20+ killed in elementary school shooting

[bluntsword]

Certainly proof of sin in the world.

[yuyu!]

Calling these people 'animals' is an insult to animals. But I guess calling them 'people' is an insult to people too.
I'm not really the kind of person who strictly believes in God, but if Satan exists, these heartless stains on humanity would be the best proof available.

I have many names for creatures like those, none of which are suitable for all audiences.

[firerain]

We have yearly check ups for our eyes, teeth, and physical health. Why on earth do we not have yearly check-ups for our mental health? This has always bothered me.

I couldn't imagine being the coroner or the one having to bag the bodies. 18 lives that didn't even have time to think of what they wanted to be when they grew up. Parents that were excited to see the joy on their kids faces on Christmas morning, and it was taken away by an act of unspeakable evil.

[LoganF]

Some might find this particularly interesting:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uwAo8lcAC4[/yt]

It's a little lengthy, but raises some points that people (especially the media) should take into account and learn from as part of reducing the impact on these kind of events.

More interesting is how the media are presenting this as being influenced by violent video games, something I'm sure most of us who call ourselves "Gamers" are quite opinionated on. My favourite part is how Dynasty Warriors and Mass Effect have been accused. Obviously GTA just doesn't work so lets move onto less obvious things to blame.

[firerain]

bringing up video games at all is dumb

[bluntsword]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/no-lets-talk-about-video-game-violence

I thought this was well written also.

[Acolyte]

The media loves scapegoats. :anski2:

I really like that video, Logan. Nobody really questions that the killer in these scenarios is often the focus of the stories. Why are we giving him our thoughts when many people don't even know the names of those poor children or teachers? They should be the ones we remember. The killer should be the one who fades into obscurity.

[D&P3]

Why would you shoot up a school? I can think of several places that would've been beneficial to society if they were shot up.
Nevermind the fact that their own mother was shot down (most likely the reason for this in the first place... I mean wouldn't you avoid the place where your mother is unless you wanted her to be involved?).
And if you were gonna lop yourself off in the end anyway, I still see no reason why many of the more beneficial alternatives didn't apply to the shooter.


Now the media gets a fieldtrip with blaming video games and further putting restrictions on their content, now children will have to be portrayed as even more cherishable than they already are.
Sadly it's because of the media that things like these are more applicable to nutters, the coverage of the events from the shooter and their life is absolutely astonishing and is a quick way to get you famous.

In any case I don't like this; I wouldn't wish any child to be shot, at the very least I hope it was a quick death.

[Wiimeiser]

Read this. Does this describe the mentality of the US too well? And also why Lisa is as despised in the US as a mass pedophile

[firerain]

Read this. Does this describe the mentality of the US too well? And also why Lisa is as despised in the US as a mass pedophile

awful post from an awful poster

[pacdiggity]

The media ruins everything. Well, not everything. But they damn well try to. I've seen some of the things the people of Newtown had to say, and they just want the media to fuck off so they can mourn in peace. It'd be hard enough without the press.

And as a sidenote, I am a fully qualified jackass who got a solid B in his media studies class this year, and I can say that my pothead conspiracy theorist of a teacher knows for a fact that violent video games don't make people violent; they either reinforce preexisting violent behaviour or simply increase people's tolerance of violence.

[D&P3]

I'm more of the mind that video games desensitise you to violence rather than encourage it.
On the other hand enlisting rates for armed forces have gone up since CoD has been released.

[bluntsword]

For sure the problem is larger than gun control, medication, psychological disorders, video games.

And I think that Simpsons strip is quite irrelevant.

[pacdiggity]

I don't really think of CoD as a video game. It's more of an action movie that just says "Hey, can you point and some stuff and click?" every once in a while.

[D&P3]

I feel the same way with a lot of recent games, especially console RPGs.

[Holkeye]

Except that people buy call of duty to go online and shoot their friends and random people online, negating any storyline whatsoever.

[pacdiggity]

That is true, but in multiplayer you know you're killing people like you, often first-world people with comfortable amounts of money who are trying to kill you. This isn't as bad as in the single player (which most people will play the first half of) which commands you to "KILL ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE FOREIGN BECAUSE THEY ARE FOREIGN" even if they aren't doing anything to provoke you. That's the desensitizing part. And I know you get that, and you're just saying that it's not nearly played as much as the multiplayer. But it's still there. People will still play it and shoot the brown people without thinking about it solely because they aren't white.
I somehow wanted to mention Spec Ops: The Line in there but I couldn't work it in, so I'm putting it here. Brilliant game. Bad guy is American.

Well and truly off topic now. Fantastic. Discussion of video games here is unnecessary, and could get disrespectful of the lives lost in Newtown. I'd be fine discussing this elsewhere.