Mass shootings at schools in America have become commonplace. That’s why Sunday’s mass shooting at UVA barely registered as “Breaking News.”
Mass shootings
Of course, America places a premium on forcing women to have unwanted children. But then it shows little concern for the welfare of those children after birth. This explains why:
- The mass shooting of 20 kids at Sandy Hook Elementary triggered no concern about the welfare of other schoolchildren.
- Economic policies, like the lack of a living wage, are designed to keep many children mired in poverty.
- Gun laws make children statistically more likely to get shot and die than police officers.
UVA
Three members of the University of Virginia football team were fatally shot and two other students were injured at a parking garage on campus late Sunday, U-Va. officials said, in an outburst of violence that set off an intense manhunt in and around Charlottesville for a suspect police described as armed and dangerous. He was captured Monday morning. …
A family member at [the shooter’s] house said [he] had been bullied for months.
(The Washington Post, November 13, 2022)
No amount of bullying justifies murder. My heart goes out to the loved ones of these victims.
That said, the easy access to guns and the notoriety they bring make mass shootings perversely tempting. It’s certainly easy to see how that combination would tempt bullied kids. Indeed, in this case, the alleged bullies are dead, and this once “loser kid” is now infamous.
Of course, none of them think of the consequences. So beware the revenge of the bullied.
Media complicity
I never name shooters or share their mugs. Brackets in the quote above attest to this. I never do because identifying them incentivizes the next shooter.
Everyone in the media knows this. Yet most “glorify” shooters anyway. And that’s because doing so is good for ratings and clicks – the consequences be damned.
But I’ve been beating this media dead horse for years. I refer you to such commentaries as “Media Compounding Tragedy of Shooting Rampage at Batman Movie,” July 20, 2012, and “Massacre in Omaha,” December 7, 2007.