The Bigger Picture

[ironchop]

So let's talk about mass shootings in America.

I would like to go deeper than the superficial "let's be reactionary and blame and ban guns, problem solved" nonsense that seems to be gripping the nation for the last two decades.

Background on my point:

I was born in 1971. When I went to high school, people could open carry knives as long as you weren't carving up the desks or stabbing jive turkeys with it. I took a shotgun to school for a science fair in 1984 with nary an issue. You could legally buy guns in the mail and have them shipped to you with no FFL involved and with no background check. Even pistols had no background checks until late in my teens. I had guns in my bedroom growing up since age 12. It's a part of life in rural places back before sissies.

Guess what we didn't have despite such easy access to guns.....school mass shootings or mass public shootings outside a few very rare cases. Perhaps one every 15 yrs minimum.

Did we have "assault rifles" though? Yup

Did we have hi capacity "clips" and folding stocks? Yup

We had all that stuff but nobody cared. Uzis, AKs, ARs all sat in the shelves in the 70s and 80s collecting dust in gunstores. Almost no demand. This was the status quo until the AWB Clinton signed and suddenly "assault rifles" were the hot thing. Been that way since.

So I keep trying to get people to debate the deeper issue but most folks can only see so far into the future so they've come up with equally short-sighted "solutions" for the problem....like more gun control.

For once, I want to leave gun access OUT of the debate. It's honestly irrelevant up until a person has already decided to murder a bunch of people. I'm only trying to open minds to a much bigger problem that needs addressed IMMEDIATELY or no manner of gun legislation will stop mass killings and our children will still be living in fear of attack 25 more years from now.

I'm interested because before gun control, we didn't have this issue near as much at all except once in 1966. Maybe some mass organized crime hits before that but not a prevalent social issue at all.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman

So seriously, this is about way more than guns at all.

WHY are more and more people now compelled to commit mass murder outside of combat situations? What has caused so little value in human life that this is now the new normal? This was never an issue before most gun control so that's no longer a valid argument. It's obviously much bigger than guns at all. Why do children want to mass murder? Why do adults now shoot up churches? Why are people roaming thru the streets gunning down dozens of other people?

Churches used to be sacred (except for some black folks sadly but that's another topic). Schools used to be sacred.
You could go downtown without worrying about some loser who wants television infamy after someone failed to mail him a participation trophy.

I want to know what everyone thinks is the problem and like I said, let's not even consider guns for a second because the evidence overwhelmingly supports these shootings as a social and cultural problem rather than simply fixed by losing the guns.

Personally, I am concerned with anyone who wants to kill dozens of people and zero guns is not going to make me feel safer when there's a potential murderer in the room with my family.

So let's talk about WHY this is so prevelant today. I have theories but I want to hear what y'all think.

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

[DAM shop]

........if everyone cared and nobody lied...... we`d see the day when nobody died....

All so true Glamy.

Lets take gun's out of the equation, we need to start caring about each other.. "See Something, say Something" initiative is going to be a Big push in this country in the next year, mark my words.. Mental health issues are a big issue in this country right now and are going to do nothing but grow, so we need to figure out how to deal with that issue so we can help curb the killing issues. Thats my opinion and would love to carry on the conversation..

[Shep1970]

Just want to say that most kids nowadays are kept in a “bubble” there always told there equal to everybody else but in real life there not. They hit an age, realize thats “not” the case and panic and or have a meltdown or go psycho.(not everyone deserves a trophy) comes to mind.

I say bring back dodgeball to school- it was banned in gym, some thought it was bullying but i always thought bullying made the weak stronger. (Doesn’t it?)
Were going to sign our kids up for a gun safety program this summer, you wouldn’t believe the looks were getting from the other parents (like how dare we even think about that!!)
I think starting in 10th grade or so every kid should be taught about gun safety..... guns will always be here so teach them about the subject.
What ever happened to the slogan- guns dont kill, people do- remember that?

Shep

[83ATC185]

You've got children being herded through an education system and all treated the exact same, regardless of strengths and weaknesses of the individual. They aren't given the opportunity to succeed, simply made into someone that knows how to work the system to survive. The desire to stand out is channeled not through excelling, but through misbehaving. And we live in a world that rewards ignorance. Its much easier, and more fun, to show your ass to become rich and famous than to work for it.

