----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2001 10:24 AM
Subject: RE: Science has a new Martyr
> From:"Horn, John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> <<I don't buy this. If the guy had had a gun, he would have probably
killed more than 8 kids. If he had automatic weapons, he would have killed
a whole
> lot more than 8 kids. And he probably wouldn't have been stopped by a
teacher and a principal.>>
>
> Good point. Even with an entirely legal (in the US) 9mm semiautomatic
pistol with a 15-round clip, and one extra clip, he'd have 30 shots. I think
he stabbed kids in four different classrooms, so at 20 kids per classroom
(guess based on US class sizes), he had at least 80 potential targets for
his 30 shots.
>
> Not all of them would have been fatal (or even hit at all), but it's
difficult to imagine that he wouldn't have killed more than eight.
>
> And that's just with one pistol with one reload.
Not that I wish to be argumentative, but it seems to me that one of the
basic assumptions in this discussion is questionable.
As I see it that assumption is "there are crazy people out there or people
with mental health issues and there is nothing that can be done about that".
I disagree. This is actually a male socialisation issue. Men are given a
myth about what it means to be a man by our mass culture (TV, movies and
such) that is reinforced during interactions with male family members and
peers. We are constantly reminded that manhood is mostly about
objectification of women and being in control, when in fact these ideas are
the exact opposite of what *society* requires of men.
I propose that these perpetrators are in an odd way actually victims of the
"Macho Ethic" meme, in that they sense their control of their lives
faltering and are desperate to regain control.
This is cureable. Every thursday night I participate in a mens group
dedicated to the prevention of family violence (even though it actually has
a wider scope in utilisation). This program actually works. I see men change
quite a bit over the course of 18 weeks. I get a lot of satisfaction
volunteering my time this way, but I also learn a lot too.
The idea is to enable men to identify with the objects of their abuse and
anticipate the results of their actions while subtly educating them to the
falsehoods of male myths. Most men are surprisingly unaware of their *own*
part in disputes or even what it is they happen to be feeling at a
particular moment. So some training in self awareness is also a part of the
program.
If there were some way to get a program like this integrated into every mans
education, it could prevent a lot of violence before it occurred.
xponent
rob
