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Virginia Tech shooting

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That's really, really unsettling. I wonder to myself why people just snap like they do, and in the case of the shooter, it was apparently due to an argument with his girlfriend. A pathetic man committed this, and it's a terrible thing.
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Goddamnit......

...and seriously, Jack Thompson can go right ahead and shut the hell up.

Hey look, a bear!

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Don't blame it on video games, blame it on the world-

It seems more and more people these days are waking up in the morning and just saying "Fuck It."
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I blame those awful Internets

Hey look, a bear!

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I am sure we all saw the video game thing coming. It was inevitable. This type of thing has been going on in America for a while. You don't have this sort of thing so much in other countries, even ones that can get access to guns, so you can't blame it on guns either. Americans also seem more prone to offing themselves. I don't think it is a world problem. I think it relates more too the highly stressful atmosphere we make for ourselves in America. Our culture is a fast paced and extremely stress filled one.

I would also be inclined to say that our lacking of ability to take responsibility for our own actions and behaviors is another major contributor. After all, it wasn't the poor saps fault, it was the fact that his mommy and daddy let him play Doom when he was a kid. Or because his mom spanked him from time to time. Surely it is the parents fault. If he was white, then it was because he was an angry white guy. If he was black, well then it is because of the whites that he did this. If he was gay, then of course it was the fault of the religious bigots that liter the world with their fifthy, worthless carcasses.

Can't we just take responsibility for our own actions? Maybe the got went bezerk not because of id software, but because there was something terribly wrong. Though I know I am wrong. If the experts says Doom made him do it, then Doom it was.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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^the truest of statements. I'm sure every journalist on the planet is flipping through his documented past looking for a reason. He's dead now and we'll never know EXACTLY why he did it. People sometimes just snap and it's got nothing to do with his parents, video games, movies or even his girlfriend. He did an incredibly selfish, unnecessary, goddamn disrespectful and inhumane thing to people that didn't deserve it.

I only mention his girlfriend because I heard an unconfirmed report that said something along the lines of a fight with her. If that turns out to be true, then it will only be his very own ass to blame. When they find concrete evidence that says he went that route with his obvious anger because GTA/Doom/24/whatever made it look cool...THEN i'll accept that this particular incident happened because of video games or violent entertainment.

But that won't happen so....let's call the guy a complete douche and remember his victims. I won't ever show remorse for him no matter what finally comes out because nothing that happened to him can come near to what he did to all those people.

Hey look, a bear!

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Maybe the factors of parents, violent video games, and/or girl problems helped influence this person's decision to do that. After all, they can provide quite a lot of stress. But now that I think about it, he's not the only person who's ever had to do with less than supportive parents, and who partakes in violent video games, or has had a girl break his heart. Hell, I've been through all three of those... in fact, I've been playing GTA3 a lot lately. And I have to say that I find it quite a stress reliever for my polygon character to kill a bunch of other polygon people in all manner of gruesome ways. I've had more than my fair share of unpleasant encounters with my parents. I became emotionally distraught in my teen years over girls who hurt me. I've had plenty of fights with my girlfriend. Yet I haven't, nor do I ever see myself, taking the life of any human being because of my own personal problems or my choice of hobbies. If my playing violent video games caused me to kill people in real life, maybe it would stem from my wiring being already screwed up, and I was a messed-up sociopath, a person devoid of any sympathetic connection with other human beings who had no respect for life, and not because I saw it on a video game. The point is, I'm sure lots of people including many people at this boards, can also use the descriptions I said at the beginning of my post to describe themselves as well, yet none of us will likely commit the heinous acts people like Jack Thompson think we will. And that's because we possess the ability to make choices, to weigh the difference between right and wrong, and to come to a decision based on that, not because our choices are determined for us by works of fiction or personal circumstances. As everyone else has said, a person makes a choice to do something. A gun doesn't force someone to kill people. Grand Theft Auto doesn't force someone to kill people. A girlfriend doesn't force someone to kill people. Hell, what most people consider the most innocuous thing could be someone's supposed impetus for killing someone else. Do we ban every object, every thought out of fear that maybe someone will use it as an excuse to commit acts of violence? Or do we accept that maybe the person who fires the gun is responsible, and not pass the buck because it's easier?

