How much longer until mass shootings make us hermits?

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The_Walrus
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11 Jun 2022, 4:27 pm

slam_thunderhide wrote:
Mikah wrote:
misslizard wrote:
and we didn’t have mass shootings every week and there were plenty of guns laying around.


Kudos for noticing the best counter argument against the current narrative - America has a much longer and richer history of gun ownership than of school shootings. Britain too, used to have gun laws so liberal it would make Texas squirm while also having very low levels of crime in general, let alone gun crime.

misslizard wrote:
I have to wonder what happened.


My money is on drugs, legal and illegal:
https://nypost.com/2019/08/07/the-link- ... -we-think/

Not that it will ever be properly investigated with the demented push for more legalisation because, alas, popular opinion is on the other side. Could there be something to the old canard of "reefer madness"? I don't know, but shooting up a school seems fairly mad to me.

It was initially reported in the NYT that Ramos was a regular weed smoker - then it was quickly deleted for mysterious reasons.


Channeling Peter Hitchens again? I agree with you (and Hitchens) as far as it goes.

However, as far as I am concerned, there is another factor that most people are even less keen to examine. And that is that decades of social liberalism, open borders and leftist media and academic indoctrination in the US have bred a society of people resentful and alienated from each other.

But since leftism, social liberalism and open borders are supported by the majority of people on this forum, I don't suppose they'll stop to question their own cherished beliefs for two seconds.

The United States doesn't have open borders (it's a famously difficult country to migrate to) so we can throw that out for a start.

What, specifically, do you mean when you blame "social liberalism" and "leftist media and academi[a]" for resentment and alienation leading to mass shootings? Aren't most shooters motivated by right-wing ideals?

For what it's worth I'm very much in the "mass shootings are a red herring" camp, but I'm interested in why you think increased social tolerance has led to resentment, alienation, and mass murder. Do you also credit social liberalism for the declining murder rate, or only for things you don't like?



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11 Jun 2022, 7:06 pm

What Counts as a Mass Shooting? Why So Much of America's Gun Violence Gets Overlooked

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The FBI doesn’t define “mass shooting” as its own term; it only defines a “mass murderer” as someone who kills four or more people in one location—and that doesn’t necessarily have to be with a firearm. The most accepted definition of a mass shooting, then, is as a single incident in which four or more people are shot or killed. A mass shooting typically occurs in a single place and time but can include multiple locations in close proximity to each other.

Thomas says the reason people resonate so much with the publicized mass shootings is because they have occurred in settings where they have been conditioned to feel safe—schools, malls, office buildings and places of worship, to list a few examples. That assumption however doesn’t acknowledge the spaces where most mass shootings happen; the implicit bias here translates to a belief that these places, and other communities, are unsafe. “We’ve become inured to the day-to-day gun violence you see happening in urban communities,” Thomas adds. “A lot of Americans are not necessarily thinking about it.” Mass shootings happen all the time in the United States—particularly within poor Black inner-city communities. The reality is that, though, shootings are not “supposed” to happen anywhere.


Bolding=mine
I do remember the phrase "going postal". At first, it was applied just to a disgruntled ex or current post office employee who shot up his workplace. Then the definition was expanded to include any type of workplace.
Off Topic
When "going postal" became a thing employers got scared and that is when "team player" started to be put in want ad job description for any type of position, and when batteries of personality tests became part of the job application process.

This was and is really bad for autistics


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11 Jun 2022, 11:04 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
Pepe wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
Covid made everyone a hermit last year.

Mass shootings are obviously a problem, but they dont make us into "hermits". Though they might force you to homeschool your kids.


I take a different position.
The factors that lead up to mass shootings are the issues.

I seriously doubt psychopaths are involved in mass shootings and then engage in "suicide by cop".
It is damaged people who become sociopaths through psychological and physical trauma.

Regardless, I personally can vouch for a hermitic lifestyle in addition to giving society the bird. 8)


So...its the shooters who are the "hermits"...traumatized by society...and taking out their wrath on society?



Hmmm… PePe = hermit ??.= $hooters ! , wrath on society .. hmmm.. scarey stuff.. gang stalking .. uhm..? Yikes …


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12 Jun 2022, 4:12 am

slam_thunderhide wrote:
Channeling Peter Hitchens again?


I often do, especially on drugs topics.

Speaking of the devil, he's mentioned that NYT oddity in his column today:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/arti ... ay-it.html

...

This censoring of the past is no longer fiction. For instance, a document which says 'We do not have an independent, valid test for ADHD, and there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction' has been altered in the records of America's National Institutes of Health. These crucial words have been removed. Nobody can explain how, why, or who did it. But I have a copy of the undoctored original which miraculously survived.

