Preventing Mass Shootings

Posted by Wanderer 8 years, 4 months ago to Culture
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For almost 2 decades almost every mass shooter in the United States has been either a Jihadi or, a violent video game fanatic or, both.

Can we use this knowledge about social misfits and violent game fanatics to predict and prevent mass shootings?
SOURCE URL: https://medium.com/@Penseur/stopping-mass-murder-with-software-d545e73c48e9#.lrvvuq7z5


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  • Posted by scottburch 8 years, 4 months ago
    They wore pants too. Maybe it is pants wearers and we need to figure out why people who wear pants commit mass murders. This is a really bad argument. Many millions play video games and a tiny few kill people. You can not have causation without correlation.
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  • Posted by Riftsrunner 8 years, 4 months ago
    Oh, great this old chestnut comes round again. It has been studied and refuted over and over again that there is no correlation between video games and violence in the real world. It is only because of the prevalence of access to video games that it would be unlikely to find the mass shooter who doesn't have a video game.
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    • Posted by strugatsky 8 years, 3 months ago
      Please provide sources to reputable studies debunking this link. Also, it may be interesting to note that Brevik specifically played violent video games for a year, while preparing for the carnage, in order to desensitize himself, according to his statement.
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  • Posted by $ Radio_Randy 8 years, 3 months ago
    So...we didn't have mass shootings, before video games came out? Better check your Wikipedia.
    I believe the "video game" connection was ruled out, a long time ago. Thank goodness, because my sons would have done their mother and me in, long ago.
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  • Posted by $ Abaco 8 years, 4 months ago
    I limit what goes into my kids' brains through their eyes, in terms of tv and video games. I personally don't like violent content as much as the average shmo does. My kids like minecraft. While that can also be overdone and have a numbing effect, it's cool that the kids get into building stuff within the game.

    It is my understanding that one recurring theme in the kinds of violent occurrences the article covers is the use of anti-depressants on these kids. To me, it's a material fact - more than just correlation. They know that some who take those drugs will be subject to violent/suicidal tendencies. As the segment of population who takes these drugs continues to grow, it makes sense that we could have this as a result. Just one facet...but one worthy of further study.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 8 years, 4 months ago
    News of mass shootings is why I carry a concealed pocket pistol that I know how to shoot.
    So if any shooter near me starts a mass shooting, he had better pray to Allah that he shoots people like me first.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 8 years, 4 months ago
    Don't more people die in one- or two-victim shootings? If we're going to stop gun violence, then, shouldn't we focus on non-mass shootings? We focus on mass shootings because they're ghastly. I wonder how many people get pushed over balconies. If we spent time focusing on the sad stories, we'd probably feel like we must ban balconies.

    I can't stand video games, but insisting we let an algorithm look over players' shoulders for anti-social behavior seems wrong. It's too close to insisting we look through everyone's private papers without a warrant. We live in this world where we have more data than ever and tools to analyze. It understand the temptation in the article, but requiring approval for engaging in a form of narrative is close to requiring approval for unpopular speech.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 8 years, 4 months ago
    Yes, I do believe that there is a correlation. As to the jihadists, one does not need big data and statistics to figure this one out - read the Koran and all the answers are there. For those that are to lazy to read it, in short, it calls out for all Muslims to eventually take up arms and kill the infidels. Some follow the requirement now, most plan or would like to do that sometime in their life. Need proof - don't ask your government for it, don't ask the media; look for it at the original source - read the Koran.