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Originally posted by: sean wookie
Jack Thompson is already blaming this on video games here.


As usual a dumbass who doesn't know what the killer motivation was conclude its the fault of video games.
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I think we should ban ropes. They are, after all, a large factor in suicides. Just having one around makes me think continuously of roping something. Plus, they could make poeple think of a time whenever people were hung on the city square and how inhumane our culture used to be becuase murderers were put to death immeditaly, thus saving thousands of dollars. They are so damn accesable, you can walk into any Wal-Mart in America and buy a rope, plus they don't even card you! So any 10 year old with afew bucks could own a deadly rope. Sure, sure, it may look like a little innocent twine, but in the hands of the right individual, it could be a non-stoppable killing device. Think of all the murders, suicides, tortures, hangings, accidental deaths, and broken limbs that have been caused by rope. everyone gather with me and we'll fight to ban rope!

NO MORE ROPE! NO MORE ROPE!

On a serious note, this is terrible and should not have happened. However, that guy did the best thing by blowing his head off. It sure saved us millions upon millions of dollars to prosecute him and countless hours of the media cashing in on the event of the trial. Terrible those people died.
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That is just absolutely egregious and shameful of him to use this terrible tragedy as his platform for his little pitiful agenda against videogames... what an ass hole...

I'll pray the families of those lost can get through this....
He big in nothing important in good elephant.

"Miss you, I will, Original Trilogy..."

"Your midichlorians are weak, Old man." -Darth Vader 2007 super deluxe extra special dipped in chocolate sauce edition.

http://prequelsstink.ytmnd.com/
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I'm guessing he was on some kind of mind-altering drug. Every other recent case of this type has. The use of drugs to supposedly cure people's minds is out of control in this country. Self discipline and virtuous behavior now take a back seat to our physical pleasure and bloated self esteem.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

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No Tiptup, your wrong. It is video games! Mind altering drug are good for you.

Ferris, that was good post. I really think we should start carding for ropes. They are just too easy to get. I mean, we even pass them off as children's toy under the guise of "jump rope". Yeah right! It is still a rope! Like adding "jump" to the front of it suddenly makes it a toy. Please.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Not to make too much light of this, but there's rumor circling around here that Osama was a big fan of Rainbow Six...
He big in nothing important in good elephant.

"Miss you, I will, Original Trilogy..."

"Your midichlorians are weak, Old man." -Darth Vader 2007 super deluxe extra special dipped in chocolate sauce edition.

http://prequelsstink.ytmnd.com/
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Let's not make a mockery of this thing. The only thing worthy of ridicule right now is the press, who is trying to make this somehow the fault of the administration, as if anything could be done to lock down an emergency situation that nobody knew wasn't over yet. Fucking jackals at CNN and NBC especially need to be run out of Blacksburg on a rail for their damned insinuations. Armchair quarterbacks indeed.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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Originally posted by: JarHead413
Goddamnit......

...and seriously, Jack Thompson can go right ahead and shut the hell up.


Amen to that. I'd love to see the look on his face were it discovered that the man who did this had never touched a video game in his life.

4

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He was young and Korean so I wouldn't be surprised if he played Starcraft or Counter Strike.

I'm guessing he planned and trained to a very large extent maybe for months. Judging that he only had 2 hand guns.
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Originally posted by: sean wookie
He was young and Korean so I wouldn't be surprised if he played Starcraft or Counter Strike.

I'm guessing he planned and trained to a very large extent maybe for months. Judging that he only had 2 hand guns.


Maybe not. They found a receipt for the guns. They were purchased in March. Two guns that hold 10 rounds each (federal hi-cap mag ban) gives him 20 bullets. He may have (very likely) reloaded between the first shooting and the second. It's also likely that he had at least 2 extra clips for each gun (kinda hard to kill 32 students with only 20 bullets, unless some of those bullets went through multiple people).

