knowledge applicable to the real world. Even a coworker remarked that "camping would be better if you could have air conditioning." Sometimes I wonder if people are just too lazy to learn anything for themselves.