Campus shooting at Northern Illinois University

[StrainedEyes]

no. those events weren't connected. but it shows how dark high school years can be. I was already on my own downward spiral back then and caught up in my own world to realize the signs at the time and later felt guilty about it. thinking if I had paid more attention it never would have went to that.

and it wasn't a room, he want to a small diner and yelled it- police arrived and everything.

Did he do anything to threaten his life? Did he have a knife or anything? Or was he just standing there yelling.

Suicide or Shooting up a school, either way it's a cowardly and weak way to deal with problems everybody goes through.

 

[StrainedEyes]

tired of the "everything's great, no problems at all" high school movies, when in fact high school is a teenage wasteland.

Oh give me a break. Did you have a house to go home to? Did you have enough food? Did you live through it? Do you have any idea how bad people actually have it? Any idea at all?

Please, I'd love to hear some of the things people did to you that were so awful.

 

[Troubled_Josh]

my friend ran to a diner with a knife, pressing it up against himself threatening to commit suicide. cops came. everything. whole nine yards.

suicide attempt failed, thank god. but there are multiple teenage suicides.

another incident was going to a friend's of the family's house. their son threatened my sister with a knife. our parents were out. I locked my sister in the bathroom, grabbed another knife and threatened him to back down. very tense. eventually he stops. this is all in "disturbia", by the way.

and many teenagers, from looking online, have thought about shooting up the school- fought with those demons- and overcame them. which is kind of showing how things can eventually get better and those having those thoughts are not alone (most feel like they are due to being singled out).

as I said- TEENAGE WASTELAND. That's the whole theme of it. Get away from the "yeah, life is grand" view and go with the gritty aspect that every high school student knows. It's dangerous to make a film like that (Charlie Bartlett even had difficulty getting made because it wasn't the American Pie view of things). But, it's a lot more relatable and there are various characters throughout the film that people will be able to relate to at certain moments in their life. And that's the whole goal: "you're not alone, we all go through teenage wasteland."

and don't want to get into the full story here. and I know my life isn't as bad as some/many, that's not the point- the point is to further the point of "you're not alone, everyone goes through it." Getting away from the fantasy and going into the school system and teenage years we all know and experienced.

so this thing in no way is a "look how horrible my life was" because I know it obviously wasn't as horrible as some stories out there. The point is to stress "we ALL go through it."

 

[StrainedEyes]

I'm willing to bet that none of these kids thought about shooting up a school, until Columbine. Then they were like "Hey, that's a swell idea"

Once again, give me a break. Teenagers these days have so many made up issues it's not even funny. Millions of people were picked on and had awful school experiences. It's only very recently that those people are resorting to "Hey, instead of dealing with my problem and not going bat-**** crazy, I'll just go and kill everyone I can and then myself, problem solved."

We all go through being picked on, and alone and depressed. Again, it's part of the teenage experience.

 

[Troubled_Josh]

Teenagers these days have so many made up issues it's not even funny. Millions of people were picked on and had awful school experiences.

And if you read my whole post that is the key message of the film. Showing the gritty true high school instead of the "high school is the best years of your life" view point. Because a lot view it as the prison with invisible bars. Everyone is caught up in the teenage wasteland and don't recognize that others are suffering around them as much or even more so until afterwards. The key of the film is that everyone goes through it, that's also why there are multiple stories in the film.

As I said before this is NOT a "oh look at me" thing," it's a "you're not alone" thing.

And no, they don't think "that's a swell idea" they are mortally terrified about having those thoughts and ask what's wrong with them for thinking that way. Nothing's swell about thinking it.

 

[StrainedEyes]

And if you read my whole post that is the key message of the film. Showing the gritty true high school instead of the "high school is the best years of your life" view point. Because a lot view it as the prison with invisible bars. Everyone is caught up in the teenage wasteland and don't recognize that others are suffering around them as much or even more so until afterwards. The key of the film is that everyone goes through it, that's also why there are multiple stories in the film.

That's all fine and well, Feel free to write a story about a bunch of high school kids and their problems, it's not like it hasn't been done before. We all go through that.
But there's no reason to have them think about shooting up the school. Even if that's what happened to you. Believe it or not, there aren't that many people who want to slaughter innocent people to make them feel better. I don't care what websites you've been to.

