Mike- That is the way I see it as well. That is what I told the reporter. Sometimes there is not explanation- that's my informed opinion, unfortunately (he wasn't happy). We do know a great deal more about human behavior than in the past. But we are far away from being able to predict and explain such tragedies as this one. Of course, we are still a long way from understanding far more mundane things as well.
I was proud to help a friend by providing the correct answer to a "great whisky" question! On the other hand I'm afraid that, as pointed out by others as well, the public wants an answer and the press are far too willing to provide it (after all they have the same fears and a job to do- sometimes lacking skills of analysis). So, it is the angry young man, colleges can be made safe, we have nothing to fear. . . It isn't all bad/sad though. To paraphrase the Chinese blessing, "May we all have an uninteresting tomorrow!" Tim _______________________________ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor and Chair Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems "What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal." - Albert Pike -----Original Message----- From: Michael Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sun 2/17/2008 8:01 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: not RE: [tips] Two failures - a tangent and a "I wish we didn't believe it" I agree with you Tim. Sometimes there is "no" explanation--at least not one that is fathomable (especially since the shooter is dead). It reminds me of a story. A hunter was hunting polar bear in the north when he got clues that he may have become the hunted. After two or three days of the stress of being hunted by the bear (which polar bears actually do I hear), he fired off all the remaining rounds in his rifle into the air. When he was picked up by his comrades and asked why he did such a stupid thing since the rifle was his only means of defense, he replied: "It seemed like a good idea at the time". I don't want to be flippant at such tradgedies, but I believe that psychology (psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists, etc) doesn't have satisfactory answers for a lot of what goes on in life. After all, we can't really define motivation, personality, or intelligence to name a few! --Mike --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
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