5th grader arrested for making threats re school shooting

Ema of 5 ↓

Tue, May 31 2022, 8:39 am

https://www.kbtx.com/2022/05/3.....e=amp

This is what our country has come to. I hope this kid learns his lesson, and I hope his parents don’t take it as a chance to get their 15 minutes.

SuperWify

Tue, May 31 2022, 12:17 pm

I’m happy there was strict measures taken but sad it had to happen.

An 18 year old posted himself on social media with a bunch of guns and a message “Siri where is the closet school?” Thank god he was arrested even though it turned out the guns were fake.

Fake threats. Real consequences.

wifenmother

Tue, May 31 2022, 12:28 pm

I think video games are a bigger problem in this country than licensed guns. Isn't that why we're seeing little kids busy with this? The two most recent shootings were also by kids barely out of their teens.

↑ Ema of 5 ↓

Tue, May 31 2022, 12:58 pm

wifenmother wrote:

Eric Harris was 18, Dylan Klebold 17
Adam Lanza was 20, basically still a teen
Nikolas Cruz was 19

Most shooters are older teens or early 20s

Fox ↓

Tue, May 31 2022, 1:05 pm

An older article, but an important one. Malcolm Gladwell has written extensively on the topic of social contagion with regard to a number of pathologies. For a variety of reasons, people tend to discount this, despite excellent evidence.

https://www.newyorker.com/maga.....lence

↑ Ema of 5 ↓

Tue, May 31 2022, 1:50 pm

Fox wrote:

Wow, that was fascinating!!!! Definitely something that needs to be talked about more, on a national level.

animeme ↓

Tue, May 31 2022, 2:08 pm

Fox, that makes me think of the movie "Heathers." Gladwell is always good for pointing out things that seem like they should be obvious, and then you can never think of it without that approach.

Re video games, the research I've seen discounts a specific connection between violent video games and actual violent acts. Social isolation in general can be a cause of anti-social personality and acts, or an indicator, or both. But also not.

↑ Ema of 5 ↓

Tue, May 31 2022, 2:17 pm

animeme wrote:

Just out of curiosity, who is subsidizing the research? Not saying one way or another, but that can definitely skew the findings.
I don’t think there’s necessarily a definitive connection, but it does seem to have been a factor in many of these tragedies.

↑ Fox

Tue, May 31 2022, 3:02 pm

I don't believe there's direct causation between violent video games (or any other kind of entertainment) and mass violence, but I do think that violent entertainment definitely desensitizes people, and that's a bad thing. People with sociopathic tendencies don't need any extra help when it comes to reducing their empathy.

The fact is that entertainment has long been cited as a reason for maladaptation. In the 50s, it was comic books that were the culprit. Then it was rock music. After that, heavy metal music. Then video games. Then Internet chat rooms.

The reality is that someone who is sociopathic can easily become obsessive about anything that glorifies nihilism. So while I'm in favor of discouraging violent entertainment for a number of reasons, I don't think it will make a difference to the people whom we're discussing.

↑ animeme

Tue, May 31 2022, 3:58 pm

https://dana.org/article/do-vi.....ence/

This is a nice discussion. A lot of it boils down to this quote from it: “All of the meta/analyses do in fact point to the conclusion that, in the vast majority of settings, violent video games do increase aggressive behavior but that these effects are almost always quite small.” They include things like louder voices and scratching. Elsewhere, I have seen a link between overall excessive video game use, regardless of content, and some antisocial behavior, including poor frustration tolerance.

I do think it's sad that schools have to go these lengths. I think that the media outlets who have resolves not to share the names of shooters are on the right track.

↑ Ema of 5

Tue, May 31 2022, 5:08 pm

Congresswoman wrote:

Am I the only one thinking the kid needs a therapist not a jail cell?

Honestly I think he needs both. He needs to see that his actions, even if he was joking (which I hope he was!!) have real consequences and this is nothing something to joke about. He ALSO should speak to a therapist.