Regarding the lockdown, I'm kind of torn. Sure, maybe they didn't realize he was still on the loose. But here's a question. Two students were first killed. They shutdown that building and assumed the situation was under control (based on what I don't know). Maybe they looked through that building, found no one, and assumed the gunman had left the campus. In that case, there's still the possibility of a gunman on the loose. It's also possible that they had started to look through the building, but hadn't completed the search yet. Either way, IMO, a gunman was on the loose. They did send out emails to students telling them to stay in their rooms. Would it not have been better to sound some kind of alarm? I know if I was in a situation like this, email is the last tool I would consider using. There must be some kind of automated system that can dial all the dorm rooms. Failing that, send administration people out to the separate buildings to start notifying students. Send an email as well, but don't let that be the only tool you use. It's been reported that several students were walking between classes at the time the emails were sent. That means they weren't at a computer and couldn't receive email.

I'm not saying the administration didn't try to warn students, I'm saying that I don't think they tried hard enough. Of course, I don't believe they should be fired either. They made a mistake. They need to learn from it and put systems in place (assuming systems aren't there already) to inform large numbers of students quickly and easily.
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Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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and by "they" you mean every campus in the country right? Cuz that's what I think.

Hey look, a bear!

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The medical examiner said each victim had no less than three bullets in them. Even the survivors.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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I'm not sure what we're expecting the campus officials to have done at the time. This is a university, not a high school, where you have one or two buildings with a linking PA system. This is a university, with thousands of students spread over hundreds of acres and dozens of buildings. I'm not sure if there is a better way to inform the entire student and faculty body of danger than e-mail.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
I'm not sure what we're expecting the campus officials to have done at the time. This is a university, not a high school, where you have one or two buildings with a linking PA system. This is a university, with thousands of students spread over hundreds of acres and dozens of buildings. I'm not sure if there is a better way to inform the entire student and faculty body of danger than e-mail.

I heard something about text messaging.

Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
The medical examiner said each victim had no less than three bullets in them. Even the survivors.


Thats at least 150 bullets. How many bullets in a clip?
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Originally posted by: JarHead413
and by "they" you mean every campus in the country right? Cuz that's what I think.


I referred to lots of "theys" in my post. One of the theys would be police detectives (finding the receipt). The other they I'm assuming is the one you're referring to. I'm not sure what you're trying to say though. Does every campus in the country have some kind of system to notify students? No, they don't. Are other schools implementing something in the wake of this? Yes, they are. UCLA is updating their systems (saw it on the news this morning). I'm sure other students are doing something similar.

Yes, it's a large campus. That doesn't mean there isn't technology available to have a campus wide PA system or even some kind of general alarm.

Regarding text messaging, from what I've heard and read, it was the students texting each other. This seems to have had a far better effect than the emails the administration sent to all the students. Texting, IMing, picture, and video phones all played a much larger role than the emails seemed to have. Perhaps schools can require students to register their mobile phone numbers with the main office (or at least make it optional). If there's an emergency, a system wide message can be sent to all the phones explaining what's going on and where to go/what to do. That may not work but it's definitely an option to consider.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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Originally posted by: sean wookie
Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
I'm not sure what we're expecting the campus officials to have done at the time. This is a university, not a high school, where you have one or two buildings with a linking PA system. This is a university, with thousands of students spread over hundreds of acres and dozens of buildings. I'm not sure if there is a better way to inform the entire student and faculty body of danger than e-mail.

I heard something about text messaging.

Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
The medical examiner said each victim had no less than three bullets in them. Even the survivors.


Thats at least 150 bullets. How many bullets in a clip?


Generally speaking only 10 due to the Federal High Capacity magazine ban from several years ago. Scratch that. I just checked Wikipedia. That ban expired in 2004. In that case, without knowing the exact model of the guns, I'd go with the high end. A Glock 19 (9mm) has a 15 round capacity. A Glock 18 can use a high capacity magazine that carries 33 rounds, but I doubt he had one of these. The magazine is gigantic and doesn't look like it could easily be hidden. As for a 22, those can have as many as 18 rounds. So the two guns combined along with 2 clips for each weapon to reload with could have killed 33 people.

How many were wounded?
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.