[fabiodriven]

The United States of America is sick, deeply sick. From poor right up through to the elite. Our people have been conditioned and brainwashed and they are blind and powerless to even see it in themselves. You can stand there and explain something to someone, show them physically what you're talking about, but if it's in their programming to see something another way they will overlook what their own eyes can see and believe the programming that's been pumped into their heads.

If you can spare the 13 minutes to listen to our friend Yuri here, he has a warning for you. He's not talking to me, he's actually speaking words that make complete sense to me and explain everything, he's talking to a lot of you. Of course, because of your conditioning you'll either not believe him or dismiss what he's telling you. You will stick to the program until your dying day most likely.

https://youtu.be/bX3EZCVj2XA

How and why am I not programmed though? How have I been able to see this all along when so few others can? I have three very likely reasons for that. Firstly, use of psychedelics when I was younger. Secondly, PTSD. Third, you guessed it, Lyme disease. Also it doesn't hurt being born naturally intelligent. All of these things are or were in my head, and all of these things break the cycle of what "normal" thought processes are. I can see things others don't, as I've said for so long.

The sickness this country has begins at birth when you're born into a ridiculous amount of debt and then pumped full of chemicals. You're taught the same conditioning from birth as the generation before you, so what you "know" is passed along, and what you "know" is your programming. The public education system in this country is the laughing stock of the planet, and they do laugh. We laugh at ourselves as well. We think it's so hilarious that college students don't know where Mt Rushmore is or who Ronald Reagan was. We've all seen the videos where these simple questions are asked and a COLLEGE STUDENT cannot answer them. They're laughing in the video, you're at home laughing at them, we're all laughing at how farking stupid this country is, yet you refuse to believe anyone is controlling you. That's because you're not smart enough to see it and blissfully ignorant to the truth of what this country is. Now finish your twinky or no dessert for you. The public education system tried to teach me that teams of men with ropes dragged blocks around on logs to build the pyramids, which is horse . They tried to tell me that Oswald killed Kennedy on his own when it's pretty obvious why he was really killed. I have this thing about lies... I tend to disregard everything a person (or entity) says to me after I've been lied to.



Most of you are concerned about North Korea or possibly Russia. You know what scares me? America. America scares me because it is FUBAR, I feel there is no repairing it. I can show you a scientific experiment proving a point I've made and with your blank, black shark eyes you'll look back at me and say "Tom Brady, MAGA." We're frigged as a country, royally. Pumpkin Head has everyone wrapped around his finger as if he's actually in charge of anything. The only thing he's in charge of is YOU. He's your conductor, the head shepherd, watch for his cues. In the meantime the real people pulling the strings continue on with what they're doing. Children addicted to smart phones and dressing like whores at 12, hell a kid in Shep's town got a sex change at the age of 10. Ten years old getting a sex change! What's wrong with that child, the parents, the doctor, the friggin country!? What's wrong is nobody will wake the frig up and realize that they no longer have common sense.

PATTERNS- Patterns are huge in life. If you can see a pattern, you can predict a problem sometimes. Patterns are also a sign of man's influence. Nature tends to be random, mankind is a creature of habit, and many times patterns are clues. The other countries having problems with school shootings don't have the problem we do because there are no other countries having problems with school shootings. But here, in "the greatest country on the planet", we have children getting shot up in schools. You can't have it both ways. You cannot proclaim the awesomeness of your country and talk about how much better it is than everywhere else but still have a problem with school shootings. The problem is our people have been programmed, conditioned, dumbed down to the nth degree. Some of you know what I'm talking about. Every day I see things occur which are unfortunate for other people that would have been so simple to avoid for me. I see people make stupid, stupid decisions over and over again and never learn a thing, then they wonder why they are where they are. We are living in a nation of dumbed down people who are herded by politicians in a broken system who care for money and themselves and have zero concern about the people they are supposed to be representing.