Now there is controversy about a report of the recent massacre in Uvalde, Texas, in that great newspaper The New York Times, famous for its rectitude. In an early account, the newspaper quoted one of the shooter's co-workers at the Wendy's hamburger restaurant in Uvalde as saying she 'recalled he would often talk about how much he despised his mother and grandmother, whom he told her did not let him smoke weed or do what he wanted'.

I am one of a growing number of people who believe – thanks to evidence of drug use among violent killers – that there may be a connection between marijuana use, mental illness and rampage killings.

This report was of great importance to us. So when it vanished from the New York Times website the next day, I tried repeatedly to get an explanation. The newspaper, normally very careful to explain any such changes, has not done so this time. Was the story perhaps wrong? No. The Mail on Sunday sent a reporter, Barbara McMahon, to Uvalde. She tracked down the woman at Wendy's, Jocelynn Rodriguez.

Ms Rodriguez confirmed that she had said the vanished words to a New York Times reporter. She also said the killer had asked colleagues, in her hearing, where he could buy marijuana. I am still trying to get The New York Times to explain why it felt that, of all the news it had in its possession that day, the shooter's liking for marijuana was the bit they did not think was fit to print.


...


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12 Jun 2022, 6:56 am

Mikah wrote:
slam_thunderhide wrote:
Channeling Peter Hitchens again?


I often do, especially on drugs topics.

Speaking of the devil, he's mentioned that NYT oddity in his column today:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/arti ... ay-it.html

...

This censoring of the past is no longer fiction. For instance, a document which says 'We do not have an independent, valid test for ADHD, and there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction' has been altered in the records of America's National Institutes of Health. These crucial words have been removed. Nobody can explain how, why, or who did it. But I have a copy of the undoctored original which miraculously survived.

Now there is controversy about a report of the recent massacre in Uvalde, Texas, in that great newspaper The New York Times, famous for its rectitude. In an early account, the newspaper quoted one of the shooter's co-workers at the Wendy's hamburger restaurant in Uvalde as saying she 'recalled he would often talk about how much he despised his mother and grandmother, whom he told her did not let him smoke weed or do what he wanted'.

I am one of a growing number of people who believe – thanks to evidence of drug use among violent killers – that there may be a connection between marijuana use, mental illness and rampage killings.

This report was of great importance to us. So when it vanished from the New York Times website the next day, I tried repeatedly to get an explanation. The newspaper, normally very careful to explain any such changes, has not done so this time. Was the story perhaps wrong? No. The Mail on Sunday sent a reporter, Barbara McMahon, to Uvalde. She tracked down the woman at Wendy's, Jocelynn Rodriguez.

Ms Rodriguez confirmed that she had said the vanished words to a New York Times reporter. She also said the killer had asked colleagues, in her hearing, where he could buy marijuana. I am still trying to get The New York Times to explain why it felt that, of all the news it had in its possession that day, the shooter's liking for marijuana was the bit they did not think was fit to print.


...


As a Aspie , whom has a prescription for marijuana type medications, It is applied correctly for self medication and is remarkably effective in treating PTSD type issues . Not something to use casually .but can be effective if used in a medicinal application. Add in the bullying stress related to the Texas killings , and it might have been attempted effort to self medicate as a deterrent to this type of behaviour , by the Alumni / killer, of those people at that school
. Just thinking outside the box ?


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12 Jun 2022, 9:37 am

Jakki wrote:
As a Aspie , whom has a prescription for marijuana type medications, It is applied correctly for self medication and is remarkably effective in treating PTSD type issues . Not something to use casually .but can be effective if used in a medicinal application. Add in the bullying stress related to the Texas killings , and it might have been attempted effort to self medicate as a deterrent to this type of behaviour , by the Alumni / killer, of those people at that school
. Just thinking outside the box ?


More like inside the box, Jakki - this is cookie cutter fashionable opinion. The true medicinal value of cannabis is very difficult to determine, properly blinded trials are not really possible. Getting high and feeling better is not true medicinal value or straight up heroin would be just fine too. Again this self-medication thing - please exercise more critical thinking - maybe there is something to it, but if tobacco interests tomorrow declared that smoking doesn't cause lung cancer - and that smokers smoke to treat pre-existing lung conditions I'd hope you'd take that announcement with a handful of salt.


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12 Jun 2022, 10:03 am

Like my weed, been toking since I was around fourteen.No plans to go on a rampage.
Yet to see someone get violent on just weed.Seen plenty of meth heads get weird, the majority of homicides here are meth related, it’s easy to find and cheap.
From this county ,since I’ve lived here.
Man leaves pipe bomb at the grocery store parking lot, says possums told him to do it.
Man thinks his brother is cheating with his girlfriend, shoots him in the face when he opens door killing him.
Couple think someone snitched them out, victim stabbed multiple times,as in over fifty.
Man pushes crippled wife in wheelchair in pond, drowns her.
Man kills girlfriend at creek, sets her on fire.
Young woman opens front door, man with an issue with her boyfriend shoots her in the face killing her.
Man gets paranoid about his friend, kills him and buries in vegetable garden.
There is more.Meth was always found.Weed usually not.
No homicides so far this year, but when we have one, it will be meth related.
The former old Sheriff told me back in the day homicides usually involved hard liquor and a woman ,but now it’s the meth.