    As to gamers, and add to it that all of them have been Democrats or children of Democrat families, again, there is a connection - lack of responsibility. Every bad situation can be fixed with a reset button. The concept of individual responsibility is strikingly missing in the Democrat/Progressive/Socialist education and upbringing. Although many people have evil thoughts and sometimes fantasies, the process of educating a normal person with the concepts of responsibility and control prevents those fantasies from playing out. Of course, not every Democrat is a mass murderer, but every mass murderer is a Democrat. It is a significant link that cannot be logically denied.
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  • Posted by evlwhtguy 8 years, 4 months ago
    I am thinking ....
    1. Control immigration
    2. Require immigrants to become "American"
    3. Eliminate the social safety net so that people don't have enough money to live on and sit around brooding. They will have to socialize sufficiently to get a job, the job will keep them busy enough so they don't have time to sit around and brood.
    4. Stop the Democrats form using "identity Politics" to keep groups separate and distinct and feeling discriminated against. [this will be harder than eliminating the social safety net!]
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    • Posted by lrshultis 8 years, 3 months ago
      Time to cut out the American thing. This is the United States of America. All of North, Middle, and South America are American. Do you really want to be united and ruled or have to ask permission to come and go? I heard someone saying there was nothing wrong with a wall around the USA because their house had walls and that was not a problem. I doubt whether the person, as an adult, has to get permission to go outside of the wall and get permission to go back inside the wall. Governments are too untrustable for me to have to make a plea to be allowed back through a border wall or even out of it. The East Berliners were nice and safe from those outside the wall getting inside the wall and from getting outside of the wall and being harmed by the outsiders.
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      • Posted by evlwhtguy 8 years, 3 months ago
        By "American" I mean to adopt the dominant existing culture, learn English and meld in to the country....as opposed to staying in little Balkanized groups that stifle the ability of its members to access the mainstream of life. The Democrat party loves this as the groups are already divided and therefore easy to conquer.

        As to borders......the only way to succeed with minimal border controls is to have no social safety net whatsoever. Under such a system only those able to work and succeed in society would ever come here. As it is now, someone from a third world hellhole can come here and they will basically "hit the lottery"
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        • Posted by lrshultis 8 years, 3 months ago
          Which dominant existing culture? U.S.A., Canadian, Mexican, Peruvian, Brazilian, etc. are all American cultures in the Americas.
          There is not a necessary need to learn English as long as the government uses just a official language of English. If you want to deal with the government, you would best learn English or find a translator to do your dirty work. People who come here should know that they should do a little research and have enough funds and work experience to survive without needing any more than charity if things don't go well. Otherwise do not choose to come and try to get your own country in to some kind seeker of liberty.
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          • Posted by evlwhtguy 8 years, 3 months ago
            the dominant culture is WASP! We just have many in government that wish to dilute it.
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            • Posted by lrshultis 8 years, 3 months ago
              Do you always think in terms of race? I have only seen two white skinned people in my life an they were women in skin flicks. I have only seen a few black skinned people in my life and they were in Africa. Please learn to distinguish different colors and their range of shades and learn to judge individuals and not collectives. I know it will be hard to do since ethnic groups and cultures are apparently your means of identity.
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              • Posted by evlwhtguy 8 years, 3 months ago
                White does not mean white in the context of race. Just as African-American does not mean black in the context of race. You're darn right it's my means of identity, in much the same way as African American is Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton's means of identity. Why do you have a problem with that. Are white people somehow lesser to you then African-Americans or Hispanics or any other group that striving for its own self identity. We are all entitled to do it. What's your problem with it.
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                • Posted by lrshultis 8 years, 3 months ago
                  So you did mean white in terms of race or skin color or sticker to certain principles like an English teacher I had in high school about whom many said she was lily white do to sticking to her principles.
                  The other choice in using the term WASP is the sometimes used sociological term of 'wealthy Anglo-Saxon Protestant'. Both are used somewhat pejoratively. If I say that I am an African-American, which I am since all humans came out of Africa would that serve any purpose as to whom I am. I could also say that I am Norwegian-American since my mother was second generation of Norwegian parents. It would be pointless as to whom I am as an individual by considering myself as being African-American which does absolutely nothing for how I think of myself. Am I to think of myself as a racist because my paternal grandparents were out and out bigots even a KKK member. Leave that atavistic thinking to the old cultures of the world. What other connotation can there be for the use of white or black than for a possible identification datum for searching for someone. It cannot have anything to do with having self-esteem since that does not depend upon your body type or who your ancestors were but only on how you view yourself as to your ability to live and your worthiness to live.
                  Just because some need to refer to race or ethnic group or culture, or etc., does not mean that it is something for earning worth or ability.
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  • Posted by Lucky 8 years, 4 months ago
    Seems unlikely to me but it is an interesting point that I'd like to see followed up.
    But how would you get data? -
    Yes a high proportion of violence offenders use violent games, but what is the proportion of violent game users that actually commit violence? Anything that has many 15 to 25 yo male users would score high.
    I understand that violent PC games are very popular in Japan but terror acts are low;
    ok there was a mass stabbing the other day, but the numbers are still low.
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    • Posted by strugatsky 8 years, 3 months ago
      Japanese statistics are bogus. Unsolved murders are often called suicides, so the investigator doesn't lose face due to inability to solve a case. Many countries have bogus statistics - like the 2% annual inflation rate in the US... right! In Saudi Arabia, for example, if the body does not have an obvious entry wound, it is proclaimed as "death from natural causes," blue marks on the throat notwithstanding.
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  • Posted by scottburch 8 years, 4 months ago
    Unless this article is trying, rather clumsily to say that profiling Muslims is equivalent to profiling gamers. The issue with that argument is that a large percentage of gamers probably don't say that it is OK to kill people who don't play games.

