response to post (which has now been deleted as off topic) in ADIML

[jennipurrrrrrrr]

I wanted to post this (publicly) in my own journal just in case any of these people would think to check and see what my response was.

My comment:Not to try to diminish what has happened in Virginia, but I find it interesting that everyone is so shell-shocked over this when things like the genocide in Darfur have been happening for the last few

Comments

[schwaschwa]

When people are sentitized by events more close to home, hitting people they don't expect to be hit (college students not living in a war zone or unstable country) it may make them more aware of the pain of others anyway, such as in events occurring across the world, and humanize those disasters for them? But I don't think the comparison, make directly, will go over well for a lot of people; not necessarily because it isn't a fair point, but perhaps because they might feel it trivializes this loss of life and their pain.

For me the question that arises in this particular case is how a man who is clearly mentally unstable can get his hands on weapons. More avenues for people who see warning signs in unstable individuals need to be developed, and more help in getting treatment for the mentally ill, violent or not.

[jennipurrrrrrrr]

That's one of the unfortunate things - guns are readily available to pretty much anyone who takes it into their heads to go looking for one. A lot of people can die at the barrel of the right gun. :(