Making Sense of Evil (Virginia Tech Massacre)

that even brings in another option altogether. if he was crazy, he wasn't responsible. if he was evil, he was. if he was possessed, then he wasn't responsible and neither was anyone else. this is a weak, bullshit excuse for people who refuse to responsibly approach things like racism and child abuse that are huge problems within the christian community (among others) and could clearly be behind the deranged paranoia and seething violence within that boy. if they can blame it on satan, then they don't have to be responsible for correcting their own flaws and leading change in their communities.

evil is a word we created to define the most repugnant things we confront. it doesn't actually mean anything. but it is defined by choice, whether that choice is well informed or not.

*sigh*
i mean that it doesn't actually mean anything outside of the definitions we have given it. clearly the word has a definition. i do recall saying such. but it doesn't actually, really mean anything different than "bad" or "wrong" or "mean" or "reprehensible". it does not inherently invoke the supernatural and to use it to mean such is irresponsible and really not helpful to solving any kind of problem.when you feel like moving past the painfully obvious, give me a call.

violence like the events we've seen recently are either caused by mental disturbance or by ignorance and hate. both of these are problems we can solve or at least mitigate. by blaming it on the supernatural, we obfuscate our responsibility as a society to reduce ignorance and to help those in need of psychological treatment. that's our job. he didn't fail us; we failed him.

sure, but i think even using the word is irresponsible because it carries the connotation that we can't do anything about it. we can and ought.

the blame game is always irresponsible. it takes time out of your reaction and makes you feel better for something that is your fault. it was irresponsible in katrina and it's irresponsible now.

in katrina, instead of following the already set up evacuation procedure the proper 48 hours ahead of the storm, the mayor of NOLA and the governor were already blaming homeland security and fema for tying their hands when they have school buses and city vehicles and all that. at that point, brownie started shifting the blame right back. this never stopped. and then someone blamed gearge w for hating black people and the fact that no one did their jobs at all was lost. if you had real the above posts, you would have seen that i was having an unnecessary discussion with a moron who thought it was okay to blame it on satan. oh and then he wasn't actually blaming on satan, just saying that satan exists. because clearly you can say that satan and evil exist and have sway on man but not blame them. as if that had anything to do with the discussion here.btw. if he bought the guns legally, then it's not the fault of the people who sold them. it's partly the fact that he was a fuck up and partly the fact of whoever abused him or whatever. we can fix crazy. and we must. we can fix abuse. and we must. we can fix racism. and we must. if someone acted illegally, then we can certainly give them some responsibility. but otherwise, there's no point in responding to this in any way but to increase the chances of being able to notify students of danger and to make sure that we have ways of dealing appropriately with students who demonstrate a psychological disturbance and finally to work to end child abuse and racism. that is what we should be doing. but instead we're fighting about gun control. it's not the guns. get the hell over it.

i have no respect for an argument that 1 has nothing to say at all and 2 has nothing to do with the discussion at hand.

you know what. i hate bush as much as the next guy. but you can't put all the blame on him.
but the mandatory evacuations were not put in place and they KNEW the levees wouldn't hold. they could have easily bussed people out. but they waited until less than 20 hours before to even put out a suggestion of evacuation. the mayor didn't do his job. the governor didn't do her job. fema didn't do it's job. bush didn't do his job. no one did anything. it's not only bush's fault.and people with access to guns don't kill people. people with motive kill people. Edited by brennakimi, : No reason given.

we're not talking about an accidental shooting are we? how many people get accidentally run over by a car? how many people get accidentally drowned? accidental shootings are the responsibility of the person who failed to properly store or educate himself or his family on the weapons he owns. a properly stored weapon in the hands of a responsible and educated owner doesn't accidentally kill anyone.was it here that someone cited that story about kennesaw, georgia? look. guns can be dangerous. i don't like them. i don't own one or want to. but i also don't own a motored lawnmower because i think they're unneccessarily dangerous. likewise a chainsaw. chainsaws can kill people too!!! but, it is my personal opinion that the second ammendment doesn't go far enough in allowing guns. i think people should have the right to protect themselves and their families guaranteed to them. however. i think that everyone in a house with a gun should be required to attend age appropriate gun education classes with how to avoid guns for little kids and how to safely clean, operate and store them for 17 and up. why 17? because 17 year olds can join the military. i think the age should probably be 15, but that would never fly. but every time anyone is shot someone gets all huffy about gun control. as though that would solve all of our problems. stop worrying about gun control and start worrying about parenting classes to prevent these fucked up kids who become fucked up adults and kill people.btw. why don't you find me some statistics on how many people are really accidentally shot every year. since it's oh so many. do you really honestly think that if someone with a knife wants to kill you, they'll fail? there have been guns in my parents' house for years. i've held everything from a rifle to an old constitution pistol (original btw. it's sexy.). i've never accidentally shot anyone and we never went crazy and shot up a school. it's not a result of owning a gun.do i think people need automatic weapons? no. but killing people is not a function of owning a gun. btw. drugs are illegal. i've certainly never heard of anyone dying of an illegal overdose, have you? do you really think it's fewer than it would be? do you really think those with criminal intentions won't manage to find a gun anyways?

you really think that our founding father's weren't smart enough to say "muzzle loader" if they'd meant it? guns, sure, hell, even a handgun. you are aware that almost every citizen in switzerland has a gun, right? the rest is excessive, and you're an idiot. supporting a right to own some variety of gun is not supporting the right to own nuclear fucking weapons. gun control is not the solution. only shotguns are legal in britain and they have a higher percentage of people victimized by gun violence than we do. smaller numbers, sure, but a higher percentage. the solution lies in understanding the culture that creates violence, not removing the tools. i'm absolutely in favor of restricting weapons to reasonable personal firearms. but not in a ban. that won't solve anything. show me the culture with huge gun violence that had a marked and demonstrable reduction resulting from a ban. never fucking happen.but you know what? on second thought. fuck that! i need a tank for when george w decides to declare a state of emergency and cancel the elections next year. you've inspired me. i need to go get trained and get a concealed weapons permit so that i can properly defend myself and my constitution. and my uterus. can't forget that. fuck face.Edited by brennakimi, : No reason given.Edited by brennakimi, : No reason given.

i'm not interested in a discussion on the existence of supernatural "badness". i'm interested in finding real and workable policy solutions to a very real problem. whether or not your nasty little friend exists or has anything to do with bad things that happen has nothing to do with real policy solutions. take a walk.

so now that we've gotten back to this shit, what the fuck does being open to the possibility of believing in the supernatural have to do with virginia tech. it's completely fucking irrelevant.since there's apparently people on the thread who don't know me, i am, amazingly enough (until you people make me baker act myself with your ridiculousness) both a born-again evangelical christian (in a very stretched sense of the term) and to the left of frederich engels. just as a reference. however, i have a brain and use it and discussing satan or gun bans will in no way solve the issue of motivated violence.

cool with me. it's good to not be the only crazed lunatic in the room.i just like to get any response. i hate it when i feel like i really said something and everyone just ignores me.