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12 Jun 2022, 10:44 am

Misslizard wrote:
Like my weed, been toking since I was around fourteen.No plans to go on a rampage.
Yet to see someone get violent on just weed.


Do you really think this is a solid counter-argument?

"I own a gun, no plans to shoot up a school. Never seen my gun owning friends shoot up the local elementary..."

*waves*
*high fives Tucker Carlson*
*leaves argument*
*anti-gun campaigners BTFO*


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12 Jun 2022, 11:06 am

Mikah wrote:
Misslizard wrote:
Like my weed, been toking since I was around fourteen.No plans to go on a rampage.
Yet to see someone get violent on just weed.


Do you really think this is a solid counter-argument?

"I own a gun, no plans to shoot up a school. Never seen my gun owning friends shoot up the local elementary..."

*waves*
*high fives Tucker Carlson*
*leaves argument*
*anti-gun campaigners BTFO*

Life experience from an old woman.Take it or leave it.I knew several of the victims that were murdered by tweakers. The girl shot in the face was Bea, she was a friend.
This county also is known for weed.So most people here smoke.
Everyone has guns, even the hippies.
Think it of a social study of 7,000 people for well over thirty years.
Weed smokers don’t murder,Meth users do.


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12 Jun 2022, 11:28 am

Misslizard wrote:
Life experience from an old woman.Take it or leave it.I knew several of the victims that were murdered by tweakers. The girl shot in the face was Bea, she was a friend.
This county also is known for weed.So most people here smoke.
Everyone has guns, even the hippies.
Think it of a social study of 7,000 people for well over thirty years.
Weed smokers don’t murder,Meth users do.


I don't doubt that meth is a terrible drug and in my initial foray into this thread I called out all mind altering drugs as worthy of investigation - but - the idea that weed is harmless and makes people peaceful and non-violent is an increasingly silly position to hold. You don't have to look hard to find absurdly, nay, insanely violent crimes that happen right after someone smokes up, often in people with no history of violence and sometimes with little history of cannabis usage. Clearly it does not turn all users into fridge-raiding couch potatoes.


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12 Jun 2022, 11:40 am

Misslizard wrote:
Mikah wrote:
Misslizard wrote:
Like my weed, been toking since I was around fourteen.No plans to go on a rampage.
Yet to see someone get violent on just weed.


Do you really think this is a solid counter-argument?

"I own a gun, no plans to shoot up a school. Never seen my gun owning friends shoot up the local elementary..."

*waves*
*high fives Tucker Carlson*
*leaves argument*
*anti-gun campaigners BTFO*

Life experience from an old woman.Take it or leave it.I knew several of the victims that were murdered by tweakers. The girl shot in the face was Bea, she was a friend.
This county also is known for weed.So most people here smoke.
Everyone has guns, even the hippies.
Think it of a social study of 7,000 people for well over thirty years.
Weed smokers don’t murder,Meth users do.


Have to echo this thread …. And am aware “pot “ has its counter indicated situations . But as with all meds , one balances the adverse reactions with the good ones . Every med listed in the PDR , ( pharmaceutical desk reference)
Always has a adverse reactions section in the drug description. 8O

Micah
Do wish you might cite some study to support your written words .
Having much personal experience with a thing , substance , what ever can count as valid opinion , at least for those
People. If you do not have personal experience, one might be suspect of what you might write here.
First hand experience and experience in the medical profession with many drug prescriptions still counts as experience. Not advising people to use cannabis only recreationally . But it does have its applications.
IMHO.


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12 Jun 2022, 11:58 am

Jakki wrote:
Micah
Do wish you might cite some study to support your written words .


I can dig things like that up if you like - but I doubt it would satisfy you. What few studies there are at the moment can only show correlations between cannabis, psychosis, schizophrenia, violence etc. There is no definitive proof of causation or even really a potential route to understand causation at present because we know so little about how the brain functions. Of course, selfish pot users and amoral pot sellers immediately jump on that. "Correlation is not causation" they cry, "they could be self-medicating" - something you automatically did a few posts ago.

More sensible people understand that correlation can not always be automatically discarded - while correlation is not causation, it is the first step in finding causation.


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12 Jun 2022, 12:08 pm

Mikah wrote:
Misslizard wrote:
Life experience from an old woman.Take it or leave it.I knew several of the victims that were murdered by tweakers. The girl shot in the face was Bea, she was a friend.
This county also is known for weed.So most people here smoke.
Everyone has guns, even the hippies.
Think it of a social study of 7,000 people for well over thirty years.
Weed smokers don’t murder,Meth users do.


