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[wolflady26]

So yesterday in Germany, we had another Columbine-style shooting. An "Amoklaufer" as they say here, which would translate as a running-amok-er, or so. This one managed to kill 16 people, which included several students at a former school, a couple of teachers, and a couple of random people that he killed as he escaped. The police finally caught up

Comments

[stephanietberry]

I listened to a talk once on TED (Technology-Entertainment-Design...an elite conference, but they post the presentations online, pretty inspiring stuff), and I don't remember the name of the guy, but he basically said the same thing about people performing heinous acts for recognition. Maybe recognition isn't even the word he used, but isn't that what it is? A desire to be seen, to be recognized, even if--in terrible desperation--it's because of a horrible act.

It's such a terrible tragedy, and of course the media will come up with their pop culture answers and explanations. But in the end, all I can think is that there must be a terrible vaccuum of love in such a person's life. And though they may have died with their name known, there's nothing but anguish left in the wake of their living. It just reiterates to me how important it is to love people, to see them, acknowledge them.

[wolflady26]

Yes that, exactly. If we really want to do something about these kinds of deaths, we need to ensure that people have hope for a future in which they mean something. It's just that that's not so easy to achieve as a ban on games.

[dream_labyrinth]

It was mean and sarcastic in view of the tragedy, but my first reaction to the news was "Well, let's hope he played Counterstrike or all their theories will go down the drain".

So far, I haven't yet heard the usual cries this time around, except for stricter arms laws, of course. (People don't seem to realise that even now it's illegal to take a gun into your school and shoot people, stricter laws aren't going to change the fact that people still break them.)