According to this ridiculous article I was "a natural step" from being a school shooter in my teenager years, and so are million others. The juvenile grouping of "jocks and nerds" is not enough for the author, who makes no effort in trying to understand the killera, instead he dwells into generalizations and sheer prejudice. If the title didn't hint you into what sort of article it would be.
On the manifestos killers leave behind
41–50 of 101 posts
Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind
#42I was picked on in school a fair amount. Some of it quite violent, and pervasive. At some point I got really fed up with one particular kid, and got myself a big stick. Luckily for him that stick broke cleanly in two upon first impact, otherwise i'm not sure what would have happened. After that things subsided somewhat. That kid threatened me more, but never did come after me again. Growing older I realise two things…
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Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind
#43I was picked on in school a fair amount. Some of it quite violent, and pervasive. At some point I got really fed up with one particular kid, and got myself a big stick. Luckily for him that stick broke cleanly in two upon first impact, otherwise i'm not sure what would have happened. After that things subsided somewhat. That kid threatened me more, but never did come after me again. Growing older I realise two things…
>>> Wish I could tell all of this to my 14-year-old self.
I often think this about any number of things, and then I realize there were probably a lot of people in my life who were telling them to me, and I just didn't want to listen to them. Being 14 is really hard.
Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mass shootings are overwhelmingly a US problem, not rest of the first world problem. (There are a few exceptions). > but not being willing to do anything about those things but sit in their basement of choice and whine. Or go out and kill a bunch of people.
Not even close; here's an accounting I did covering just Western Europe just for this century as of a little over 2 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4970408 and the same with some discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5070201 Add e.g. Canada and "[it's] overwhelmingly a US problem" is even less true.
If you show the US data, people could compare the numbers and draw their own conclusion.
Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind
#45There should be a Mad Max reference in the article with Immortal Joe shouting "mediocre", because even in their blaze of glory moment for these troubled individuals, there is no glory and barely any blaze. And I think that the reason they leave this manifestos is because they feel they cannot do anything right and put it as insurance.
"Immortan Joe"
Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind
#46I was picked on in school a fair amount. Some of it quite violent, and pervasive. At some point I got really fed up with one particular kid, and got myself a big stick. Luckily for him that stick broke cleanly in two upon first impact, otherwise i'm not sure what would have happened. After that things subsided somewhat. That kid threatened me more, but never did come after me again. Growing older I realise two things…
"First, those "jocks" that get all the girls, have (generalizing here) other very serious problems, are often emotionally stunted, angry at their dads, or whatever."
I highly doubt that this is true.
Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind
#47I was picked on in school a fair amount. Some of it quite violent, and pervasive. At some point I got really fed up with one particular kid, and got myself a big stick. Luckily for him that stick broke cleanly in two upon first impact, otherwise i'm not sure what would have happened. After that things subsided somewhat. That kid threatened me more, but never did come after me again. Growing older I realise two things…
You can't, but you can make a point to tell your children, which is what I've done. You have to stop the cycle early, or it does become pervasive and nobody wins in the end, nobody. Exhibit A is the Columbine massacre. The kids were bullied until they finally snapped and a lot of people lost their lives because everybody around them failed at stopping it.
When my son told me he was being bullied, I showed him a few BJJ moves to help out, then I told him, "If someone wants to throw down, then do it, and always swing first. It doesn't matter if you win or not, you're going to get into trouble regardless. Don't wait for someone to make the first move."
A week later, I got called into the principals office about him fighting. I went in and read the principal the riot act. My son repeatedly told his teachers and other staff about what was going on and they did nothing. He broke the kids nose and then put him in an armbar (ala Rhonda Rousey) until the teacher came and broke it up. I told the principal he defended himself and did nothing wrong and his bully was lucky he didn't hyper-extend his elbow or worse.
He said after that all the bullying stopped and thanked me for giving him the courage to stand up to his bullies. I just endured it when I was his age, but I wanted to make my kids wouldn't have to go through what I did and were able to end the cycle.
Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind
#48This is the first time I've read excerpts from these "manifestos" and it's hard to know how to react. It all reads like a kind of mental illness and it's chilling to see the similarities (although this article may only make them look similar). Intellectually I feel like there should be room for sympathy of some kind, but to be honest, I feel nothing of the kind; just angry. The authors strike me as small, pathetic, misguided and (for me, worst of all) demanding and entitled.
In terms of constructive moves to try and deal with this issue, it's hard to think of anything substantive. For sure, less guns means these individuals would have taken fewer lives. Perhaps a better attitude toward mental illness and easier to access treatment options might help. On the other hand, it doesn't sound like these people though they were mentally ill. On the contrary, they felt the opposite.
I found the bits about how special they think they are to be particularly striking. I certainly feel that my daughter is special, but I understand that what makes her most special is that she is my daughter. The idea that everyone should be, in some way, globally special seems somewhat misguided.
Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
why should women have to live in fear when men don't? They don't?
It was definitely a straw man. I'm a dude and I don't live in fear of a shooter, and I don't get the impression many women do either. My point is: We're quick to claim victory as society grows more tolerant and race/sex matter less, but I think we claim it too soon. That young white men feel entitled to shoot people when their lives don't work out (and apparently others don't) is as real an imbalance as wage gaps, et…
> That young white men feel entitled to shoot people when their lives don't work out (and apparently others don't)
If I said that Jews feel entitled to slander people and call them racist when their arguments about the existence of gas chambers don't work out, I would be ding ding ding'ed by dang.
While both assertions are crassly correct, we must ask ourselves (dropit_sphere, pay attention now):
- Please tone down your claims. Are you sure it is a characteristic inherent of young white men that they feel like shooting people when their lives don't work out? Or perhaps do you think it could be the characteristic not of such a large group with so many counter-examples to your thesis, but of a much narrower group, such as, for instance, non-home-schooled pubescent students under prescription drugs and probably victims of bullying, who aren't emotionally connected enough with their parents in order to talk through their feelings? When you generalize it to "young white men" you indict a whole category of people when really you should be chastising only the exceptional, criminal outliers.
- Please substantiate your claims more. How did you come to the conclusion that young white men feel entitled to shoot people when their lives don't work out, while others apparently do not? Is there a study corroborating this? Can we make this claim from the sample size we have? Have there been other cases where people mistakenly blamed a whole group for the actions of the outliers? (Hint: Jews). If so, what can we learn from it?
dang: please moderate this thread more closely in order to curtail the behavior exemplified by dropit_sphere's post. Thank you.
Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind
#50Who cares honestly? It's the same rehashed garbage. First world problems galore. Not getting enough sex, not having enough money, not making enough friends but not being willing to do anything about those things but sit in their basement of choice and whine. Clarifying: The first world problem I'm talking about are the things the shooters cite as reasons for their actions, not the shootings themselves.
Mass shootings are overwhelmingly a US problem, not rest of the first world problem. (There are a few exceptions). > but not being willing to do anything about those things but sit in their basement of choice and whine. Or go out and kill a bunch of people.
Wasn't referring to the mass shootings being a first world problem, referring to the varying "crises" presented as justifications FOR mass murder, which are almost without exception pathetic.