What's WRONG with these people?!?!

[Dr Maturin]

The first "school shooting" happened in my hometown. What's sad is that this kind of thing happens weekly in ghetto schools, but it's just seen as normal. The only reason that the school from my hometown -- which had to be 90% non-white -- got national coverage is because it was an elementary school.

[Jan]

@ Jan : John Brunner was way ahead of his time. You either mean "The Hungry Sheep Look Up" or "Stand on Zanzibar". People are just like rats. Too many of 'em and they start killing each other.

I think it was "Stand on Zanzibar". "Sheep" was about pollution and "Stand" was about overpopulation. I can't see that either of those causes could pertain to these happenings, though.

And this guy(?) probably had a serious short-circuit in his brain.

The latest I read says that he claimed to be getting revenge for something that happened 20 years ago. As if those little girls had anything to do with that!

I could almost wish that one of these crazies wouldn't kill himself so that maybe somebody could get some insight into what causes this. It can't only be that they were teased and taunted in school as kids. I mean, who hasn't been??

Jan

[Towelmaster]

@ Jan : John Brunner was way ahead of his time. You either mean "The Hungry Sheep Look Up" or "Stand on Zanzibar". People are just like rats. Too many of 'em and they start killing each other.

And this guy(?) probably had a serious short-circuit in his brain.

[WorkerCaste]

Yeah, I definitely don't get it, but then again it's probably a good thing that we don't understand it. Is it just that they think so little of themselves, that they want to go out in a blaze of publicity just so they have one notable "accomplishment" in their obit?

[SmileOfTheShadow]

I feel ya...and it seems every time ONE of these happens there's another bunch that show up. People shouldn't copy that behavior : /

[Joe Nazzaro]

Every time I read about one of these incidents about a crazed killer shooting a bunch of people before turning the gun on themselves, I always think, couldn't they do it in reverse order and save everybody a lot of misery?

[Jan]

Gunman opens fire in Amish school

You know, I don't really care if somebody wants to kill himself. It's sad, but as far as I'm concerned it's their life so that's their choice. But what gives with the fad lately of opening fire on perfect strangers and only then blowing your brains out? Are these latest incidents copycat crimes or is something else going on?

I read a book many years ago by John Brunner where, due to overpopulation, this sort of thing had become so common that the term for 'people running amok' was 'muckers'. I really hate it when my fiction ends up being prophetic.

Jan