I don't doubt that meth is a terrible drug and in my initial foray into this thread I called out all mind altering drugs as worthy of investigation - but - the idea that weed is harmless and makes people peaceful and non-violent is an increasingly silly position to hold. You don't have to look hard to find absurdly, nay, insanely violent crimes that happen right after someone smokes up, often in people with no history of violence and sometimes with little history of cannabis usage. Clearly it does not turn all users into fridge-raiding couch potatoes.

The local news has a case where a woman ran over another in a case of road rage.She blames cough syrup.Supposedly her liver doesn’t process it normally.Not sure if I buy into it, but if she was using other drugs, prescription, over the counter or illegal , it could be a factor.
https://www.newsweek.com/woman-blames-c ... 4353?amp=1
I agree that prescribed medications for mental conditions can be over used or have terrible side effects. They are too quick to dole out anti- depressants to young people with developing brains.Medications should be a last resort and the patient should be closely monitored for side effects.
I take an antidepressant and it took several different changes to find the right dose and right drug.Some were awful.
I think a “ cocktail” of substances is the real danger, unknown drug interactions coupled with psychological problems.


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12 Jun 2022, 12:48 pm

Mikah wrote:
Jakki wrote:
Micah
Do wish you might cite some study to support your written words .


I can dig things like that up if you like - but I doubt it would satisfy you. What few studies there are at the moment can only show correlations between cannabis, psychosis, schizophrenia, violence etc. There is no definitive proof of causation or even really a potential route to understand causation at present because we know so little about how the brain functions. Of course, selfish pot users and amoral pot sellers immediately jump on that. "Correlation is not causation" they cry, "they could be self-medicating" - something you automatically did a few posts ago.

More sensible people understand that correlation can not always be automatically discarded - while correlation is not causation, it is the first step in finding causation.


Very good scientific method . And whereas many things maybe linked to other things by happenstance one might consider narrowing applicable parameters..
Having 1st hand experience with a substance over a extended period of time , might be a better way of examining results . Superior to short term clinical trials . Both methods also might obviously benefit from ongoing observations by trained personnel, And I do agree, about more research might need to be done. But Cannibis has been around since the 20s in the USA , from my best recollection of what I had read about it.
As far as self medication goes that has been around since mankind discovered fermentation. Doctors are not always available to everyone in this country. Cost , location , etc.
You have deferred my question to cite studies . Btw.
Also incidentally we know incredible things about the brain . Dr. Brian Jennings in California had successfully mapped the entire brain . With the Spec scan equipment in his lab, in the middle 1990s...Dr. Amen in Arizona , is purported to have done extensive Research in brain Studies . And has had great accomplishments in treating patients using that research. And has publicly made available his results and Research.


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12 Jun 2022, 2:05 pm

Jakki wrote:

Have to echo this thread …. And am aware “pot “ has its counter indicated situations . But as with all meds , one balances the adverse reactions with the good ones . Every med listed in the PDR , ( pharmaceutical desk reference)
Always has a adverse reactions section in the drug description. 8O

Micah
Do wish you might cite some study to support your written words .
Having much personal experience with a thing , substance , what ever can count as valid opinion , at least for those
People. If you do not have personal experience, one might be suspect of what you might write here.
First hand experience and experience in the medical profession with many drug prescriptions still counts as experience. Not advising people to use cannabis only recreationally . But it does have its applications.
IMHO.


Jakki, if personal, anecdotal evidence is satisfactory for you, I can oblige and state right now that from my personal experience with cannabis as a teenager, I can easily believe there is a link between heavy cannabis use and violent crime.

From my personal experience, I can also understand why some people get psychologically addicted to cannabis.

At low doses cannabis can make the most mundane things seem 'meaningful', which can obviously be psychologically attractive for people who don't have much else to do with their time (hence the stereotype of the stoner who sits around watching trash TV all day, laughing like a moron and marveling at how 'far out' it all is).

At high doses this can move over into full-blown paranoia. I myself once had the most scary, paranoid episode of my life as a teenager while 'high' on cannabis. Let's just say I felt for a short while like Jim Carrey in the Truman Show (and no, my avatar has nothing to do with that; my avatar is from a different film). I'm just thankful nothing came of that.

And I'm someone who had never experienced any mental health issues before, and has never experienced any since (unless you count the constant frustration of living with A.S., but I have been lucky in that regard compared to some).

I have also spoken with acquaintances who have told me they avoid cannabis because of how paranoid it makes them.



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12 Jun 2022, 3:02 pm

Slam ….. could agree with you if I were speaking from the mind I grew up with in my middle teens . Almost sounds very similiar to my early experiences and no not all drugs are good for all people . :idea:


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