Current Events IV: All The News That Fits

[ratscabies]

So...Louis Dejoy moonlighting as head of Suez Canal?

[Neurochick]

Mar 11, 2005 14:51:31 GMT -4 kostgard said:

Except we sit here and watch other countries do something about it. New Zealand had a horrible mass shooting, and everyone put on their grown-up panties and did something about it and about a month later assault rifles were banned. But there’s just nothing we can do about it here.

I do not know what the hell is wrong with this country. I mean there are white males in NZ, so it can't be just that. What is wrong with Americans? That's the question. What is wrong in America that people feel they need these weapons?

[petitesuite]

Well in NZ they can't get those weapons, I think that was part of kostgard's point. There is zero doubt in my mind that men the world over feel a scary level of entitlement to just about anything you can think of and think that violence is a proportionate response to not having those things/people. I don't think American white men are particularly special except, again, for the weapons they have access to.

[believeland]

To neurochick’s point, why were the people of New Zealand and its legislature willing to do something about it and the United States thinks “thoughts and prayers” is the proper response?

[gremlin45]

Mar 23, 2021 12:37:10 GMT -4 Ladybug said:

Here's a list of 2021 mass shootings in the US. Most of us haven't seen coverage of these shootings unless it was local.

I was looking up mass shootings in the US yesterday and this site claims:

As of March 17, there were two mass shootings in the United States in 2021. This is compared to one mass shooting in 1982, one in 2000, and 12 mass shootings in 2018.

I just sat there and boggled at the site. I'd love to know what criteria they were using because apparently most mass shootings in the US aren't included in their statistics.

[kostgard]

Mar 25, 2021 0:41:41 GMT -4 believeland said:

To neurochick’s point, why were the people of New Zealand and its legislature willing to do something about it and the United States thinks “thoughts and prayers” is the proper response?

My questions on this are “Does New Zealand have an equivalent of the NRA?” And “Does New Zealand have an equivalent of Fox News?”

Most Americans want better background checks and more “common sense” gun laws. But the NRA and Fox News push hard against that, and they dictate what the GOP does.

[biondetta]

Lobbying isn't really legal in a lot of countries. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there's plenty going on behind the scenes, but there isn't a whole legal industry. That tends to shock a lot of Europeans when they realize the extent of the official lobbying in the US, for better or worse.

[batmom]

My questions on this are “Does New Zealand have an equivalent of the NRA?” And “Does New Zealand have an equivalent of Fox News?”

this is true. Both Canada and New Zealand are too small to justify the investment of these kinds (and Canada insisted that Fox be called entertainment, not news) and it does appear to be tied to our lower degree of extremism. It was sobering to realize that it was not due to us being more sensible.

[Wol]

Self appointed Captain of Team Doomed here with my version of "thoughts and prayers": if nothing changed after Sandy Hook, it never will. We have to have this pearl-clutching performance art after every one of these mass murders that something has to change but if dead kindergartners didn't sway anybody then nothing will. YMMV, of course.

I can twist my personal opinions into pretzels. I can understand wanting a handgun for personal protection (even though statistically they are used on friends and family rather than bogeyman intruders, but I digress). I can understand farmers needing rifles to protect livestock. But keeping assault weapons legal using the "well regulated militia" language is just sick.

[Deleted]

Mar 25, 2021 17:26:48 GMT -4 Wol said:

Self appointed Captain of Team Doomed here with my version of "thoughts and prayers": if nothing changed after Sandy Hook, it never will. We have to have this pearl-clutching performance art after every one of these mass murders that something has to change but if dead kindergartners didn't sway anybody then nothing will. YMMV, of course.

That's been my opinion ever since Sandy Hook. It was doubly confirmed after a Republican Congressman got shot and he didn't even consider changing his mind about gun laws.

I used to get really upset and cry everytime a mass shooting happened, but I've become so numb to it I can't muster any feeling stronger than disappointment.