Why are there crazy, evil people

[Rocky Hillian]

The Wife reminded me this last night.

I said if after the Aurora shooting. This was another terrorist attack. It was a deliberate act to strike terror in people across the world.

Why is it never talked about this way?

[tardisrider]

The Horror

The Taxes!

[SnM]

The Wife reminded me this last night.

I said if after the Aurora shooting. This was another terrorist attack. It was a deliberate act to strike terror in people across the world.

Why is it never talked about this way?

Because a lone loon striking terror into our hearts through solo acts of unspeakable evil ≠ terrorism.

If, spurred by nonsense interpretations of the Mayan calendar and fueled by paranoid conspiracy fantasies that the government is about to use the Newton tragedy to confiscate their guns, millenarian survivalist networks rise up Friday to wreak carnage, that will be terrorism.

[ernie]

When the Aurora thing happened, Ernie was quick to condemn the culture of violence promoted in the Batman movie. Of course, he hadn't seen the movie and had no idea what it was like. That's the kind of bullshit that irritates me.

There is violence in the Batman movies. Just look at this trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8evyE9TuYk

And I am going to make noise about this country's culture of violence, even if it feels like I am just shouting at clouds. I may not be able to do much, but I am going to do what I can. The years I spent sitting on my ass and claiming I was impotent never did anybody any good.

[tardisrider]

There is violence in the Batman movies.

Sure. There's also violence in the Bible, in sport, in jails, in schools, in non-fiction books, in magazines, in games, in offices, on billboards, and in the hearts and minds of every man, woman or child who has ever been on the planet. Picking one thing and blaming it as the bogey man is pointless and wrong.

[ernie]

Sure. There's also violence in the Bible, in sport, in jails, in schools, in non-fiction books, in magazines, in games, in offices, on billboards, and in the hearts and minds of every man, woman or child who has ever been on the planet. Picking one thing and blaming it as the bogey man is pointless and wrong.

Sorry, my friend, but I am not going to be indifferent to violence, whether it is in the Bible, in sport, in jails, in schools, in non-fiction books, in magazines, in games, in offices, on billboards, or in the hearts and minds of every man, woman or child who has ever been on the planet.

Especially if it is in the hearts and minds of every man, woman or child who has ever been on the planet. That is exactly where the struggle against violence has to take place. The rest will follow.

The evil of violence can be overcome. Consider: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-...html?pageNum=1

[zulu]

Is it a matter of either/or? Can't we talk about both mental illness and gun control? And can't we also talk about the culture of violence in this country as it is promoted in movies and electronic games?

I didn't say it was "either/or." I said I wish we would start with a conversation about mental health. I believe we can make even partial improvements in how we deal with that issue that will yield enormously positive results in numerous areas of American life. On the gun issue, we have a second constitutional amendment combined with a horse/barn door reality that creates a gale-force headwind with regard to making any changes that would yield measurable results anytime in the near future. On the violence in entertainment issue, we have a first constitutional amendment, combined with the all-too-easy answer of slapping a parental advisory label on whatever it is, and thinking we've really done something.

On the mental health issue, we have better prospects. Just by talking about it, we can begin to erode perceptions that seeking treatment is a sign of weakness in ourselves, or perceptions that making allowances or provisions for mental illness in others is just letting them make excuses and get away with something. Also, just by talking about it right now, we might be able to affect real-world policy, like getting the state to sign on to the expansion in Medicaid/Tenncare, which will result in many people of very limited means gaining access to healthcare in general, and more specifically, instituting the provision of mental health services on parity with physical healthcare services. That alone could have an enormous impact on issues ranging from gun violence to education, to employment, to housing, to homelessness, and the list goes on. So in my view, I think it would be best to move mental health to the front burner. We can talk about those other things, too, but as those issues have a very high potential to get derailed by impassioned rhetoric that we've heard all about before, I'd very much like to get started on the thing I believe can yield the greatest benefit for the most people at the earliest possible time.

[Boris]

Sorry, my friend, but I am not going to be indifferent to violence, whether it is in the Bible, in sport, in jails, in schools, in non-fiction books, in magazines, in games, in offices, on billboards, or in the hearts and minds of every man, woman or child who has ever been on the planet.

Especially if it is in the hearts and minds of every man, woman or child who has ever been on the planet. That is exactly where the struggle against violence has to take place. The rest will follow.

The evil of violence can be overcome. Consider: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-...html?pageNum=1

Didn't God used to resort to violence?

[spinetingler]

well stud muffin, now that you mention it, all this talk has left me feeling a bit famished.

Famished or ravished?

[pages]

I think it has to be a wholistic approach -- gun controls, better mental health provisions, and a comprehensive look at how our society's casual romance with violence -- verbal, psychological, and physical. And it's not going to GE corrected overnight, it will take years.