Judaism teaches that whatever occurs in life, there is a lesson to be learned. So what should society's response be to [the Columbine shooting] in Colorado? Is it really metal detectors that will solve the problem?
Perhaps we should ask ourselves why 50 years ago the top problems in America's public schools were:
• talking out of turn
And today the problems are:
• drug and alcohol abuse
Perhaps we should consider the overall effect of a society that teaches:
• objectification of woman (pornography)
[...]
One forensic psychiatrist, specializing in children who commit multiple murders, examined the eight such crimes committed by U.S. schoolchildren in the last three years. His conclusion? The common denominator amongst these these children is that they had no connection with God.
34 comments
They also had school shootings 50 years ago. It's not a recent thing.
If I had to guess, I'd say teachers aren't allowed to lay down the law in the USA's public schools because of that particular nation's excess of lawyers.
Rabbi; Leave It To Beaver was not a documentary. There's nothing new under the sun. While school shootings are more epic, these days, they are nothing new. People have been loaded full of lead in America's educational institutions since 1764.
Assuming you live in the same country I do, here's a lengthy list....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States#18th_century
There have always been "Juvenile Delinquents". Henry McCarty a.k.a William H. Bonney wasn't called "Billy the Kid" for no reason.
Then there's this line of yours.... objectification of woman (pornography)
(OP)(blah, blah)
"And today the problems are:"(yadda, yadda, yadda)
News flash, rabbi: I heard that same thing (even the "50 years ago" bit) when I was a high school student back in the 1980s. What you've quoted was an example of copypasta well before the term "copypasta" even existed.
(Miles Gloriosis)
Nope, no correction required.
In the fifties:
Women weren't objectified, they were objects.
If your husband slept around you were a bad wife and that wasn't a good enough reason for divorce. If your wife slept around she was a whore that needed a good slap.
As with the above, divorce was hell to get. Your spouse posing a serious and constant threat to your well-being was pretty much the bare minimum. Regular beating and even shooting a gun at you were often overlooked.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh man, pretending like today's push to recognize the "rights" of religious groups supercede their resposibility to uphold the laws of society and simple human decency is a drastic change from the bygone era where human rights were an exclusive privilege and the only "responsibilites" were laid out for those lesser in the social hierarchy. Oh... you're serious? Well now I want to cry.
... You do know that in the forties everyone was calling the music and entertainment venues that were popular in the fifties the devil's pasttimes right? And the decade before that. The decade before that. The decade before that...
And your last claim is bullshit. Plain and simple.
Yet another person who doesn't realise these things aren't really new...
I'm glad I am not a woman in the fifties.
All those bad things which are happening today were happening 50 years ago. And all those things happening 50 years ago are still happening today. It's just that things are more out in the open now, where 50 years ago things like teenage pregnancy, sex crimes, and drug abuse was kept covered up.
So what should society's response be to [the Columbine shooting] in Colorado? Is it really metal detectors that will solve the problem?
I think more like getting guns out of society and changing our gun worshiping attitudes would be a good step in the right direction. As is telling the NRA to shut the fuck up every time they say that the solution to gun violence is more guns.
"One forensic psychiatrist, specializing in children who commit multiple murders, examined the eight such crimes committed by U.S. schoolchildren in the last three years. His conclusion? The common denominator amongst these these children is that they had no connection with God."
No school shootings in the UK up to Dunblane in 1996. The murderer was an adult No school shootings since Dunblane.
School shootings in the US since 1764. Your 'God' did a lot of murdering in the Old Testament.
The UK has a state religion: Church of England.
You do the maths, Rabbi(t).
objectification of woman (pornography)
These were just as common 50 years ago.
@Citizen Justin. This would turn into a lengthy and complex dissertation, so I'll just say that you are completely wrong. I've taught in several high schools, and teachers have all the tools they need to maintain order- the most successful being to make your teaching engaging and interactive.
The common denominator amongst these these children is that they had no connection with God.
And they were right-handed, too! Don't forget that.
You know, Rabbi; The first list is still true. Most of school is junk involving gum under desks & students back-talking. School shootings are, statistically, rare extraordinary events, hence the news-coverage. The way you're talking, you'd think EVERY SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY had fifteen "Columbines" a year!
Also; You know those teen girls long ago who visited their aunt for 9 months weren't really visiting their aunt....you know that, right?
Fifty years ago (I was there), the top problem in schools was not pregnancy for one reason only .... They kicked OUT pregnant girls, so that they could be both pregnant and uneducated, but not, of course, the men who impregnated them. Pornography, adultery, and divorce have been around for a long, long time. We had all the same vices as today except for the video games and no social media harassment.@Anon-e-moose
Over-used conservative meme aside, you're lying your fucking ass off. I actually AM a psychologist, specializing in forensic psychology, and if one of us said that, while acting as a consultant, they would (rightly) lose their license in a matter of days. Besides which, the rest of the western world has the same access to porn, adultery, divorce, video games, rock music and movies. The real difference, which you will move heaven and earth to ignore, is access to firearms.
Oh, and I notice you throw in "frivolous lawsuits", something which has no connection whatsoever to teen violence but is a right-wing bugbear.
"The common denominator amongst these these children is that they had no connection with God."
BULLSHIT.
Americas the most Christian country in the western world and carries all these ills much further than others.
This is just another attempt at damage control and projecting their inherent ills on others.
PROTIP, silly rabbi(t): if you want a realistic picture of the fifties or sixties, stop watching Leave it to Beaver and plop Dirty Dancing into the VCR (or did you actually upgrade to a DVD player?)
Oh, and simple logic suggests that adultery would be much more prevalent at a time when people were routinely trapped in failed or loveless marriages with little-to-no options for divorce.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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