kill kill kill

[tuixiu]

Seriously --- man, another person today in the news killing a bunch of innocent people (usually relatives) before killing themself.

It's been non-stop lately what the hell is wrong with these people? Losers can't just kill themselves must kill 3 year old daughter as well?

Is it just me or does it seem shootings like this are suddenly a regular event?

Argh. No answer required just venting.

 

[jambo101]

Its part of the consequence of living in a country where so many people feel the need to own guns and you can buy guns just about anywhere when the mentally challenged go off the deep end they usually end up using the guns to take as many people with them as they can,civilized society?debatable

 

[FinallyRetired]

Its part of the consequence of living in a country where so many people feel the need to own guns and you can buy guns just about anywhere when the mentally challenged go off the deep end they usually end up using the guns to take as many people with them as they can,civilized society?debatable

It's what happens when you have an unregulated militia. And why the word "regulated" is in the Constitution.

 

[tuixiu]

Apologies to moderator for uncivilized tone of initial post, was quite liquored up after returning from UFC get-together.

There does seem to be quite the wave of killings though, and I don't think it's just guns it's people. Just coincidence or do you think it's rooted in recent economic troubles increasing pressure?

 

[dex]

Is there an increase in the number of these things or are they just getting more news coverage?
Often times in a news cycle one incident gets coverage and then news organizations report others - but no real increase in the number of them. This is easy to recognize with child kidnappings. They have not been in the news lately and I doubt if they have stopped across the country - just not reported.

Guns appear to be an issue like abortion. There are those opposed to it and anything becomes an opportunity to voice their opinion without giving much thought to the issues.

 

[summer2007]

I agree with Dex.

This kind of stuff it what $ells for the media.

Usually plane wrecks and little girls getting murdered....these bring in the drug commercial dollars.

Remember shark attacks a few years back? Only a few people get killed by sharks a year but this was huge news.

People get killed all the time in all sorts of different ways. It just depends on who you are and how you die if you will be profitable or not.

I got to see a great example of this close to my house. A guy that owned a small business got shot many times and died in the parking lot trying to get help. Well I was pretty interested in this story since it was so close to my house.

Well guess what? Average guys in their 30's and 40's their lives are worth less than a dog. It was barely covered on the local news. What was covered though was who slept with the 14 year old this week!

Unfortunately for me I have a close family member that is ADDICTED to the "news" so I'm exposed to it like it or not like second hand smoke and I hate it.

So my advice is...if you have a choice...turn it off! It's pretty toxic and can be really upsetting. Also I think you get a really distorted view of what reality is by watching the "news". A great example of this would be the Iraq war...on one station you get one spin on another you get the opposite.


Jim

 

[jambo101]

So my advice is...if you have a choice...turn it off! It's pretty toxic and can be really upsetting. Also I think you get a really distorted view of what reality is by watching the "news". A great example of this would be the Iraq war...on one station you get one spin on another you get the opposite.
Jim

Damn good advice.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

I agree with Dex.

This kind of stuff it what $ells for the media.

Usually plane wrecks and little girls getting murdered....these bring in the drug commercial dollars.

Remember shark attacks a few years back? Only a few people get killed by sharks a year but this was huge news.

People get killed all the time in all sorts of different ways. It just depends on who you are and how you die if you will be profitable or not.

I got to see a great example of this close to my house. A guy that owned a small business got shot many times and died in the parking lot trying to get help. Well I was pretty interested in this story since it was so close to my house.

Well guess what? Average guys in their 30's and 40's their lives are worth less than a dog. It was barely covered on the local news. What was covered though was who slept with the 14 year old this week!

Unfortunately for me I have a close family member that is ADDICTED to the "news" so I'm exposed to it like it or not like second hand smoke and I hate it.

So my advice is...if you have a choice...turn it off! It's pretty toxic and can be really upsetting. Also I think you get a really distorted view of what reality is by watching the "news". A great example of this would be the Iraq war...on one station you get one spin on another you get the opposite.


Jim

Thanks for pointing that out. With my stock portfolio down so much, my neighbor's dog is probably worth more than I do. This backs up my conviction to come back the next life as a blonde chick who gets abducted when she's 5, returns home safely, then gets into an almost shark attack where she loses 1/4 of a finger nail but gets national coverage. The news coverage allows her to launch a singing/acting career mirroring that of Miley Cyrus. Then in her early twenties, she marries the CEO of a Fortune 500 companies. Divorces in her early 30s and walk away with $200 million. I think there will be news coverage for every segment of that story. Then in her early 50s when she no longer looks so hot, she'll get a make over to look like her daughter. I think it'll be fair then to stop hogging the airwaves.

 

[steve88]

I dont think it has something to do with guns. This year I plan on getting aqquainted with higher being and do some soul searching. The new era is sense of entitlement. If I can't have it no else should.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Firearms make it easier, but a nut will find a way without them.

Up here in Calgary about a year ago a seemingly normal guy stabbed his family and a renter to death.

 

[haha]

Firearms make it easier, but a nut will find a way without them.

Plenty of people right here in the good old USA get stomped to death, or stomped into a never ending coma. And the violent street crime in the UK pretty well proves that you don't need guns to have a lot of lethal violence.

One thing guns will do- they will give an older man or a woman at least some chance of keeping themselves from being battered to death.

The real answer is that we have too many awful people around today.

Ha

 

[mickeyd]

We can't do away with guns, nor knives, nor bathtubs, nor various poisons and we will always have folks that, all of a sudden, go nuts and kill people, including themselves. Just be glad it's not you.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I totally agree that guns per se are not the issue. For example, near Chicago yesterday there was a brutal murder of three people at knifepoint by an ex-boyfriend of a family member--no guns involved: Hoffman Estates stabbings: Couple's fight led to fatal attack, prosecutors say -- chicagotribune.com

And (b), it's not like this year all of a sudden you can buy a gun at the corner store--the availability probably hasn't changed.

