US Violence Culture: Fifth school shooting in a week
 
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:57:31 -0600 (CST)



Fifth school shooting in a week

Mira Oberman

February 16, 2008 12:00am

A FORMER student armed with a shotgun and two handguns opened fire in
a lecture hall at an Illinois university, killing five and injuring 16
others before killing himself.

It was the fifth US school shooting in a week

..

The massacre follows school shootings in Ohio, Louisiana, Tennessee
and California that left five dead.

It comes 10 months after 32 students and staff were shot down by a
mentally disturbed student at Virginia Tech University in the
deadliest massacre ever at a US school. 

..

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23220774-663,00.html

Something is very wrong in the U.S., and it is not limited to the
disturbed individuals who committed these acts -- it is systemic.

http://www.cnvc.org/bookchap.htm

http://www.nonviolenceworks.com/
Is it possible that the shooting of young Amish girls touched us
because of the innocence and pacifism of the community? Did the
killing of the Wisconsin principal draw more attention because any of
our children could have been in that school? Is the slight increase in
public interest in more programs and policies to curb gun violence due
to a growing concern about our own protection? Might we have worked
harder to stem urban violence in the past if we had a greater sense of
the common good and an ability to think of the protection of others
and not only of ourselves?

One of the interesting things about the recent suburban and rural
spikes in violence is that they are neither drug nor gang
related. What we are actually witnessing in urban, suburban, and rural
areas is an increase in gun violence as a means of settling disputes,
whether interpersonal or familial, whether with your past or with your
principal. Contemporary culture contains an uneasy support for the
violent resolution of conflict, whether the feud is between
individuals, families, or little league parents. Human dignity is
supposedly won through victory in these conflicts, whatever the
result.

http://www.cpjustice.org/stories/storyReader$1419

http://vcnv.org/

http://www.csgv.org/site/c.muLYJ7MMKrH/b.2607867/

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STILL FEELING LIKE THE MAINSTREAM U.S. CORPORATE MEDIA
IS GIVING A FULL HONEST PICTURE OF WHAT'S GOING ON?
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