The Best Explanation for Our Spate of Mass Shootings Is the Least Comforting

Article here. Excerpt:

'Writing in 2015, Malcolm Gladwell wrote what I think is still the best explanation for modern American mass shootings, and it’s easily the least comforting. At the risk of oversimplifying a complex argument, essentially he argues that each mass shooting lowers the threshold for the next. He argues, we are in the midst of a slow-motion “riot” of mass shootings, with the Columbine shooting in many ways the key triggering event. Relying on the work of Stanford sociologist Mark Granovetter, Gladwell notes that it’s a mistake to look at each incident independently:

"But Granovetter thought it was a mistake to focus on the decision-making processes of each rioter in isolation. In his view, a riot was not a collection of individuals, each of whom arrived independently at the decision to break windows. A riot was a social process, in which people did things in reaction to and in combination with those around them. Social processes are driven by our thresholds—which he defined as the number of people who need to be doing some activity before we agree to join them. In the elegant theoretical model Granovetter proposed, riots were started by people with a threshold of zero—instigators willing to throw a rock through a window at the slightest provocation. Then comes the person who will throw a rock if someone else goes first. He has a threshold of one. Next in is the person with the threshold of two. His qualms are overcome when he sees the instigator and the instigator’s accomplice. Next to him is someone with a threshold of three, who would never break windows and loot stores unless there were three people right in front of him who were already doing that—and so on up to the hundredth person, a righteous upstanding citizen who nonetheless could set his beliefs aside and grab a camera from the broken window of the electronics store if everyonearound him was grabbing cameras from the electronics store."
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While early reports are often wrong, there are indications that the Texas shooter engaged in behavior that sounds eerily like the Columbine shooting. We’ve seen reports of a trench coat, of the use of similar weapons, and of explosives — all hallmarks of the Colorado massacre. When I think of Columbine, I think of Gladwell’s essay. There are young men in the grip of a terrible contagion, and there is no cure coming.'

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Back when boys weren't considered the bad smell in the room, they could be trusted with taking guns to school for shooting practice then bring them home, all by bus.

I think too many are overlooking the fact that these shootings began at about the same time boys started getting tarred and feathered.

By no means do I think though that misandry is solely responsible for these shootings. I think ppl do things once a threshhold is passed. Disturbed ppl are no different this way.

Misandry is a factor. Not unlike allergies: once there are enough allergens inside you, you have a reaction. Same thing here.

Stop teaching boys they're "the problem" and maybe they won't act like it.

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one cold morning (12-14-12) while I was in my office trying to finish up my eoy bridge and dam inspections the news I had on my computer started covering a school shooting in sandy hook, conn. the 1st words I heard the chopper news guy said was that 'they were getting there just as police were arriving', about 09:40 or so est. the 911 calls were coming in and I listened as people reported shooting sounds from w/in the school. the 'acting' head maint. guy reported a couple of guys running past the gym. the chopper followed cops as they apprehended some guy(s) in the adjacent woods, wearing camo gear according to interviewed witnesses. one blond guy kept getting replayed as saying one guy was handcuffed in the front of a police cruiser. I continued watching all morning until lunch at some of the strangest happenings I have ever seen. a flaky coroner said the bodies of the 20 small children had 'huge gaping holes from (223) bullet wounds, and the parents of the dead children 'would not be allowed to see the bodies of their dead children'. I thought, how very strange. little did I know this was just the beginning of the strangeness surrounding this alleged scene of mass murder. the head cop warned that people who tried questioning any of this would be dealt with, or something along those lines. it was a definite warning to the public not to question any of it. no medical personnel or ambulances were allowed anywhere past the fire station about 1/4 mile down the only road in/out for over an hour. at the time the chopper news guys were as curious as everyone as to the status of the 500 +/- k-4 children and staff still in the school. after an hour or so after the school had been thoroughly swatted they started speculating as to where all the children went. I made a bet w/ myself earlier as to which door the little ones would eventually spill out of. after a couple hours and no children they were even speculating about maybe there was a tunnel or something of that sort. when I left for lunch no children had as yet emerged from the school. a couple days later I checked and found out the children had used their cloaks of invisibility and had been evacuated at about 10:04 am. 1/4 mile down the only road in/out. the choppers hovered non-stop all day, just as they did last week in that school shooting. when I started looking into all this strangeness things only got more strange. some old guy testified that a bus driver had deposited several small children w/ him. he had taken them in, played w/ them, fed them and eventually reported it to the cops. wtf? the guy(s) caught caught running away up in the adjacent woods were released. their catch and release wasn't never even reported in the official police reports.

here is a summary of what the murderer did: at about 09:35 am a handicapped 112 lb., 6' tall gamer adam lanza used the 223 rifle to blast his way into the school, shooting out a front window, and proceeded to kill just about everybody who he saw in record time and firing w/ a hit/miss ratio any navy seal would envy. he did all this wearing/carrying a rifle, 2 very large pistols and enough ammo to start a small war. in all it was about 1/3 his body wt., not including the ski mask. I guess he felt overdressed was the reason he left all the sweat shirts strewn about the getaway car. when the cops arrived he took the biggest pistol and blew his own brains out, at a very strange angle. the school was immediately put off limits, as was his house, and all of it was destroyed. the demo crews at the school were required to sign n.d.a.'s. when later asked about the hazmat cleanup the head cop said there was no need? the bodies were all closed casket, except one, but only part of his face was visible. cops dash cam pointed at the school confirmed no 500 + evacuation that morning, or evening. I never did see any child anywhere near the school that cold dec morn. pix of the interior (the few that weren't redacted) showed no x-mas anywhere small children might have seen it. the parking lot had no a.d.a. stuff anywhere. most all the cars were pulled in the same direction. the chopper pilot noticed no oil/grease stains in the lot. the rest rooms shown had no a.d.a. compliance as well. the computer room was made for adult heights. almost every room had books and junk piled 6' high around the walls, like would be done in a storage school. the back hallway was filthy and had a high water mark on the walls. I could go on and on w/ the weirdness, but my list of weird things is approaching a hundred items. these are just a few.

I don't understand why these libs want our long guns so bad, unless it is to make sure we can't resist a tyrant or an invasion. rifles only account a small % of people killed using firearms every year. also, although it may not seem like it, school shootings are down in recent years as well, and falling.

lesson learned: the left has an agenda going on here and things are not what they seem.

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to date, there exists no video of the evacuation of the 500 +/- small children and staff 1/4/ mile down the only road in/out. hundreds of camera phones on site but no real evac pix. there are some pix from the local rag claiming to be of the evac shown by the press, but these pix have been shown to be bogus. they were clipped from larger pix and the larger pix show parents standing around in shirt sleeves waiting for their kids to finish rehearsing. it was in the mid 20's the night before. I checked.

then there are the law suits, or should I say the lack of same? even w/ the 20 small (5-6 yo) children left bleeding on that cold floor for over an hour, no law suits against any of the actors have been filed. the only law suits have been filed trying to keep people quiet who question any of this. one college prof in fla. was actually fired for publically questioning it. I've heard, as is expected in this country, columbine had dozens of lawsuits, against anybody and everybody involved.

like I said, the weirdness runs deep in this one obiwon.

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