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7 dead in mass shooting at Coors in Milwaukee


Gil Bang

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2 hours ago, Goredho said:

Were they born fucked in the head?  If so, why is their number increasing?  If they weren’t born fucked in the head, what made them so?

There is a bad trend going on and to hope to reverse it you have to understand it.

Focusing on guns pro or con inhibits that understanding.

The fact that this is largely an American issue leads me to believe that they weren't born fucked up in the head, at least not entirely. But then what in our society draws out that complete disregard for human life?

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9 hours ago, RomaVicta said:

This is the essence of why this shouldn't go CR- because everybody everywhere, particularly on the electronic mass media, immediately goes to the same tired analyses of gun laws and the usual suspects.

The issue, to me, is why do these Americans feel the need to commit suicide and include other people?

W.T.F? Explain the anticipated satisfaction of blasting a co-worker or even a dickhead boss as prelude to your own death. What is the seed for this?

Guns are an issue, but I mainly worry about how this virus of mass killing followed by suicide (either self-inflicted or by cop) got unleashed. It seems to be particularly American although not exclusively American. How does mass murder become an individual statement? Where does this come from? I'm truly baffled. 

Until we explore beyond the facile, we'll never have a clue. We are a particularly violent society. Let's maybe take a look at that without the same-same platitudes and stances. 

I doubt anybody on the political spectrum is comfortable with this seemingly very American phenomenon.

Incredible post Roma.  

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11 hours ago, RomaVicta said:

This is the essence of why this shouldn't go CR- because everybody everywhere, particularly on the electronic mass media, immediately goes to the same tired analyses of gun laws and the usual suspects.

The issue, to me, is why do these Americans feel the need to commit suicide and include other people?

W.T.F? Explain the anticipated satisfaction of blasting a co-worker or even a dickhead boss as prelude to your own death. What is the seed for this?

Guns are an issue, but I mainly worry about how this virus of mass killing followed by suicide (either self-inflicted or by cop) got unleashed. It seems to be particularly American although not exclusively American. How does mass murder become an individual statement? Where does this come from? I'm truly baffled. 

Until we explore beyond the facile, we'll never have a clue. We are a particularly violent society. Let's maybe take a look at that without the same-same platitudes and stances. 

I doubt anybody on the political spectrum is comfortable with this seemingly very American phenomenon.

I sent this as a PM to Roma, because we need more conversations like this...

 

You and I don't always agree on a lot of things, but I 100% appreciate your response on that thread.  I don't know what it is either.  Maybe we have all been coddled a bit much and can't handle the pressure when things don't work out the way we think they should.  Humans all have a fight/flight mechanism, but some of the underpinnings of our fast paced society don't equilibrate to making thoughtful, measured decisions when faced with an empty hole that we have often dug ourselves (but blame it on others, oftentimes).   

You had the opportunity to blast the thread into orbit, as so many have done before, but you posited one of the more thoughtful and unique responses to this event that I think is being terribly overlooked by a lot of people.

 

We live in a very odd, cruel, and cynical world right now, where we champion narcissists and worship entertainment rather than truly good people. I don't get it either.  We're Rome with the idea that there is truly the capability of becoming a big dog; there is, but very few have the ability/work ethic/opportunity/patience/fortitude to make it happen.  I don't know where we go from here, but you're right that this isn't just a gun problem.  This is a problem with our psychology and empathy.  

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17 hours ago, RomaVicta said:

The issue, to me, is why do these Americans feel the need to commit suicide and include other people?

W.T.F? Explain the anticipated satisfaction of blasting a co-worker or even a dickhead boss as prelude to your own death. What is the seed for this?

 

A desire to get back at people or institutions (or just society) who they think have fucked them over. And if the person is sufficiently fucked up, they can rationalize it to the extent that the specific individuals being targeted don't matter-- everyone is in on it or part of it, so everyone gets a bullet.

Also, why just go out quietly when you can at least make a big headline? Like the line from the Squidbillies intro song..."I'll take all you sumbitches when I go."

