5 ms·

I just want to say as an American, I am so fed up with all these gun stories. I understand there is debate about gun control and this and that, but we are havin

I just want to say as an American, I am so fed up with all these gun stories. I understand there is debate about gun control and this and that, but we are having a much larger cultural problem here. The attitude of helping your neighbor or even someone less fortunate is slowly disappearing and being replaced by a fear for protecting what we have, as if someone else is after it. In my mind it's cyclical, if we help those in need, they really won't be after what we are trying to protect. As for the random gun violence, its enough already. Being born and raised in Flint, and the victim of gun violence (father was murdered outside his work for 20+years over <$600) I always tell people Flint might be the murder capital of the world, but we aren't the random murder capitol of the world. For whatever its worth, its true.

acabal 14y ago
Seriously. Just like that "Bitter Pill" story in Time a day or two ago highlighted that insurance is a red herring for the deeper problem of profit-driven costs in US health care, the issue of gun control is a red herring for a deeper cultural problem. Like you said people are becoming more fearful and more selfish. Combine that with a culture that glorifies violence and the insane media circus that pops up whenever anybody puts the words "school" and "shooter" together, you get an excellent, self-perpetuating environment for fomenting violence of any kind. Delusional people who can't get mental health care and who want to send a message will find a way to do that no matter what's banned or how Orwellian our society gets.
- msluyter 14y ago
  Except that violent crime in America has actually been decreasing steadily since the 90s: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/29/justice/us-violent-crime http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/29/justice/us-violent-crime http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States Weird that we have we're getting more fearful and selfish, and more and more violent, and yet violent crime is going down. (Weird how these finger in the wind takes of the zeitgeist work...)
  - Zelphyr 14y ago
    You can thank the media for that. Its not that the violence is increasing. As you say, it is the opposite in fact. But the amount we HEAR about violence is skyrocketing. So everyone, do yourselves a favor; STOP WATCHING THE NEWS! Stop reading it! It doesn't benefit you. Take it from a recovering news junkie. You won't miss it. You won't feel less informed. The important stuff will always make it to your eyes and ears. The rest is just going to make you more anxious than you reasonably need to be.
    - cadalac 14y ago
      I already follow your advice. I never read that stuff. Sometimes I go to Google News, and all I see is Murder, Rape, Shooting etc. Do you really think that's the "news" I'm looking for? Someone please start a news site startup that allows for custom filtering or something.
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
    - wil421 14y ago
      I have always wondered if crimes are getting more violent or if the amount of coverage we give the violent ones has increased. The closest I will get to the news is the Daily Show, because at least they poke fun at the American media for how ridiculous they can be.
      - reader5000 14y ago
        The "Daily Show" is an interesting phenomenon because it's like, we're still going to feed you the corporate 24-hour news garbage, but we're going to do it satirically so that you can feel superior to all the plebes who watch this stuff "for reals".
        damoncali 14y ago
        It's also interesting that it appears to be taking itself more and more seriously as time goes by. It's a modern day ministry of propaganda. To what end, I have no idea.
giardini 14y ago
"I just want to say as an American, I am so fed up with all these gun stories." Me too. But it won't end soon. Currently every shooting in every city is a candidate for promotion to a national media campaign that is focused on gaining additional restrictions on firearms, especially at the federal level (but also state level: Colorado is at this moment passing new highly-restrictive state firearms laws). Every opportunity to alarm the citizenry about firearms, every chance to get parents' blood-pressure up with false or real reports of gunmen afoot will be invoked by the media. It's both good for their business and it's good for their political agenda. In essence, this is an orchestrated attempt to use the Newtown shootings and the subsequent heightened public sensitivity as leverage to advance a long-present liberal goal to register and confiscate all firearms.
- flexie 14y ago
  "In essence, this is an orchestrated attempt to use the Newtown shootings and the subsequent heightened public sensitivity..." Oh please. Who orchestrated that? The media got together? The government? There is nothing odd in requiring safety from other people's activities, whether that's their their reckless driving or their gun fetish.
  - damoncali 14y ago
    It's not like it's a hidden conspiracy. Gun control activists have explicitly stated that they need to take advantage of the emotion following the shootings to push their agenda. And yes, the goal of many of them (including the author of the assault weapons ban currently proposed) is confiscation. She said it herself.
    - reader5000 14y ago
      Yeah it's totally irrational to seek the most obvious way to prevent recurrence of the shooting massacre of 20 children, which happens with a marked regularity. Only a New World Order could explain why people want to ban guns.
      - 14y ago
liljimmytables 14y ago
I've started to view the random gun arguments as a sort of social software crash. I'm personally pretty indifferent to most of the arguments for and against, but it seems impossible to mention guns online without having a mud-slinging match. And I do mean mud-slinging. There is no attempt to reason, it's all about getting angry and calling people names on the internet. And while the argument is going on, ordinary discussion can't function. It's like a kind of spinlock or an epileptic seizure; the only cure is to wait for the participants to burn out, and maybe start a new thread elsewhere.
lifeisstillgood 14y ago
I would like to suggest that gun control and healthcare are linked to the same cultural problem. To have a system where millions of people know that any disease they catch they simply will never afford to cure, and the rest of the country stands by and allows it to happen, comes from the same place as standing by while those self same people are shot by guns they can afford. Ask not for whom the bell tolls.

