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Too Many Tears

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I usually stay out of these type of conversations because there is usually more to the story than is let out. First let me say I feel so much sorrow for the affected families. BUT, saying that my questions would be, how did this kid get the money to buy the firearms, then robbed a store for money to buy more ammo, where did he store them as to hide from others and did the care takers of this kid turn a blind eye to any of his actions? How come they never saw the weapons this kid had, or did they! Ok, I'm off on a tangent and better shut up, but I still say most of these stories seem to be repetitive of another bad happening. Something has to be done to protect our kids! To me, the inside of our schools should be treated like a sacred place, our most precious properties are in them! PJ
 
waltesefalcon said:
Yes, mental illness is something that we need to have an open and frank discussion about for its own importance rather than simply the as an aside after a tragedy has occurred. Pretty much the only time it is deemed acceptable to talk about something like this in the classroom is after a tragedy. Then we are helping our students process what has happened whereas the rest of the time we are indoctrinating the youth. I really would like the opportunity to speak with my students about mental health more often because it is a very stigmatized issue and I would like for them to understand that anyone can suffer from a mental health disorder, it isn't just the "crazy" people in the world. My ex-wife suffers from bi-polar disorder so I have years of first hand dealings with mental health issues, I know that there are times she is perfectly fine and that other times she has sever mood swings, depression, and manic behaviors that she just can't help.
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NAMI has a program called Ending the Silence. It is designed as a presentation to be presented in schools. There is a version for students, another for faculty and yet another for family. >> See >> https://www.nami.org/Find-Support/NAMI-Programs/NAMI-Ending-the-Silence

On the NAMI OK page, click on "Find Nearest Affiliate" and see if they have anything in your area or close enough that someone could drive to your location for a presentation.

>> NAMI Oklahoma>> https://www.namioklahoma.org
 
"How come they never saw the weapons this kid had?"

Hundreds of people saw his pictures of his weapons on their social media feeds, I think in this case, Instagram.

There are hundreds of thousands of social media posts showing young people with weapons, making threats.

There's unfortunately no way to keep track of all those posts, unless the social media host is forced to take responsibility for allowing the posts in the first place.

So there it is - if the hosts allow just about anything to be posted, and don't review it themselves, this will continue to happen. Relying on other social media users to "report" the problem isn't working.

There's a thought: making the people who actually run/own the social media sites legally responsible for hosting the posts. They get the ad revenue - so shouldn't they be held responsible for reporting questionable posts?

Mental illness awareness is *definitely* something that needs grass roots 24/7 support. But I worry that we conflate mental illness issues with the astoundingly flagrant social media world that allows anything to be shared with millions of people - often just for attention.
 
I think the important thing here is for everyone concerned to just keep this community in your thoughts and prayers. I'm asking that we just leave it at that. There are many unanswered questions and hopefully we will learn more as time goes on.
 
It was mentioned over the weekend that the FBI has about 20 people assigned to the area that is to monitor social media and follow up on calls, emails and other tips they get. Then it was said they on average receive over 1000 various tips a day. And who know how many they might find on their own that no one reports. An overwhelming task to try to be on top of everything.
 
I guess I could comment on that but I'm afraid my comment would be too political being related to what they have been wasting resources on instead.
 
Bas, thanks for the link.

"There's a thought: making the people who actually run/own the social media sites legally responsible for hosting the posts. They get the ad revenue - so shouldn't they be held responsible for reporting questionable posts?"

Tom, that is an idea that makes too much sense to ever be implemented.
 
NutmegCT said:
There's a thought: making the people who actually run/own the social media sites legally responsible for hosting the posts. They get the ad revenue - so shouldn't they be held responsible for reporting questionable posts?
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Indemnity. Imagine if Basil were responsible for readers accidentally injuring themselves while work on car per something read on the BCF. An important clause in a working system, IMO.

(Note, I am an engineer, and know little of law. But I have seen the concept of indemnification in various non-disclosure and technical agreement contracts. Please chime in, those with more legal knowledge than I!)
 
We all want to do something when a tragedy like this occurs. The onus is for us to want to affix blame and to demand justice! Too many times these tragedies are used to advance political agendas (a mayor of a very large city once said, "A tragedy is a terrible thing to waste!" ) A student friend of another child that has just been shot or that student's parents aren't going to calmly weigh the facts and decide the "best" solution to this difficult problem! They want answers and they want them NOW!

You can't really blame them. They're hurting and there's nothing that they can do to bring their child back. The media is offering them a "solution" and they are grasping at it- GET RID OF GUNS!! It doesn't matter that this whole gun debate has been going on for decades and that this topic is quite a bit more difficult than simple platitudes will fix! It feels good to be doing something... anything!!

The sad part is that it doesn't even matter if it will make a difference (let alone work!) In the end, it only matters that the hurt is blunted by the knowledge that they, at least, did something! Those who have to live through these tragedies have my deepest sympathy and those who would use these incidents to advance their political agendas have my utmost contempt!!
 
While tragedies are used to advance political agendas, unfortunately, in this case our dear friends in Washington have done nothing, regarding the two topics discussed here (be they correlated of uncorrelated). Nothing. Today, mental health education and seeking treatment is through grass-roots activities like NAMI.

As always there are many good sides to every argument, be it right, left, north, south, east or west. But, somehow politicians are too scared for their jobs to take any action that might be considered "off base" for their parties. Somehow, to compromise as a politician has become a bad thing. Yet in life, in marriage, in family, in friendship, compromise is the right thing to do.

I have a British car in a million pieces. And my wife has a fully functional :smile: Audi TT. I wrench, she drives. And we are happily married!
 
Popeye - well said.

Remember the Ancient Days, when people actually talked about important things face to face, did some serious thinking, and made compromises to get something done? People stood for two to three hours listening to Lincoln and Douglas in their debates. Without violence.

These days, we've got a lot of folks staring at their internet news feeds 24/7, posting stories, videos, and links without checking their veracity, writing "comments" full of inane ad hominems and non-sequiturs, and yelling at each other.

yeesh

Tom M.
 
I think many people do not actually know what mental illness is. The only way to appreciate this is by association with someone who is bipolar or the like.
I own a number of guns and long opposed "gun control" due in part to strong suspicion that it couldn't work with the number of guns in circulation. I have come to the position that I am willing to try anything that has any chance of preventing a parent from sending a kid to school in the morning and talking to an undertaker in the afternoon.
Bob
 
bobhustead said:
I think many people do not actually know what mental illness is. The only way to appreciate this is by association with someone who is bipolar or the like.
I own a number of guns and long opposed "gun control" due in part to strong suspicion that it couldn't work with the number of guns in circulation. I have come to the position that I am willing to try anything that has any chance of preventing a parent from sending a kid to school in the morning and talking to an undertaker in the afternoon.
Bob
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I suspect there are many different opinions about some of the topics surrounding these kinds of tragedies. I certainly have my opinions - very strong opinions.
I am asking that we keep what are sure to be "controversial" topics out of this thread. I ask this respectfully, knowing that there are going to be very strong opinions on both sides of any such issues. And yes, I know I have probably violated my own rules at some time in the past (I try not to but I'm only human and not infallible. When I do - bad on me!).

With that said, I will take this opportunity to say that the topic of mental illness is very close to me and I hope you all will consider supporting my NAMI Walks this year. (Keep an eye out for a banner you can click on to donate to my team). I have been a volunteer for NAMI ( https://www.nami.org ) for many years and am now my State's Director of Programs in addition to teaching this evidence-based family education course: www.nami.org/f2f

Thanks for your consideration and lets just keep all involved in this terrible incident in our thoughts and prayers.
 
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