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, BurntEyes said:

Holy shit some meaningful discussion.

Good stuff and I'll add in take. First, it's obviously a complex issue and I will note while I believe I have a grasp on some of the underlying cause, I'm also pretty sure I have no clue about the fix. I do know what it isn't, simple one item political fixes.

First, I'm well aware of a pattern of behavior that is now perpetuated in this country by a vast majority of parents, schools and society in general. It is that the world should be fair. That we should all be winners. That anything is possible. That's a great idea, and a decent hopeful philosophy by which to live. However, it's not reality. It never has been and never will be. It sets people of all background up for a huge slap in the face when reality kicks in.

Next, there is, in this country in particular but really in most of the 1st world a fucking obsession with celebrity. Everyone seems to be looking for it and much worse, because of the underpinning above EXPECT it. Case in point, at least 50% of the profiles I see on tinder are women looking for Instagram followers for whatever reason. Every social media platform is full of someone trying to get that great viral hit of some sort. The mass media plays into that same shit on both sides. Our airwaves are full of various insta-celebrity shows, reality shows, shows celebrating celebrity. It's a fucking beating. I hard turn on any standard TV station anymore because of it. 

Next is a complete and total inept mental health system in this country due to horrible underfunding. Beyond that is the stigma attached to mental illness or now conversely, everyone having a mental illness. Everyone is depressed, or biPolar or something that requires medications. Now, I fully realize this part is conflicting itself. That's the fucking irony. I think some real issues are overlooked, while some people cling to it as an excuse all while the Pharma industry profits off the clingers and the really sick people get fucked by over priced meds and lack of treatment.

Next is our fucked up ass criminal industrial complex. Really mentally ill people go to jail or prison or end up on the streets. Many become addicts. Many addicts end up on the street. Many people are just fucked up. So.. toss in the addicts and mentally ill addicts to our mix that confuse the issue of treatment and recognition of people that are in need or might be threats. Where, even if it is recognized early and recently they have been, nobody knows wtf to do about it.

Now I turn back to social media and turn on tech itself. Many people don't pick up the phone to speak anymore. I have a friend here on this very forum that won't take a call. I have others that do the same. I have some folks in my life that communicate only via Facebook messenger. I know others that rarely engage with me outside of social media posts. The work place is the same world of texting and email, with less and less phone. I go to a bar and people are communicating via text, to each other, while sitting at the fucking bar. No joke, this happens.

I don't know the answer. It is a huge a mess, but if we don't start talking again, face to face or over the phone, it won't get better. We have to become humans again. A society that engages outside of the digital world. We need to fund mental health, which includes addiction treatment. We need to be kinder to one another. We need to stop drawing lines in the sand over our team politics. We need the media to join us.

We need to be a society of humans.

I don't know the fix, but I know what won't help and that's the same tired political shit that normally occurs.

 

I’ll just say this is ironic coming from you. 
 

The rise of anonymity is what’s contributing to what you’re talking about. It’s easy to say something terrible to someone when they’re just a username on a screen (as you’ve demonstrated), or a twitter handle, or a driver of another car, or someone passing by. It’s easy to be mean to that person, because you don’t know them as a person. To you they’re just pixels on a screen or an annoyance in your daily life. No one thinks about what’s going on in that other person’s head. You couldn’t have known I was someone that struggled with depression, anxiety, and anger all my life. Or that your flippant, perhaps non-literal comment would stick with me so much that I still think of it months later. It’s the only thing I think about anytime I see your username. 
 

A mentally ill person doesn’t brush things off like a rational person. They take all those little comments literally, take all the minor dismissals and disrespectfulness they encounter daily and use them to feed their hate, rage, or whatever it is that slowly eats them up. They use it to reinforce their opinion that no one cares about them, the world is against them, they don’t matter, and that all other people are terrible and deserve what’s coming. All of that can build inside those people until they explode one day. 

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