Columbine -- Did it have a positive effect on society? (1366 hits)
Category: PoliticsRating: 0.3 on 36 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Wardy (View user info) at 2005-10-06 11:22:08 EDT
I just watched the movie "Elephant", an HBO film that basically remakes the tragedy that struck Columbine not so many years ago. I was watching it with a few of my roomates, and while I was watching it, I could not help but think one thing: Had they done something good?
Obviously I don't condone violence, I don't condone the murder of innocent people (guilty people, fuck 'em... along with religious fundamentalists and hookers), but I think that ever since the infamous shooting, people tend to think twice about how they treat their neighbor. Since Columbine, I can't recall any school shootings, while before Columbine they seemed to be coming as frequent as suicide bombings in Iraq. I definitely cannot help but think that people have taken a much more pro-active role towards enriching the lives of their fellow classmates -- if in any case just to make sure they don't go home and grab an AK-47 and go postal on them.
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Submitted by bush_for_god (user info) at 2005-10-10 16:57:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
SOLUTION: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6468373/?GT1=5809
Submitted by professorfuckface (user info) at 2005-10-09 09:34:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by celine (user info) at 2005-10-07 01:00:09 (#)
Ranking: -2
No, but I have a funny(?) story.
An ex of mine once drunkenly confessed to having skipped last period that day to toke the fuck up and watch CNN. It was on 4/20 of her senior year of high school, hence the senior-skip-day toking.
When the news, and live footage, broke like 9/11, the first image they showed was of a girl (while running for her life) tripping over a bike rack outside the school, performing a disastrous triple-somersault. The girl landed on her head and became a paraplegic.
My ex-girlfriend's words:
"I swear I had no idea what the context was, but at that very moment, it was the greatest slapstick comedy I'd ever seen."
Notice that I called her my Ex earlier. That's one of the reasons. Also, I quit smoking pot the day she said that.
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introduce me to her, sounds like my kinda girl
Submitted by Bob_Dole (user info) at 2005-10-09 08:33:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No, a negative effect on society, only because it gave Michael Moore a chance to make a video.
Submitted by celine (user info) at 2005-10-07 01:00:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No, but I have a funny(?) story.
An ex of mine once drunkenly confessed to having skipped last period that day to toke the fuck up and watch CNN. It was on 4/20 of her senior year of high school, hence the senior-skip-day toking.
When the news, and live footage, broke like 9/11, the first image they showed was of a girl (while running for her life) tripping over a bike rack outside the school, performing a disastrous triple-somersault. The girl landed on her head and became a paraplegic.
My ex-girlfriend's words:
"I swear I had no idea what the context was, but at that very moment, it was the greatest slapstick comedy I'd ever seen."
Notice that I called her my Ex earlier. That's one of the reasons. Also, I quit smoking pot the day she said that.
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2005-10-07 00:38:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
hwoa! i'md rknnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-10-06 22:32:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
well if you were looking for a silver lining i guess that would be it.
Submitted by MrWillard (user info) at 2005-10-06 21:47:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
"Since Columbine, I can't recall any school shootings, while before Columbine they seemed to be coming as frequent as suicide bombings in Iraq."
Way to read the news.
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/03/02/school.shooting.01/
http://www.cnn.com/US/9908/09/conyers.school.shooting/
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/01/21/kinkel.revisited/
http://www.cnn.com/US/9911/20/school.shooting.02/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/americas/9904/29/canada.shooting/index.html (Canada)
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-10-06 16:01:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
meh... but auto +2 for: "kid does seven lines of zoloft and stabs thirty students in the face with a trident."
stabbing people in the face = +2... doing it with a trident = +10
Submitted by Spooner (user info) at 2005-10-06 15:48:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by DJMattB241 (user info) at 2005-10-06 12:43:29 (#)
Ranking: 1
or the more likely scenario: did everyone care deeply for about half a month, and then go back to their regular routine and not really give it a second thought?
just like 9/11. Nothing phases people anymore.
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That's about as accurate as you're going to get.
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2005-10-06 15:02:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
haha... fuckin' hell, i try and finish it this weekend... i think you're the only person on uber that remembers it though...
Submitted by EmptyRobot (user info) at 2005-10-06 13:49:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Wardy -- will he ever finish the story of the science fair disaster?
Submitted by badassmofo (user info) at 2005-10-06 13:45:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'll give you the +2 Wardy because you got me thinking (and writing) http://www.ubersite.com/m/76587
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2005-10-06 13:37:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
thanks lush
Submitted by alragusa (user info) at 2005-10-06 13:31:16 (#)
Ranking: 0
Meh.
I think I could have done without the shooting. I find it hard to think that someone says to themselves "Hm, you know, I shouldn't act like a dick because two kids shot up thier school."
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i'm not saying that kids necessarily think about it as much, but that there is more awareness of it when it goes on, as in parents, teachers, faculty members -- there is a more pro-active role in stopping it before the kid does seven lines of zoloft and stabs thirty students in the face with a trident.
Submitted by lush (user info) at 2005-10-06 13:32:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Sorry for the slow response. Wardy - No, the statistics included only school shootings. The couple years before comlumbine there were more shootings but the media wasn't paying as much attention.
It just shows how the media shapes are perception.
Submitted by alragusa (user info) at 2005-10-06 13:31:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Meh.
I think I could have done without the shooting. I find it hard to think that someone says to themselves "Hm, you know, I shouldn't act like a dick because two kids shot up thier school."
No. Nothing good came of this. In fact, I would hope that this helps the freaks of America to discover that they should cut the shit and conform to the norm. And don't give me that "expressing themselves"/ "being unique" shit. They are just conforming to another style, whether it be goth, wigger or whatever. Fags.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2005-10-06 12:58:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Kids aren't nicer to each other today.
