Why no school shooter thread?

posted by Dr Winston O'Boogie

They are friggin’ kids. Their school was shot up less than a month ago and a bunch of their classmates were killed. Can we not allow them the space to work out their fear and frustration - perhaps even in poorly thought out arguments as high school kids are want to give - without considering them “idiots”?  I doubt if any of the condemners ever experienced something like that when they were that age. Give them a break. 

No, no, no gtfo with this.  If you are going to step into the adult arena, you're going to be treated like an adult.  If you and the media want to treat these kids as the moral authority, then they don't get a free pass because "they are kids." That's not how the real world works.  I disagree with everything they say, but if they feel empowered enough to be public figures for an issue they believe in, good for them.  That doesn't mean they get a free pass. Welcome to adulthood and reality. 

posted by queencitybuckeye

I feel bad for the kids being led by Everytown and similar groups of idiots without realizing that they're being played. I feel less bad for the attention whores among them standing on the bodies of dead classmates to get on TV and magazine covers.

This.  It is no longer their movement.  They set up a nonprofit so they can receive dark money from Everytown, Soros, etc.  They are dancing on the graves and will be fully controlled by adults funding the entire thing.  

The sad part is once these adults don't need these kids anymore, these kids will learn a hard lesson about irrelevancy.   There are good odds in 3-5 years we will see stories about how these kids felt used.  Book it.

all the statements about these kids are true:

they are being taken advantage of without knowing it (some know it though)

THe left wing media has not given them time to process everything that has happened.

the kids arent idiots......its the adults in their lives like parents and school officials that are allowing this to happen

posted by Spock

all the statements about these kids are true:

[...]

the kids arent idiots......its the adults in their lives like parents and school officials that are allowing this to happen

 

I'm not sold on that last one being true.  There are individual kids who are smart and perceptive, but generally, most kids that age are idiots.

Hell, most adults are, too.

posted by O-Trap

I'm not sold on that last one being true.  There are individual kids who are smart and perceptive, but generally, most kids that age are idiots.

Hell, most adults are, too.

posted by iclfan2

No kidding. I'm sure plenty of banks/ CC companies would love to get the cash from gun makers. Not everyone is a pussy that gives into demands of morons.

Not to mention, the Citi thing is for NEW customers...includes "dealers must do background checks", which is already the law of the land.  And the over 21 thing would, I'm guessing, be the "honor system" (because how are they going to enforce it?).  Reading is fun.

In other words, it's a marketing ploy that will probably have 0 impact on Citi's business or customers.

posted by queencitybuckeye

Apparently some of the Stoneman students aren't happy with new policies requiring clear backpacks and wearing their student IDs. 

They obviously are not familiar with the TSA.

I think it's safe to say that the average (not all, but most) teen is an idiot when it comes to matters as a whole, possessing a very limited worldview and little life experience to mold it. Much like it's safe to say that one should feel sorry for anyone who knows ICL if he's remotely the same in real life as he is on message boards since he comes off as someone who only exists to bitch about the infinity number of things that trigger him.

posted by gut

In other words, it's a marketing ploy that will probably have 0 impact on Citi's business or customers.

Bingo.  All show.  No substance.

 

posted by Heretic

I think it's safe to say that the average (not all, but most) teen is an idiot when it comes to matters as a whole, possessing a very limited worldview and little life experience to mold it.

Generally, what I remember is that my peers' political worldviews generally went one of two ways:

1. A kid held a particular worldview because that was his parents' worldview.
2. A kid held a particular worldview because it was contrarian, either when compared to that kid's parents or when compared to that kid's peers.

How is it that we don't trust high school age kids to buy guns, drink alcohol, use tobacco, or vote ... but somehow, if they unite under a particular banner, somehow that carries weight?

posted by Heretic

... possessing a very limited worldview and little life experience to mold it. 

That's an interesting perspective.  It appear to focus solely on empathy - shaped by what you've seen and experienced - to the exclusion of education...which is the liberal worldview, in a nutshell.

posted by Heretic

Much like it's safe to say that one should feel sorry for anyone who knows ICL if he's remotely the same in real life as he is on message boards since he comes off as someone who only exists to bitch about the infinity number of things that trigger him.

Message boards only exist to bitch about stuff. I don’t talk to anyone in real life about this dumb shit. I still contend Hogg, the main cnn douche, is an idiot, confirmed by the fact he tweets about not being able to get into colleges. Yet super freak liberals and CNN think he’s a genius bc he’s on their side. 

posted by gut

That's an interesting perspective.  It appear to focus solely on empathy - shaped by what you've seen and experienced - to the exclusion of education...which is the liberal worldview, in a nutshell.