Here is how your government works in this day and age. It is run by the greedy, for the greedy.

https://youtu.be/fHl1rYpXWis

Isn't it amazing how many politicians end up wealthy on usually what's a rather paltry income? Does anyone else ever wonder why or how that is? Does anyone care a huge amount of politicians sell away our rights every single day?

Our country is sick, I feel it's beyond repair. Your vote is a waste of time, I should spit on my ballot and stomp on it with my combat boots soiled from defending my constitution (under false pretense). And here I go down talking the country that pays for my existence. THAT'S RIGHT, because I'm not being bribed. I'm being compensated and it's compensation that I've earned, so shut the up. "Vote them out", right? OK and what, vote the next crooked politician in? Someone "new and different" right? I've got news for you, there's no such thing in this country. There's a long line of greedy people just itching to take the seat of the pig before them. Elections are a giant smear campaign of lies and disgrace, which is fitting to sit on the throne and be the first to inform the flock of what they're going to believe today.

I lump all politicians together. I'm not a fan of cheeto head but Hillary? It speaks volumes to me that she would get as far as she has in life, that there are actually people out there who would support and believe such a wretched person. Her eyes say it all, every word out of her mouth is pure bullshit. It's absolutely stifling to me that fewer people were able to see. I know someone from Arkansas who worked on the governor's detail, probably in the 80's or thereabouts. They knew the Clintons very well, and she's exactly what you think she is. It's scary to me that someone could get so far being who she is, but it's not at all surprising. Drain the swamp, ha! How about bulldoze Washington? How dare I, right? It's called being a patriot, I call em as I see em, and you can't see em but I'm calling em anyways. Maybe someday people will wake up but I don't think so. I think we're frigged, and that's the bigger picture Chop. I think none of that horse shite matters anymore because we are too far gone.

[ironchop]

You've got children being herded through an education system and all treated the exact same, regardless of strengths and weaknesses of the individual. They aren't given the opportunity to succeed, simply made into someone that knows how to work the system to survive. The desire to stand out is channeled not through excelling, but through misbehaving. And we live in a world that rewards ignorance. Its much easier, and more fun, to show your ass to become rich and famous than to work for it.

That's one of my theories too. I don't think it wholly explains the phenomenon in total but I do think it's a large and vital piece of the puzzle.

Another related issue is the complete lack of personal responsibility for your actions since this "it takes a village to raise a child" crap. It used to take a family to raise a child but since that notion has been destroyed, now the whole neighborhood has a problem. It's all about perception, isn't it?

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

[Shep1970]

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2018/02/0...-bullet-found/

http://wpri.com/2017/07/24/hopkinton...ender-journey/

Added links- the top one my son and fellow students were locked in there rooms, not told what was found or happened until i told him at dissmissal.
He sat with other kids thinking the worst for 3-4 hours i believe. He was (scared shitless) just not knowing anything!!!
Ended up just being an empy shell- mind you theres 3 rod+gun clubs in this town.
So who knows....

Shep
Slightly off topic sorry
Transgender story is just sad “why”

[ironchop]

@Fabs Yeah....because all the children murdered by handguns are meaningless.

I'm sure he doesn't realize how disrespectful that sounds

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

[ironchop]

And this is precisely what I'm talking about too....

So no more ARs or weapons like them.

So how long do you sit satisfied with your brilliant idea before another mass shooting with a handgun kills kids? And when it does, they will bleat like sheep and holler "ban the handguns".....so since their original dumb idea only solved shootings with ARs, are they not complicit then, by their own definition, in the handgun massacre?.....yes, they are if those are indeed the rules of engagement.

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

[fabiodriven]

@Fabs Yeah....because all the children murdered by handguns are meaningless.

I'm sure he doesn't realize how disrespectful that sounds

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

I deleted that post Chop. My friend who posted that is a politician and we served together in Iraq. I immediately texted him and he asked for my thoughts, so I sent him a link to this thread. I deleted that post after talking to him.

[DAM shop]

Social media and all the Bull s*!t that goes along with it has not helped over the years. At some point these wackos that are hiding behind their user names and media accounts need to step outside their bubble to be reckonized and then BAM it all explodes.
Our schools for sure need to be the first step at reckonizing that there is a problem and need to have the freaking authority to do something about it. This bull about kids rights and you can't touch me bull is all crap, bring back punishment in the schools give our eduacators the authority to do something instead of having to worry about some mis led parent that thinks their child is something more than they are not..

