I wonder if we are starting to see the effects of kids being raised by violent tv, movies and games like grand theft auto, the age of the recent shooters would be about right for that generation. If that's the case, we're in for more of it as at least one or two of the next generations become young adults and those kids are even more desensitized. I don't mean that those games, movies shouldn't exist, but that parents should raise their kids right like Reaver said.
I got my hands on a lot of movies and video games that weren't age appropriate, but it took more effort and I got in trouble when I was caught watching that shit. I was also raised in a city with a lot of crime, and we raised quail and hunted, so I saw things die and learned the permanence of it and the heartache. This shit is happening in sleepy towns where violence is a vocab word, not a reality, and everyone knows your business and is judgmental, so you have a lot of pressure and no one to turn to. If your only real exposure to physical suffering and death is from games and movies, your conceptual framework for life is more like a wiley coyote cartoon where an anvil can crush you and the only consequence is the roadrunner getting away.
Like most things, we can never expect government ordinance to change, for teachers to be allowed to or expected to be armed, but there are personal choices more people might make...
I was outraged by the Barry speech yesterday. I don't remember the wording, but he made it sound like the feelings of grief he has over this are the deepest that can be felt, disregarding the fact that he doesn't know what it feels like to to lose a child and those folks are hurting much more than he and his speech writer can imagine. Maybe I'm wrong, but I only blink that much when I'm trying to cry and I blink as little as possible when I'm trying to keep my composure. I hope I'm overreacting and that the families of the victims found his speech comforting...
This event is overwhelmingly tragic on many levels, what a huge fail for humanity yesterday. Heartfelt condolences to those families who lost their loved ones. I cannot imagine what those folks are going through losing family, and the kiddos that survived that frightening experience, losing teachers, friends, the principal...
