Desundial wrote:To me it's pointless to debate whether the parents are at falt, the teachers, the schools, society etc. It's the shooters falt. period. He deserves nothing but scorn, and certainly no sympathy. In my opinion, like in similar shootings like virginia tech etc he's just another narcisistic, emotionally crippled (i.e. no empathatic ability) teenager (as if they aren't narcisistic enough) too absorbed in his own unhappiness and frustration and need to feel powerful and be able to even receive any help.
I genuinely sympathize with, and in fact share, your anger. However, narcissistic and emotionally crippled teenagers who wallow in their own misery do not simply pop out of the blue. Either the killer was a harmless loner who suddenly just flipped out, or he has been, for years, a potential killer-in-the-making. In the latter and more likely case, there are various underlying causes increasing the
propensity for the killer to decide to kill. These causes need to be identified and addressed well in advance. However, you are absolutely right to stress that none of those underlying causes "compel" him to kill, or override his independent choice on the matter. The moral and legal blame rests with him and him alone.
Desundial wrote:Well, news flash - life is imperfect yet most people find their way to deal with that and muddle on. What about the post-war generation, so many growing up without parents or with violent memories or barely having food? Or people growing up in genuine poverty, war zones, etc. the vast majority who find a way to sort out a life for themselves? There are millions of people out there around the world who have it so much worse and live on annoymously yet because these cowardly school shooter types decide to run away from the hardness of life...
I feel this whole "hardness of life" and "cold competitive society" whining indulged by both wishy-washy psychiatrists and anti-establishment media is little more than myth, and a rather dangerous myth at that. As I have been at pains to suggest, it could well be the very opposite, "the easiness of life" and absolute "parental non-resistance" throughout one's childhood that is partially responsible in creating monsters - youth without any restraint-mechanisms, deterrents or constructive engagements holding them back from contemplating theatrical acts of violent crime.
The post-war generation as well as the faceless masses in the "developing world" are, in fact, a case in point. Their main concern was/is day-to-day survival and the rebuilding of communities, compelling them to exercise great discipline and solidarity, and to impart discipline and a sense of community to their children well. It is precisely the popcorn & porn generation to which I proudly belong which finds it exceedingly difficult to respect and consider anyone or anything that does not evoke instant emotional thrill. Boredom begins to form the defining sentiment of everyday life. Rules, standards, values, student hardships, work, boring masses grinding on with their mundane routines and irritating individuals buzzing about certainly do not qualify to anyone as sources of instant emotional stimulation. Therefore they must be "wrong", "harmful" or even "threatening", rather than normal and healthy aspects of life. In postmodern ethics, pain is equal to evil and pleasure to good. If anything causes you pain, misery and boredom, it must be opposed and resisted. Pain is regarded hazardous to health rather than an integral component for character-building.
Since anything that provides instant emotional thrill is good, in the end the whole world must be evil and a threat. Small wonder that those in the younger generation who have been allowed (and who themselves allow) to carry this philosphy to the extreme are capable of perpetrating suicidal shooting-sprees. Such incidents however easily detract us from addressing the less violent yet no less serious symptoms (depression, drug-abuse, disillusionment, complacency, thrill-seeking, etc.) affecting the rank and file of our youth, stemming from the very same individualist value base, and the same parental over-concern for the physical comforts of the child at the expense of their spiritual development.
Gee, someone should put a stop to my avuncular rambling. I have no self-restraint and I solely blame my parents for it.
)
