2012-12-14, 23:28 | Link #25222 |
AS Oji-kun
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
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Apropos of flying's posting, I came across this study by the New York Times in 2000 after the Columbine shootings. They compiled a database of 100 "rampage attacks" dating back to 1949 and examined all the available evidence on the perpetrators involved.
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2012-12-15, 01:04 | Link #25223 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere at Earth
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What is wrong with their country?
Internet Identifies, Threatens Wrong Man as Newtown Shooter In the media’s rush to find out information on the suspected Newtown, Connecticut, school shooter, numerous news outlets misidentified a Facebook page belonging to someone with a similar name. Denunciations and even death threats quickly accumulated. CNN, the Huffington Post, Slate and other news organizations pointed to the Facebook page of one Ryan Lanza, who hails from Newtown and currently lives in New Jersey. “Ryan Lanza Facebook Page Shows Suggestive Details Of Apparent Newtown, Connecticut Shooting Suspect,” was Huffington Post’s original headline before it realized the error. As of 5 p.m. EST, the Connecticut state police are declining to identify the shooter. Full Article http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012...oter-facebook/ |
2012-12-15, 05:11 | Link #25225 |
blinded by blood
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The mass defunding of public mental health organizations, for one. Just on my bus ride to school during the week, I'll see at least two or three people on the streets who clearly are not right in the head and should not be left to fend for themselves. Some of these people don't even realize where they are, what's going on around them, and they're just left to their own devices.
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2012-12-15, 06:23 | Link #25226 |
廉頗
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Massachusetts
Age: 34
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It's hard to deny that the root causes of such behavior need to be studied. Considering that many people go through frustrating, tragic, and terrible circumstances, but never resort to such heinous acts, it is likely a case of unbalanced mental health with some degree of genetics, being triggered by culture and environment. It can be hard for me to think constructively in the face of killing children (and indeed I did not have any constructive thoughts until sleeping on it and avoiding news of it for a while), since I cannot wrap my head around the act and feel irrationally angry even trying to contemplate it. I assume most people are the same way and the inherent desire for 'justice' and 'punishment' leaves the solution-finding process on the backburner. I just wonder how much we can actually solve by our current medical/psychological system. Based on both research and personal experience, I don't really have faith in it, and just throwing money at mental institutions/psychiatrists/mental health providers may not do much. There has to be an attempt to actually study and understand. Unfortunately, I can't help but feel some of these types may simply be inevitable. The human brain being as complex as it is, there are so many simple mutations or inherited differences that can be exacerbated and stretched by experience into what an average person would consider bizarre or unthinkable behavior.
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2012-12-15, 11:25 | Link #25227 | |
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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The solution in those cases is more likely to be therapy, but that takes time, money, and effort from the individual. We as a society have set ourselves up for trouble here. Since we live in a "pill culture" many are unprepared for the work that they need to do on their end, and they grow frustrated when it is revealed that therapy is completed over the span of months and years, rather than days and weeks, and that even at the conclusion of therapy they may never be "100% cured." Insurance also makes this a bit more difficult; I don't know exactly how mental health has been impacted, but I've heard from physical therapists that therapy that once was completed over the span of months (sometimes going over a year) is now done in the short course of a few weeks, all due to insurance demands. Lastly, it doesn't help that we're all becoming withdrawn into ourselves. There are many reasons for it, but people don't reach out to each other or express interest in those around them so much these days. There's something that each of us can do, then: don't be afraid to connect with the people we pass by each day. Who knows? Perhaps saying a few words and sharing a short conversation with a stranger could be the act that they need to be pulled out of a dark place.
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2012-12-15, 11:52 | Link #25228 | |
廉頗
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Massachusetts
Age: 34
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That being said, there are inherent differences in how our minds work and even if they are relatively minor, they can be bent into many different ways by our environment. Under certain stressors some may have the genetic heritage to develop "fine" with no residual problems, whereas some do snap and commit acts we can't fathom. I'm not suggesting these people have a "disorder" (which I think is part of the overly label-happy problem of psychiatry), but they do have inherent traits, or combinations of traits, that make them react a certain way under certain conditions, while another person may turn out completely differently. And I suspect that there are likely common traits of which we are not yet aware that are seen in all of these cases. Traits that, had these people never been exposed to the feelings of isolation, or abuse, or whatever other trauma - would go unnoticed and not necessarily present a hindrance. Nonetheless, the traits exist, so under these conditions the problems arise. There are reasons why some people can crawl their way out of the worst upbringing and succeed, sometimes even better than the average person, whereas another individual could become an abuser themselves, or remain depressed/unfulfilled/etc for years to come. I do not ascribe to the simplistic notion of just writing it off as "character differences..." They are character differences on a macro scale, but I am certain there are micro genetic differences that lead to these different reactions from people in very similar situations. If we could isolate and understand what these "trigger genetics" were then perhaps we'd be better prepared to stave off such occurrences. It's not a foolproof solution, but it may be the best bet in terms of future research. |
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2012-12-15, 11:53 | Link #25229 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Connecticut
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The Massacre in newtown is scary and all but i don't think precautions will be taken to prevent these types of things and with all the news coverage it provides hell, it might even provoke others to take this route. This is possibly the most amount of media CT has ever gotten.
I guess we'll just wait a couple weeks for this to blow over and maybe, maybe once a year we'll look back on this day to pray for 2 minutes. Aside from the family's that were effected and the kids that were possibly traumatized, it'll barely be memoriable. My condolences go out to those parents who have to burry their children instead of the other way around.
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2012-12-15, 11:56 | Link #25230 | |
Sensei, aishite imasu
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hong Kong Shatterdome
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What the mental institutes needed was reform to combat the abuses that happened in them. Shutting the institutes down completely was too radical and naive of a move. I don't think what we currently do is working remotely. When certain people have these kind of problems, having themselves (or even their family) try to deal with it just doesn't seem like it works.
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2012-12-15, 12:24 | Link #25232 |
AS Oji-kun
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
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Deinstitutionalization certainly seems more humane, but it only works if we're willing to invest the resources required to treat people outside the institutions. That requires a level of collective effort and empathy which many Americans seem incapable of these days. You only have to recall the infamous Republican candidate debate in 2011 where audience members shouted their approval of letting someone die rather than using public funds to treat him. This came on the heels of applause for the 234 executions conducted under Texas governor Rick Perry a few weeks before.
We have become a callous, selfish, and narcissistic culture with a penchant for violence. I wonder how Americans who lived through the collective privations of World War II would feel if they saw the country today. I know my parents would have been disgusted. Watching those interviews with eight-year-olds yesterday made me sick. I have even less respect for the adults who let that happen, seduced no doubt by the desire to see themselves or their children on national television.
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2012-12-15, 15:05 | Link #25239 | |
Unspecified
Scanlator
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Unspecified
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College Students Who Study Abroad Found to Be at Greater Risk of Sexual Assault
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