    They don't have huge organizations with the stated purpose of destroying the non-gaming community.
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    Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 4 months ago
    Role playing and they get into it deeply. Remember the Springfield Oregon high school shootings or was it Colorado. The two kids who lived in make believe world because theiy were punching bags for the school clowns and jocks. School did nothing about it. They had long trench coats they wore as sort of a uniform and one day swiped Daddy's guns and the role playing became real playing .Just no reset button. What was in common. the actual or perceived pressure some are put under by playgrund bullies. until something snaps and the digital refuge where they kill hundreds and millions becomes second nature.Definitely causation and the rest clicks into place. It doesn't take a large percentage. But starting with absent parents and the habit of treating our dogs better than our children who hype up on Saturday morning cartoon violence and the sugar that sponsors it. click click click it all falls into place.
    The real anti social behaviour is ignored and even applauded. the message is violence solves everything and death is just another reset button.
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    • Posted by Maritimus 8 years, 4 months ago
      Hello, MA,
      I struggled, but in the end could not refrain from saying it. What you wrote here is utter nonsense. Do you read your comments before clicking "Reply"? If not, you badly need an editor.
      I dislike doing this. Out of respect for the intellectual level to which the Gulch does (or should?) aspire, I felt obligated to point out how sloppy your thinking seems to have been while writing this comment of yours.
      You must do better.
      Best wishes.
      Maritimus
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    • Posted by $ jdg 8 years, 4 months ago
      As far as I'm concerned, Columbine was fully justified. Those who dismiss the bullying the perps had to put up with as "minor" are missing the point: the state forced them to keep going to the place where it happened. If school authorities or police had been willing to stop the bullies, it would not have been necessary for those kids to get their own justice.
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      • Posted by Hot_Black_Desiato 8 years, 3 months ago
        I was severely bullied as a kid. My mother was a complete pacifist. In the 10th grade I got fed up, grew a pair of balls and practically killed the kid bullying me in the middle of the school library with my bare hands.

        After that, I was never ever bullied again, and anyone who tried suffered either immediate verbal thrashing from me, that did not let up until they either ran or apologized or immediate physical beating that left no doubt I would not tolerate being bullied.

        The REAL solution, in my opinion is in parents not pawning off their responsibility as parent to the Government, and taking the time to teach their kids self-respect and self-defense.

        I have NEVER started a fight, but since 10th grade I have finished a lo.t of them decisively
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    • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 3 months ago
      then why do airlines and the us air force have simulators? (I dunno they don't mean nuttin' in the real world). it's like dry firing a learned situatonal response gained after many repetitions, coaching and adjustment. The connection is fear through weakness changes to aggression through learned responses with no paybacks for 'killing, maiming,and mutilating.' Fantasy World time until the wrong bully pushes the wrong button on the wrong day and whip open the trench coat and whip out the shotgun, or base ball bat whatever. Weapon is a weapon including a handful of dirt. The final step is called 'losing control' or 'snapping.' the rest is seconds of muscle memory and then reaching for reset. Reality returns with the realization there IS NO reset button. Followed by different responses. Flight, suicide, catatonic state, loss of memory, Some forms of training teaches to ask at each step are the consequences worth it? Some don't but vid games are most certainly a connected. Just like the fiction portrayal in Enders Game.
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