The question is, why do there seem to be more stories about violence against innocent people? Are more people going cuckoo? Are these stories selling more papers? Considering the cutbacks at newspapers/tv news outlets, does anyone reporting them really have the time or expertise to research whether there is an increase in violence vs. years past?

I wonder why these cretins don't just take themselves out and spare the innocent ones.

 

[summer2007]

One of the problems is you can't turn back the hands of time to when guns were invented. So now you have zillions of them plastered all over this world. They are here to stay.

Now if you could magically make them ALL disappear then that would solve gun crimes.

But one problem I see is if you did get try to get rid of guns if someone then had one there would be no stopping them.

For instance in any public event or a mall or like you see in a school shooting no one would be able to shoot back.

Bestwifeever

I have not looked at statistics recently so I'm out of touch on what is happening in the last year or so. But as of a few years ago a lot of crime rates have dropped.

The stories that you hear on the news are IMO just to generate profit. The "news" is just another product that is meant to get viewers so they can sell ad space.

As with anything you have to know the facts for yourself because it can be really distorted in the news.

I had someone close to me on a high profile case for jury duty and I heard the actual facts of the case.....which were far different from what the media would have you believe.

I had a raid done on my street last year and since this is so close to me I knew a lot about the person that was the target of the raid. Some of the info was just flat out wrong that was put out there in the papers and online.

Jim

 

[Zathras]

I do believe the incidents of violence, gun related or not, IS on the increase due to the economy.
Added stress due to job loss, worry about job loss, worry about other aspects of the bad economy do tend to lead to a rise in violence.

 

[summer2007]

Bestwifeever


Here is a link that might help clear it up a little bit.


United States Crime Rates 1960 - 2007

It only goes to 2007.

Now if you think like I do the big statistic you would look at is the murder statistic. For the reason that it's the least likely to be a false report. Because usually you have someone dead...now of course it could be a suicide or an accident but the figures on murder are probably the most accurate.

If you look at rape statistics for instance we live in a culture where lying is rarely punished. And I have seen studies where 50%+ of rape reports are total lies....so it's anybody's guess on that statistic how many were actually real.

The same goes for false car theft reports and assult and things where there is a big incentive to lie and no real proof is needed.

With that said as of 2007 with a small fraction of a percent fluctuation in murders per 100,000 over the last few years in 2007 we had the lowest murder rate since like 1964.

Another thing that might be interesting to a lot of you is that if you want to see even lower rates look at some of Europe where drugs and prostution are often legal or overlooked or very lightly punished...the murder rates are much lower than the U.S.

Look up the Netherlands and Germany for instance...it's an interesting thing.

Jim

 

[Shawn]

Its part of the consequence of living in a country where so many people feel the need to own guns and you can buy guns just about anywhere when the mentally challenged go off the deep end they usually end up using the guns to take as many people with them as they can,civilized society?debatable

Pretty much like alcohol, except that alcohol kills an order of magnitude more people. However, alcohol deaths rarely make the national news. When a drunk driver kills a family of 5, you're not likely to hear about it unless you live locally. Ho hum. But if that same person shoots and kills a family of 5, it gets national and international coverage. I believe the main reason gun violence is likely to make the news is that the media is staunchly anti-gun.

I've always been intrigued by this dichotomy. That is, the failure of the media and other gun control advocates to be equally if not more enthusiastic about controlling alcohol. Alcohol is a far worse "social curse," but I guess it can be ignored since most in the media drink and heaven forbid should they give up something that they enjoy. As for me, I neither drink nor do I own a gun. However, I believe that both are rights that adults living in a free society should have.

This is not meant to be a political post. My point is that the media can't be trusted. Whether they are reporting on gun violence or the economy, they simply do not provide an accurate representation of reality. They tend to be precise with facts, but those facts often give a distorted picture of the real world.

 

[steve88]

without guns there is alternative such as flame thrower, molotov cocktail, pipe bomb, and poison ala jim jones.

 

[REWahoo]

However, alcohol deaths rarely make the national news. When a drunk driver kills a family of 5, you're not likely to hear about it unless you live locally.

I agree. Here is one of those rare exceptions: Driver to be charged in drownings of children - CNN.com

 

[summer2007]

Shawn

I totally agree with you.

It's HOW you die that matters if it's profitable or not!

Jim

 

[tuixiu]

It's HOW you die that matters if it's profitable or not!

Winner = BBC NEWS | Wales | Driver used rope to kill himself

 

[KennyM]

I also think in todays time, news can become instantly spread across the country via 24 hour news channels. What might have happened say, 10 years ago would "old" news hours later unless it was considered important by the news director. Family violence might not compare to a Columbine story.
Also, with "Breaking" news stories, where you see something live from New York while you're in Seattle, is another factor. Again, 24 hour news needs stories to report.
I used to read a "print" newspaper, but now, flip on the internet, and stories are more widespead. Print stories that were buried on page 23 are today's instant headlines on the internet. If a violent act occurred today, it's instant news. Years ago, by the time the paper went to print is was old news.
Another thought relates to the Vietnam era. You might not hear or see anything from the battlefield fore weeks. Today, reporters are enbedded with the troups, and we see the reports "live" from the battlefield.
Is family violence more prevalent today, or do we just hear more of it because of the times?

 

[KennyM]

Moments ago, I used the Columbine shooting as an example. I just realized that it was 10 years ago today the tragic events occurred. Perhaps another example might have been a better choice.