11 December 2016

After You Watch The Video, Let's Chat in the Comments


I don't want to give away what happens but I'd like to chat a bit in the comments after you watch it, ok?  Thanks.

8 comments:

  1. I was getting outraged through the whole thing like, aside from writing on the desk, there was nothing wrong with Evan's behaviour... seemed normal.

    I did notice the kid pointing the finger gun at the kid in front of him but thought not too much of it. After the entire video, then you see the context.

    I don't think most mass shooters are going to be quite this obvious though, do you? Or maybe I know little about mass shooters.

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  2. I have to admit I noticed no one but Evan. And no one else noticed the shoot planner either, people are just too absorbed in themselves and if one does notice another looking at guns online or reading about them, wouldn't that someone just assume an interest in guns? Not a massacre in the making? The faces of killers or potential killers aren't always obvious, they look just like anyone else usually.

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    Replies
    1. I would think also. But he also displayed anti-social behaviour (flipping off that girl, making the gun motion, posting stuff online) and was bullied.

      It would bear a question or two but I'm also not sure I would know what to do either.

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    2. Out here there's those same anti social behaviour actions, but the kids don't bring guns to school and let loose. I guess they have other methods, self-harming, or vandalism, suicides even, although probably there's a few who aren't so far gone and actively seek help or have help offered if family and close friends notice their depression.

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  3. For me, this is a more emotional/short story version of the Awareness Test video from a few years ago. I think the theory is that once you know what to look for it'll be as obvious that a kid is planning to do a mass shooting. I'm not yet convinced. I'd have to see this actually play out in real life -- like, people actually taking note and doing something positive such that the student later admits he was going to shoot up the school and decided against it. Otherwise, I have a pessimistic view: I don't think it's that obvious/that preventable in the way suggested in the video. It smacks of our current "social media activism" milieu where "awareness" = "fixed" ... having worked with high school/college-aged kids for over a decade, I can tell you that awareness is only the first tiny-est of steps. Important, yes, but hardly part of the actual solution ... more like the catalyst toward finding a solution. So, perhaps, this video is right: We must start by looking if we want to find a solution... which may be what people are resonating with when they share this video.

    ~Luke

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    1. The first time I saw this I could NOT believe how I missed it!!

      But you're right: people will look back on school shooters and wonder how they missed it. At the same time, I do wonder if autistic children like mine will be falsely labelled as they are not friendly in the same way. But they're not the disaffected "lone wolves" either, yk? :)

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    2. Right. And this is where actually getting into life with people is so essential. I imagine it would be unhelpful for someone to "report" a kid every time they did not exhibit "normal" behaviors. ...such "awareness" is actually damaging because it focuses on seeing "the signs" without addressing the person. Which is why the call should be to keep an eye out for people in need of love and grace (that'd be all of us) and to work to extend that on an ongoing basis. Notice that people are hurting and offer healing.

      ...of course, we're all trained to pretend like we're not broken. Indeed, if we let down our guard, we're likely to be punished for not having stuff together. ...which pushes kids toward destructive interactions with others (be it gangs or violence or whatever) not to mention, as pointed out above, the self-harming options that also plague so many of my friends.

      It's a mess out there. How we need the love of Christ!

      ~Luke

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    3. Yep... and then, too, often the people one would report TO don't know what they are doing.

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Non-troll comments always welcome! :)

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