I remember my kid in high school 15 years ago saying " teachers can't do that to me" I can't remember what it was about but I blew my top and said to him I have given my permission for them to do that to you.. Its all about respect fropm the students and mostly these worthless parents thinking something is owed to them and their selfish child.

Heck I was beat by teachers when I was in school, they would call home tell my parents what I did and then I would get in trouble there. I deserved everything I got as a child and beleive me it was a freaking lot.. I now work at a church and turned out allright..
Take care of our children, teach them that there are winners and loosers, punish them, there are children left behind in school, teach them about things like work and respect. HECK raise your Dam children. The problem is that the generation of kids that started this me, me, bull are the one's having kids now. errrrrrrrrrrrr!

Teach the parents folks teach the parents.

[El Camexican]

Short opinion: broken families and working mothers combined with the move from rural areas into urban areas. Those things combined with the overprotective rules we live in seem to have led to more people growing up with mental imbalances.

I recall the Unibomber having an opinion the fast pace of mankind’s technological advancement leading to more misfits of society and if so, he may have been right.

Our brains have had to advance at a rate unparalleled in recorded history and it stands to reason that when you start overloading something as intricate as the human mind there will be some failures. I think that is a large part of what is causing this phenomenon and I fear there isn’t a way out of this unless we can somehow identify these people in advance, But even then how do you tell somebody at the age of 10 or 12 that they are pre-disposed to commit a heinous crime such as this and relinquish the rates they were born with in your constitution prior to them ever having committed a crime?

[DAM shop]

See, 3www in the open forum is the perfect realease for this kind of talk. We can openly discuss, debate, like or dislike each others opinion without worrying about what each of us thinks of the other person.. I definetley dont agree with many of opinions on here but then again I don't need to, but I can get what I need to say out there liked or not and feel as if my opinion is respected. I don't need to worry about Fabio (only an example here fabs) or any others that are going to take offense and snap.. unfortunatley young minds don't yet work this way. the para below helps explain.

It all has to do with the way the brain matures, a concept that’s been given the pretty logical name of neuromaturation. The brain is made up of white matter and grey matter. The grey matter stores all the information, and the white matter forms the connections between the different parts of the brain. Our grey matter matures when we’re between 11 and 12 years old, but the white matter hasn’t completely developed until we’re in our early twenties.

That means that the brains of teenagers literally aren’t physically fully connected. In an adult brain, there are a number of neural connections that allow the different parts of the brain to all work together. In the teenage brain, these connections aren’t fully formed yet, and it, unsurprisingly, impacts the brain’s ability to process information in a way that looks at the entire picture. It’s been found that the last part of the brain to finish developing its connections is the frontal lobe, which is also the part of the brain that governs attention span, impulses, and motivation".

I have four grankids and go about how I interact with them differently because of all this stuff . I want to know how they really are, I try hard to get into their brains something that parents don't have the time to do these day's..

Its kinda of depressing to say the least...

[fabiodriven]

We do have fantastic discussions on here DAM, and most times we keep it civil. However we do also get carried away from time to time, myself included. I try to always learn though and try to prevent things from getting carried away in the future. But yes, we do have some great discussions.

[atctim]

I honestly think it is the anti-depressant and ADHD drugs being pushed by everyone from Drs to educators to school nurses. If a kid is out of line - MEDICATE! Rather than the old school way which was proven - consequences for actions. Kids are also being hurt by the absence of a two parent family. I feel that is critical in rearing children. It takes two! With all the moral decay, and single mothers be rewarded and being taken care of by the state - it adds fuel to the fire!

Pretty simple really. When a child is raised with zero respect - this is what happens.

Here is something my GF showed me today - I almost threw up! It's mothers like this that are the problem. Here is a kid who was fighting in school and suspended. Here is how he was disciplined at home. A school would not suspend a kid for taking punches - it takes 2 to tango, but oh this little precious, can't do wrong, snowflake and his mother who takes his word for a school violation over the school administrators. Here's your problem America!