acabal 14y ago

Seriously. Just like that "Bitter Pill" story in Time a day or two ago highlighted that insurance is a red herring for the deeper problem of profit-driven costs in US health care, the issue of gun control is a red herring for a deeper cultural problem. Like you said people are becoming more fearful and more selfish. Combine that with a culture that glorifies violence and the insane media circus that pops up whenever anybody puts the words "school" and "shooter" together, you get an excellent, self-perpetuating environment for fomenting violence of any kind. Delusional people who can't get mental health care and who want to send a message will find a way to do that no matter what's banned or how Orwellian our society gets.

msluyter 14y ago
Except that violent crime in America has actually been decreasing steadily since the 90s: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/29/justice/us-violent-crime http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/29/justice/us-violent-crime http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States Weird that we have we're getting more fearful and selfish, and more and more violent, and yet violent crime is going down. (Weird how these finger in the wind takes of the zeitgeist work...)
- Zelphyr 14y ago
  You can thank the media for that. Its not that the violence is increasing. As you say, it is the opposite in fact. But the amount we HEAR about violence is skyrocketing. So everyone, do yourselves a favor; STOP WATCHING THE NEWS! Stop reading it! It doesn't benefit you. Take it from a recovering news junkie. You won't miss it. You won't feel less informed. The important stuff will always make it to your eyes and ears. The rest is just going to make you more anxious than you reasonably need to be.
  - cadalac 14y ago
    I already follow your advice. I never read that stuff. Sometimes I go to Google News, and all I see is Murder, Rape, Shooting etc. Do you really think that's the "news" I'm looking for? Someone please start a news site startup that allows for custom filtering or something.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
  - wil421 14y ago
    I have always wondered if crimes are getting more violent or if the amount of coverage we give the violent ones has increased. The closest I will get to the news is the Daily Show, because at least they poke fun at the American media for how ridiculous they can be.
    - reader5000 14y ago
      The "Daily Show" is an interesting phenomenon because it's like, we're still going to feed you the corporate 24-hour news garbage, but we're going to do it satirically so that you can feel superior to all the plebes who watch this stuff "for reals".
      - damoncali 14y ago
        It's also interesting that it appears to be taking itself more and more seriously as time goes by. It's a modern day ministry of propaganda. To what end, I have no idea.

giardini 14y ago

"I just want to say as an American, I am so fed up with all these gun stories." Me too. But it won't end soon. Currently every shooting in every city is a candidate for promotion to a national media campaign that is focused on gaining additional restrictions on firearms, especially at the federal level (but also state level: Colorado is at this moment passing new highly-restrictive state firearms laws). Every opportunity to alarm the citizenry about firearms, every chance to get parents' blood-pressure up with false or real reports of gunmen afoot will be invoked by the media. It's both good for their business and it's good for their political agenda. In essence, this is an orchestrated attempt to use the Newtown shootings and the subsequent heightened public sensitivity as leverage to advance a long-present liberal goal to register and confiscate all firearms.

flexie 14y ago
"In essence, this is an orchestrated attempt to use the Newtown shootings and the subsequent heightened public sensitivity..." Oh please. Who orchestrated that? The media got together? The government? There is nothing odd in requiring safety from other people's activities, whether that's their their reckless driving or their gun fetish.
- damoncali 14y ago
  It's not like it's a hidden conspiracy. Gun control activists have explicitly stated that they need to take advantage of the emotion following the shootings to push their agenda. And yes, the goal of many of them (including the author of the assault weapons ban currently proposed) is confiscation. She said it herself.
  - reader5000 14y ago
    Yeah it's totally irrational to seek the most obvious way to prevent recurrence of the shooting massacre of 20 children, which happens with a marked regularity. Only a New World Order could explain why people want to ban guns.
    - 14y ago

liljimmytables 14y ago

I've started to view the random gun arguments as a sort of social software crash. I'm personally pretty indifferent to most of the arguments for and against, but it seems impossible to mention guns online without having a mud-slinging match. And I do mean mud-slinging. There is no attempt to reason, it's all about getting angry and calling people names on the internet. And while the argument is going on, ordinary discussion can't function. It's like a kind of spinlock or an epileptic seizure; the only cure is to wait for the participants to burn out, and maybe start a new thread elsewhere.

lifeisstillgood 14y ago

I would like to suggest that gun control and healthcare are linked to the same cultural problem. To have a system where millions of people know that any disease they catch they simply will never afford to cure, and the rest of the country stands by and allows it to happen, comes from the same place as standing by while those self same people are shot by guns they can afford. Ask not for whom the bell tolls.