Your Move, Google

MidwestIndy · 2018-05-19T20:19:32.245Z

I got bullied several times when I was much younger. Then I got a little older and punched a few of them in their mouths. Still never ever had the thought of coming to school and slaughtering a bunch of innocent people.

This is all about the state of mental health in this country and we’ve done nothing but ignore it, make excuses, and cut funding for all sorts of mental health clincs, therapy, programs, hospitals, it runs the gamut. It isn’t going to get better till we start making a concerted effort to expand these areas.

floydefisher · 2018-05-22T02:59:55.139Z

Well, that is great that you later on in life grew strong enough to easily handle your bullies.

For many people that is not an option. Bad example, but look at George Zimmerman. He tried learning martial arts, and after somewhere between 6 and 12 months of trying was told by the school he would never learn it, and was kicked out. It’s probably what started him carrying a gun in the first place.

What the Texas shooter did was despicable, and I do hope he gets the max, but let’s think about this from other angles a minute. If you’re bullied, and unlike your hero on screen you know there is zero hope of ever getting payback with your fists, what is next? A weapon of some sort, like a gun?

CanadianJudo · 2018-05-22T04:00:51.770Z

What would you do to address bullying?

adroit · 2018-05-22T04:02:22.847Z

Guvnah:

Gaius:

EVERY kid is razzed, teased, tested, gossiped about, or in some way bullied.

This is a key point. And kids have always been razzed, bullied, etc., since before our great grandparents were born.

What we have is a culture that has dropped a notch or two in its ability to handle conflict, and the extremes have become more extreme – to the point that a gun is the answer for an increasing number of kids. (And if not a gun, then some other means of inflicting harm.)

Why do you think other developed nations don’t the same problem, or at least anywhere near the scale that we do?

CanadianJudo · 2018-05-22T04:03:49.609Z

Why does America have such an issue with teen violence when other developed nations don’t

CanadianJudo · 2018-05-22T04:04:37.464Z

America has always had a culture that handles conflict with violence.

Gaius · 2018-05-22T04:09:10.799Z

Do we?

We don’t have football hooligans, or the English punk rowdies.
When I was young and living in Europe (80s) street violence was pretty common there especially at peace demonstrations.

But we DO have school shootings and a culture of street gangs.

Honestly I’ve never considered teen violence to be more prevelant than in Europe. I could be wrong though.

CanadianJudo · 2018-05-22T04:11:43.772Z

I can only speak for Canada bullying was never a major issue here at lest when I was growing up, outside of hockey.

Gaius · 2018-05-22T04:14:15.988Z

Well bullying can be defined broadly or narrowly. If it includes routine teasing and spitball it’s ubiquitous here in the middle grades, tends to settle out in HS.

reflechissez · 2018-05-22T04:17:20.982Z

Gaius:

Honestly I’ve never considered teen violence to be more prevelant than in Europe. I could be wrong though.

A little research could help.

CanadianJudo · 2018-05-22T04:18:13.493Z

I think another major issue is the internet we have isolated ourselves into echo-chambers where our minds can be further corrupted.

be it sexism, racism, etc you can live your life without seeing anything to contradict that view furthering your radicalization.

You never have to leave your house to join the Klan.

Gaius · 2018-05-22T04:21:12.902Z

Yawn. Not that interesting. If you knew something you would have posted it.

Gaius · 2018-05-22T04:22:17.288Z

CanadianJudo:

I think another major issue is the internet we have isolated ourselves into echo-chambers where our minds can be further corrupted.

be it sexism, racism, etc you can live your life without seeing anything to contradict that view furthering your radicalization.

You never have to leave your house to join the Klan.

Yeah but our kids including teenagers play each other on video games via headset.

reflechissez · 2018-05-22T04:22:56.634Z

I’m not the one pretending that I know what I’m talking about on the subject.

zantax · 2018-05-22T12:14:02.798Z

MidwestIndy:

I got bullied several times when I was much younger. Then I got a little older and punched a few of them in their mouths. Still never ever had the thought of coming to school and slaughtering a bunch of innocent people.

