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Laiba Fareed 22020134

"I want to be a professional school shooter"

School shootings have grown in the US over the years but never could have one imagined that an "ordinary" young teen could shoot his school mates and put to death 17 of them, and then have the audacity to escape the scene by camouflaging himself with other students while they were fleeing. While this incident at Stoneman Douglas High School (Florida) had to do with how the shooter Nikolas Cruz was a violent and aggressive individual who took pleasure in causing harm to others and wanted to be a professional school shooter, I feel like there is a deeper connection of this problematic individual psych to the way conflict is in the world and how schools have become a "slaughter house" because of school shootings and terrorist killings happening every time and then no long term action being taken. Wherever conflicts happen in the world, why is attention not paid to schools to protect them? Why are measures not taken to secure them and declare them as emergency/un-attackable zones like hospitals? When we make this mistake in conflict ridden settings like those in Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan, we make the terrorists comfortable to shoot and kill our children and we give them and the rest of the world a licence that yes, maybe schools are just a part of the war like any other place. When this is seen by violent individuals like Nikolas Cruz, they gain this warrant that when terrorists can attack and tear down schools and use weapons openly, why not we go on a "hunt" as well where we can fulfil our desires of gaining pleasure from human suffering in our very own ex-school? I feel when you let one group (the terrorists) cross the walls of schools to attack innocent children, you can't stop any other group or individual as well because somehow, its a mistake of all of us- how we have failed to protect our children and how the only solution that comes to our mind to protect schools is to just shut them down every time we can't solve the problem.

Another interesting observation in the video is how the shooter supported Trump's ideology of Anti-immigration and generally exclusionary hyper-nationalism. Again this reinforces that radical ideas and governments always influence the minds of people and some day or another, these propagators of radical ideas have to bear with the Frankenstein monsters they create for themselves just like Nikolas Cruz!


* Do watch this video! It explains the shooting incident and is reported by ABC News which is considered to be the the most reliable in the US and is in the skews left category of bias.



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7 Kommentare


Usama - 21020262
08. Mai 2021

Thanks for sharing. I feel like this needs to get more attention. One cannot deny that gun control laws in the US play a big role. However, why are these teenagers choosing schools? Why is this particular form of human suffering satisfying for them? Are all attacks racially motivated? Questions like these can lead to the right kind of counselling efforts, which are much needed currently.

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22110032
03. Mai 2021

This was an incredibly interesting read, and it made me wonder about a few things.

Firstly, what are your thoughts on how several schools created terrorist drills and modes of operation, along with hiring armed guards? Sometimes, I wonder if we're stuck between a rock and a hard place. When they started training teachers and students to use guns after the APS attack (which was incredibly irresponsible), it was too much. But when they hire armed guards to protect schools or start terrorist crackdowns, it's not enough, or it results in further far-reaching consequences. For example, it is said even the APS attack was "revenge" on the part of the terrorists after the crackdown on terrorism started.

Secondly, I…

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Antwort an

Yes, these are very important questions that you raised! I feel like the way teachers and students were being taught to use guns was something quite disturbing. A child does not go to school to learn how to protect themselves from an attack and know how to use a gun. A child does not go to school where all the time they feel like their life is at stake and they are responsible to do something about it. These things can have such a psychologically devastating impact on children and I think children are too young to carry so much burden. I remember when our school introduced drills and all this, I saw suffering at a personal level. My academic…

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22100103
02. Mai 2021

A really interesting take on the video. I wish the US media would stop covering up their own citizens and make excuses for them while they openly blame and tarnish the reputation of other minority groups in such incidents. It's interesting to note the labels and the attached connotations they give to their own people versus immigrants/people of colour/ and even various religious groups.

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Really interesting topic! I also think we need to address how media talks about white shooters as "mentally disturbed individuals" while a person of color is reported as a "terrorist" without any thought.

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I just watched the entire video. Thank you for sharing, Laiba. Schools in the United States will always remain under threat as long as the structure underpinning the American society, their political economy, remains fixed. Those who invoke their liberty to purchase guns, those who consider it familial honor to keep guns "as it reminds them of the days when they used to hunt with their dads," and those who earn billions with guns trade, will never allow actual reforms to take place. Also, FBI is not an option: They aren't able to track and identify people as happened in this episode of gun shooting. Further, there are solid reasons on the other side of debate of gun laws, but one…

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