It isn't harder to get a gun today.
The only difference is we have a lot of schools with "zero tolerance" that are suspending kids for stupid things like pictures or stories about zombies.
This is really one of the dumbest things I have read on Uber in a while, and I just read a kristy swan post.
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2005-10-06 12:47:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't think the question posed here is, "was it worth it" because clearly it was not. The question is more one of "did something, anything good come from this."
In which case, maybe.
I'm not positive about this, but it seems to me like this was the first case where the victims were seen as contributing to the environment that lead to the shooting.
Not that they deserved to die - clearly they did not, none of them did but perhaps just perhaps they did deserve a good ass thumping for treating the little freaks like little freaks.
It did end up shedding light on the whole issue of bullying. I think before that, everyone more or less thought of school bullying as kids stuff and dismissed it as "boys will be boys". After this though, more attention was paid to the issue and it is taken more seriously, sometimes too seriously - I mean let kids be kids, but there really should be limits.
It's an odd thing really, but think of it this way, what if every single day at work, you knew that someone was going to catch you in the hall and beat you up for your lunch money. You'd hit the ole 911 button wouldn't you, but we expect kids to suck it up and quite acting like a little bitch when things like that and much worse happen to them.
Submitted by DJMattB241 (user info) at 2005-10-06 12:43:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
or the more likely scenario: did everyone care deeply for about half a month, and then go back to their regular routine and not really give it a second thought?
just like 9/11. Nothing phases people anymore.
Submitted by FartSmeller (user info) at 2005-10-06 12:28:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:30:27 (#)
Ranking: 0
fartsmeller, i'm asking though if those kids didn't die in vain, not if they deserved to die. i'm glad your intuition is spot-on today.
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Oh, no, I GET what you're saying. And I think, again, that no good came out of Columbine. All the times someone's said, well at least they didn't die in vain. That's fucking horseshit. Even if them dying cured cancer, they died in vain. They were at school, and some faggoty emo hurt-filled pussied took their lives. There is no good that will come of that, unless the kids that shot them are having pineapples shoved up their asses in hell for the next elevendy billion years.
Submitted by Thanatos (user info) at 2005-10-06 12:01:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Yeah, there have been shootings since. Look up Red Lake High School, in MN.
Also, the same arguement might be applied to other ideas.
Ex. Potato famine - Good because it led to many Irish immigrants coming to USA
Russian pogroms, etc. - Good because it led to many Jewish immigrants coming to USA
Submitted by badassmofo (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:56:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
no its not okay...I used it as an example or for emphasis.
I got picked on everyday until I was 15 for my severely buck teeth...but I didn't fucking shoot anyone.
What I'm saying is it was just a fucking cop out for some angsty little brats, everyone gets picked on doesn't mean everyone has to go out and shoot somebody.
But I'm off you original topic, no I don't think it has made a difference fact is I don't think it was really out of the ordinary. I'm sure kids have been shooting kids at school for years we just have a better media machine for spreading it now.
I went to school in LA County California for a while and there were shootings all the time...but it was inner city and not YuppieTown, USA so it doesn't make national news. But hey you get a couple white kids in Middle American shooting people and all of a sudden we should 'be more sensitive.'
I say bullshit...the world needs to get a little more harsh or we're going to end up raising a bunch of whiney ass pansys...not that there is anything wrong with that...right?
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:49:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:39:32 (#)
Ranking: 2
Wardy ROCKS!
Spread the word.
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i keep it real.
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:47:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
There have been several school shootings since, but no one is paying attention. The media milked it for all they were worth and now people have a ho-hum attitude towards such things.
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:39:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
lush -- do those statistics include gang violence at inner city schools? because if so, i don't think that is part of my argument. but i don't even know the answer to my question, i was just looking to see what other people thought.
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:39:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wardy ROCKS!
Spread the word.
Submitted by lush (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:38:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I did some research on this subject a while back and found out that the amount of school shooting was actually down from the average that year. The only reason it seemed like thre were more is because it was highly publicized, where it hadn't been before. That was about a year ago, I don't know the statistics now.
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:37:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by badassmofo (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:34:05 (#)
Ranking: -1
Yep I think about evertime I'm about to make fun of some faggoty little queer that thinks mommy and daddy are harsh, to world is cruel and society owes them something.
Fuck, life is not fair the sooner children learn that the better.
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so you're saying making fun of people because they're different is okay? i'll agree with you that life isn't fair, but insulting a kid because the way he chooses to dress or the way he does his hair, well that just makes you an asshole.
Submitted by badassmofo (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:34:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Yep I think about evertime I'm about to make fun of some faggoty little queer that thinks mommy and daddy are harsh, to world is cruel and society owes them something.
Fuck, life is not fair the sooner children learn that the better.
Submitted by toucan_sam (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:32:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:31:29 (#)
Ranking: 2
It gave me an urge to play Counter Strike
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:31:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
It gave me an urge to play Counter Strike
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:30:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I understand the point you're trying to make, and I agree to an extent... but you didn't present it very well.
Submitted by j0andre1 (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:30:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Do I think two losers shooting up a high school made the world a better place?
I'll think long and hard about that one but I'm pretty sure I know the answer...
it's seven, the answer is seven.
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:30:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
fartsmeller, i'm asking though if those kids didn't die in vain, not if they deserved to die. i'm glad your intuition is spot-on today.
Submitted by Spooner (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:27:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Submitted by Foonbo (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:27:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Your short bus is outside. Hurry up or you'll miss it.
Submitted by FartSmeller (user info) at 2005-10-06 11:26:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
That's like asking if the 9-11 hijackers actually did a great thing, bringing Americans together and what not. What a stupid fucking concept... Those kids MURDERED innocent people and deserve a long, slow burn for the rest of eternity.