This is all about the state of mental health in this country and we’ve done nothing but ignore it, make excuses, and cut funding for all sorts of mental health clincs, therapy, programs, hospitals, it runs the gamut. It isn’t going to get better till we start making a concerted effort to expand these areas.

You know we recently had like the largest expansion of mental health coverage ever in Obamacare right?

from Mental health and substance abuse health coverage options

All Marketplace plans cover mental health and substance abuse services as essential health benefits.
Mental and behavioral health services are essential health benefits

All plans must cover:
Behavioral health treatment, such as psychotherapy and counseling
Mental and behavioral health inpatient services
Substance use disorder (commonly known as substance abuse) treatment
Your specific behavioral health benefits will depend on your state and the health plan you choose. You’ll see a full list of what each plan covers, including behavioral health benefits, when you compare plans in the Marketplace.

zantax · 2018-05-22T12:15:31.336Z

CanadianJudo:

I think another major issue is the internet we have isolated ourselves into echo-chambers where our minds can be further corrupted.

be it sexism, racism, etc you can live your life without seeing anything to contradict that view furthering your radicalization.

You never have to leave your house to join the Klan.

Only, by and large the country has been getting less violent since the internet came about, not more.

toreyj01 · 2018-05-22T12:30:00.472Z

The reasons that we see all these shootings here and not in other countries are probably a number of factors with varying degrees of influence.

We do have a lot of guns and there is no denying it. But in and of itself it cannot stand alone as a sole or even dominate reason. We have always had a lot of guns.

Bullying used to be personal, now its public. The internet is forever to some teens and they may feel they are permanently stigmatized by online bullying, If there is no hope, rage can occur.

The ability to handle conflict in our current generation of kids has been compromised by helicopter parents who insulate their children and them chuck them into a cruel world where they suddenly aren’t the perfect snowflake they thought they were.

The one thing I learned when I was bullied (and I was a victim of serial and horrible bullying as a kid, real nightmare stuff) was that someone could hate your guts and be a decent person otherwise. That sometimes people just don’t get along and nothing you do can change that.

I learned how to take a punch, how to ignore cruelty cast my way, and how to stand up for myself and stay true to who I was. And I learned that not everyone was going to like me, and I learned to live with that. Heck, I am a Liberal posting in a Hannity forum, so my work sort of still continues.

There was a movement a few years ago called “It gets better” and I really thought that was the correct approach. Get these kids to thicken their skin, learn to accept being disliked by some people and understand it gets better. That life was never going to be the idealized and perfect world their parents ostensibly perpetuated upon them.

And that success is the best revenge, not violence.

BlueTex · 2018-05-22T12:34:59.528Z

Is there any evidence that the shooter in Santa Fe was bullied?

Guvnah · 2018-05-22T15:38:18.285Z

adroit:

Why do you think other developed nations don’t the same problem, or at least anywhere near the scale that we do?

For the sake of discussion, I won’t challenge the assertion that other nations don’t face the same problems.

Our Constitution affords us far more freedoms than many other nation’s governments do.

Specific to the issue in this thread, we are afforded far more access to firearms. We’ve always had that, and many other nations have not.

Other nations share the same degradation in morality that we have. It’s manifested in different ways from nation to nation, but the global information web ensures that the degradation is well distributed.

As I plainly stated in another reply in this thread:

Guvnah:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

John Adams

… For example: The right to bear firearms is going to evaporate because too many are immoral in their use of firearms.

This nation was created as a Great Experiment. I fear the experiment is at the precipice of collapsing. We’ve abandoned moral principle after moral principle, and our children are burdened with being the consequential manifestation of that degradation. Ditto Millennials to a lesser degree.

Tguns · 2018-05-22T16:26:48.702Z

I agree with your views on bullying, but it has always existed. Yes, with the advent of social media and the like it has taken on different forms and become more public, but I honestly think there is something far different with the kids today. I think they have far too great of an expectation of acceptance. You see it in the colleges with “safe spaces” and other means of avoiding adversarial positions. I think a large part of the problem is these kids are incapable of dealing with rejection, opposition or just plain old lack of acceptance.

…couple that with the ability to achieve instantaneous fame and (perceived at least) adoration by doing something that sets you apart from the rest and we end up with this ■■■■■