OMG, @GnocchiB ! I sent you a PM
So if someone you knew lost their child in this incident, you would show no sympathy, since it doesn’t change anything? Or would you show sympathy because it brings some measure of comfort to the bereaved, or it reveals our humanity and that which makes us different (perhaps) from other species? Or can you only feel sympathy for those you know personally, and all others are just not real to you? You, not in a personal sense, but in the general sense of your post.
Do you mourn for every tragedy on the face of the earth, Nrdsb4?
What does that have to do with this statement?
So because we can’t invest in every tragedy, we can’t invest in any? Because it doesn’t “accomplish” anything?
I disagree.
You get to dictate which tragedies people invest in?
sylvan8798 that is a completely unfair interpretation of my post. I’m disgusted. I’ll leave it at that so I don’t get banned.
It sounds like another tragic case of a mentally ill person influenced by terrorists. As long as terrorist propoganda remains prominent, there will be more attacks. With or without certain weapons - I am sure we have all heard of the recent terror attacks using vehicles in Europe.
Re: leaving the country. Let’s not pretend Canada is terrorist-free. http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/11/americas/canada-ontario-police-kill-terror-suspect-aaron-driver/
I’m extremely sorry for the people injured and killed.
Note that there were about 43 murders and non-negligent homicides per day in the US in 2015. Those that attract a lot of news attention are typically only a small portion.
The peak was in 1991, when there were about 67 murders and non-negligent homicides per day in the US. The US population was smaller then, so the rate of murders and non-negligent homicides was about double in 1991 compared to 2015.
Ok I have been watching this for HOURS and I’ve seen NOTHING about terrorism.
This sounds like a person who was mentally ill, TRIED TO SEEK OUT HELP, and yet still had access to a gun because of our ridiculous gun “laws.”
And to tack on to my post up thread, if someone was affected by this and I was talking to them, of course I’d tell them I was sorry for their loss and show sympathy. But I’m long since done doing it to the air.
I feel sympathy (and empathy) when things like this happen, regardless of whether it does any good. And of course I’m more likely to feel that way because I know my son is going to be flying into that same airport in two days (which I can’t stop thinking about!), than I would if it happened someplace halfway around the world.
I read a long time ago that the majority of people feel sympathy for those they identify with…people, circumstances, places. It’s human nature, so I don’t feel guilty about it. This shooting, and places like schools, movie theatres haunt me more than shootings halfway around the world with a culture and people I know nothing about. I find when I see the headlines in the paper about some bomb in some country that killed 15 police officers, I never finish the article. But things like yesterday, I envision my family being there. I think the average person does this. And we feel helpless.
If the POTUS can’t get bills passed, how can an average Joe who really doesn’t know about anything do it?
Listen folks, the crux of the matter is not whether people have sympathy for the victims. Of course they do. The undeniable heart of the matter is that people are quietly seething with frustration, sadness and anger when they read the standard postmortem expressions from our leaders, who inevitably declare that …" we will make sure that this will never happen again."
@albert69 terrorism link? Source?
I read an article this morning that stated that in the past two years there was an instance of a toddler shooting someone at the average of once a week. It’s the neverending gun violence that results in people getting angry/frustrated/frightened/detached from this news. The fact that there were 762 murders in Chicago in 2016 should be of equal importance to people as instances like yesterday’s shootings in Ft. Lauderdale. And the excuse that it’s largely gang-related just doesn’t cut it. Or, at least, it shouldn’t.
He flew from Alaska to Florida - two states that have very little gun control. I wonder if there any restrictions in either place covering people who are mentally unstable from owning guns, and checking them onto airplanes. It would seem that if the FBI knows that you think your mind is being controlled by the government, that you would lose the right to own a firearm. Sigh… this is why we need laws and national data bases.
I just find it very sad for all involved. We seem hopeless.
Officials reporting that they can find NO evidence of any links to any known terrorist orgs.
I agree with you Greenwitch. You would think that what he told the FBI would result in his name being moved to a registry of people who should not be allowed to possess guns… however no such list exists as far as I know and with gun laws, the local/state laws are in effect. Neither Alaska or Florida of course are known for gun control. I think that all you need to be able to buy/obtain/own a gun is a pulse.
So much also for the argument that if more people had guns available they could take down the shooter themselves… but this whole incident apparently took about 45 seconds from what I heard last night on CNN. Most people unless trained officers cannot even react to a situation in 45 seconds let alone be able to stop an active shooter.
I can’t say terrorism is the only cause, it’s probably more his mental health that caused this (perhaps due to his experiences in the military, I don’t know.) But it appears to be a factor if he was babbling to the FBI about ISIS.
He was babbling that the government was trying to turn him into a weapon of ISIS. That is WAY different than being influenced by them.
Unless you’re calling all mass shooters terrorists, which I’d absolutely agree with regardless of race, religion, etc, there is no evidence at all that he was “influenced by terrorists.” None.
ETA: I’m just so sick of people immediately saying “terrorism” especially in cases like this where it’s almost certainly the case that this wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t have access to a gun. Terrorists are going to carry out their acts with whatever they can get their hands on. I don’t think this guy was prepared to blow himself up like a “terrorist” would.
I thought the news said he presented to the FBI office in Anchorage telling them that the CIA was forcing him to watch ISIS videos. THey said he was incomprehensible and sent him for a psych eval.