The bullshit thoughts and prayers culture
We all know ‘thoughts and prayers’ means nothing and leads to virtually no action. So how does it still resonate so much? Continue Reading
School Shootings
3 years since Sandy Hook, and things are worse. Wow.
Out of all the mass shootings, if you were callously sit down and rank them (I wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing this, no), Sandy Hook might be the worst. A loss of life is a loss of life wherever it happens,… Continue Reading
Empathy is more valuable than critical thinking on people issues
Whenever something like the Charleston shooting happens, there’s a million and one narratives that pop up all over the place (thank you, social media and ease of e-mail) related to what exactly the problem is. I myself am guilty of this; I wrote… Continue Reading
Mass shootings are actually seemingly good for gun sales
Logic might indicate that, after something like Sandy Hook (where actual children were murdered), people might hit the pause button on buying guns, just as a general “whoa” thing. (The devil’s advocate approach is that “Well, I’m not intending to do that… Continue Reading
Here’s a map of all the mass shootings in America, 1982-2013
You can’t extrapolate much from the clustered locations, just because they tend to be the same areas with higher populations (NorCal, SoCal, NE Corridor, Houston-Dallas). There’s a good deal more info here courtesy of Mother Jones, and there’s additional context and… Continue Reading
Alex Hribal stabbing case: if you believe the media coverage wasn’t that major, why? Is it because the weapon was a knife or because there were no immediate deaths?
If you go to Huffington Post this morning — a liberal publication, one might argue — the PA stabbing story from yesterday isn’t even above the digital fold. It is on CNN, although it’s not the top story — that’s the search… Continue Reading
Oh look, Peter Lanza has begun speaking to the media
Peter Lanza — the father of Adam Lanza and the ex-husband of Nancy Lanza — has stayed out of the media (for the most part) since December 2012 and the Sandy Hook shootings. He’s now in the media — although hopefully it’s… Continue Reading
Let’s discuss Adam Lanza and Newtown for a few moments
Let’s start with the obvious. There’s no real way to quantify a school shooting; it’s horror. It doesn’t really matter if it’s 3 people shot, or 20 people shot; we tend to like the bigger numbers because we understand that says more horror,… Continue Reading