I'd say both have importance. With the kids, being high school students still, it's not like they're overflowing with education either -- just a limited amount determined by how high-quality their school system is. The two kind of go hand-in-hand, I think. You can be the most learned person in the world, but if you can't process the "why did this happen" and stuff like that, you're nothing more than a trivia-spewing robot. That's sort of the flaw of academics, I think. Like, my best friend from high school did a lot of post-grad work in psychology and was telling me about concepts and theories that mentors in the field had and so much of that stuff came across as ideas that sound good in textbooks, but just seemed limited in practical application.

posted by iclfan2

Message boards only exist to bitch about stuff. I don’t talk to anyone in real life about this dumb shit. I still contend Hogg, the main cnn douche, is an idiot, confirmed by the fact he tweets about not being able to get into colleges. Yet super freak liberals and CNN think he’s a genius bc he’s on their side. 

Remember how in the olden days on Fox News, Hannity had that really milquetoast liberal Coomes guy as his co-host, whose purpose seemed to be a passive bitch to make Hannity seem more emphatic and "right" to his viewers? Hogg just reminds me of a young version of him. Makes him really punchable, IMO.

what these kids should do is process how they treat each other.  The reason why these things happen is because of the way that they act.

Quit blaming everything and look in a mirror.

posted by Heretic

 You can be the most learned person in the world, but if you can't process the "why did this happen" and stuff like that, you're nothing more than a trivia-spewing robot.

Logic [education] stands on it's own, although it's lack of empathy or cold-hearted nature is often criticized.  Worldview and experience comes into play when understanding irrational or illogical choices [so that one can empathize].

I'm not saying there's no place for empathy, but in some cases decisions based on "feelz" are poor ones...and often most decisions create winners and losers, and the great liberal battle of empathy is to establish one group as more sympathetic or deserving.  They make greater good argument [i.e. logic] only when it suits their agenda.

*sigh*

Students: "Enough is enough!  We need to be able to feel safe in schools!"

Administration: "We hear you.  We're implementing a strategy that allows us to monitor those in the school who are not students (ID badges) and prevent entrance if a person has something dangerous on them (clear backpacks and detectors at entrances).  This will significantly curb anyone's ability to bring guns into school and help school be a safer environment."

Students: "HEY!  No fair!  When we said we need to be able to feel safe in schools, we meant we want people to not be able to own those guns outside of schools either!"

I'm sure I sound like a cranky old asshole for complaining about high school kids (to my own horror, trust me), but if there were any evidence needed that the students' push for more gun laws was not actually rooted in the desire to feel safer at school, this'd be it.

posted by O-Trap

I'm sure I sound like a cranky old asshole for complaining about high school kids (to my own horror, trust me), but if there were any evidence needed that the students' push for more gun laws was not actually rooted in the desire to feel safer at school, this'd be it.

Again, when every major news outlet save Fox (who has their own problems in the other direction) misreports on the subject, this is what you get.

There are 300M+ guns in the US.  The idea that NEW laws regulating sales will bring significant change in the next 100 years is, well, kind of stupid.  But that's what the left keeps pushing, and so that's all 40% or more of the population knows.

To the credit of the school district here, what they've done seem like fairly affordable and effective, common sense measures.  Kids don't like it, because they're inconvenienced and all they ever hear are "guns are the problem".  No surprise there.

posted by gut

Again, when every major news outlet save Fox (who has their own problems in the other direction) misreports on the subject, this is what you get.

There are 300M+ guns in the US.  The idea that NEW laws regulating sales will bring significant change in the next 100 years is, well, kind of stupid.  But that's what the left keeps pushing, and so that's all 40% or more of the population knows.

To the credit of the school district here, what they've done seem like fairly affordable and effective, common sense measures.  Kids don't like it, because they're inconvenienced and all they ever hear are "guns are the problem".  No surprise there.

I agree.  I obviously don't love the idea that public funds are going to be used to buy this stuff, but all things considered, it's a pretty common sense idea.

The clear backpack idea is pretty pointless on its own, nothing more than security theater. It's not hard to hollow out a book and stick a pistol in there.

It would seem with all the technology, computers, Iphone, pads and internet possibilities, that if the teachers, educator, administration, state funding programs and the overall education system would create a curriculum utilizing this potential, along with getting back to teaching basic subject matter and teaching methods within the school hourly sessions back packs could be eliminated. The kids would be carrying laptop, lunch money or lunchable.   

However, this would required teachers capable of teaching, parent capable of being concerned and supportive, student capable of being respectful to all and caring for less fortunate and last administrative both school and local authorities capable of being good stewardship to the community.

posted by justincredible

The clear backpack idea is pretty pointless on its own, nothing more than security theater. It's not hard to hollow out a book and stick a pistol in there.

Sure, but it's certainly no less effective than "new gun legislation."  It does also technically limit the number of firearms that can be brought in, because there are fewer types (and thus, fewer guns full-stop) that can be concealed in an opaque backpack than in a transparent one.

In the grand scheme, though, yeah, it's not going to make a significant difference.