They are having these thoughts, because they don't deal with their emotions correctly and are being influenced by these other kids who solve their problems with killing. It's not some kind of mental epidemic amongst teenagers these days, it's lack of interest in what's right and wrong amongst a select few.

 

[Troubled_Josh]

As I said one of the characters in it is autobiographical, I thought that way so it's going in there as my part of the character thinking that way during a point of the film. Nothing can change that. It's auto-biographical with some events switched around and some heightening of certain things. There's not going to be hyper strong focus on it, no plan or anything ever went into place just a part of who the character is in the third act. so what if not everyone thinks that way, some do- I did- it stays to tell those like me who terrified that they are alone that they're not alone and that life can go on without resorting to the worst choice humanly possible.

 

[StrainedEyes]

As I said one of the characters in it is autobiographical, I thought that way so it's going in there as my part of the character. Nothing can change that. It's auto-biographical with some events switched around and some heightening of certain things.

Well whatever, I don't know what you expect to happen with this screenplay. Especially when you can't even admit it who you are to anonymous people on a message board. Good luck spilling your once homicidal thinking guts to the world.

 

[Tempest19]

so any more news about the event? - jw.

 

[StrainedEyes]

so any more news about the event? - jw.

I think just that 5 people were killed. I doubt much more info will come until tomorrow.

 

[Tempest19]

k. hope the school board tries to find a way to prevent these things from happening. really scary that it went from a once in a while occurence to this seemingly every day event.

 

[StrainedEyes]

k. hope the school board tries to find a way to prevent these things from happening. really scary that it went from a once in a while occurence to this seemingly every day event.

There are ways, but I think schools are still in a state of "That's not going to happen here" This frequent problem so new it's hard to deal with.

 

[Tempest19]

It's not that new, unless you're talking about college shootings (which I think are)??? First one I ever heard of was VT. High School shootings were going on before Columbine and Columbine was just the one that got most media coverage because it was the most shocking one of its time as I remember.

Also think if a "reach out and share" or more active and knowledgeable guidance councilor system was set up (which I think someone actually stated before in some field) instead of a 'zero tolerance' singling out policy could help reduce things. Because, imo, don't know if I'm alone in thinking this way- these kids just need to be heard out and listened to and helped. U help these kids through actually helping them then things could perhaps settle down.

 

[StrainedEyes]

I think it's just really hard. A lot of colleges have good guidance counselors and staff that think about these things, but there's only so much they can do.
I think the problem is a lot of colleges are the size of a small town. There's a lot of people and you will never be able to reach them all.

There would also be so many false alarms. Calling the cops on every kid with violent stories would cause free speech trouble immediately.

I don't think there's much that can be done. Security could be beefed, but there's only so much man power and money available.
I sadly think this is a problem that is here to stay for awhile.

 

[Mr Sparkle]

They shouldn't report these anymore.
It's just someone shooting other people.
It happens more on the street...but you don't see big nation-wide coverage of all the shootings that occur outside of schools or places of business.

They're creating a hysteria.
Here in Seattle, a guy came in and shot the owner of a restaurant and some patrons just last week.
Will it be on CNN?
No.

but, do you agree it's sad and shocking?
don't you think it's sad?
can't we all just agree that good stuff is good and bad stuff is bad.
I mean.
what's the alternative here?

 

[Tempest19]

That's one reason why I don't understand college shootings. These shooters can't really have a target per se because it would be like being angry and walking into a small town shooting people, chances are they're disconnected. Whereas high school is closed off and isn't a town populace.

And don't know about college, but speaking about high school- the LAST thing you want is to strengthen the zero tolerance policy. That should be taken rid of and instead of calling the cops on these kids and having that news spread throughout the school, they should just be taken aside by a teacher or some councilor who can help them, listen to them and just be there for them. As I said the more care you give, rather than isolating these kids as a threat, the more their self-esteem will rise and they will think twice from doing anything to this level. You start seeing them as the problem, they become the problem.

 

[StrainedEyes]

It's just shocking and scary. And it's very sad that this is yet another thing people have to fear, especially if this keeps getting more and more frequent.

Like you said, I have no idea why it's happening in colleges now. College is so laid back and hands off. Highschool you are isolated and trapped there.

It's sad that all of this stuff probably leads back to really stupid reasons, like a failed relationship or stress.

 

[Tempest19]

Yeah. High School was hell for me, then College so far is an amazing and great experience. Plus, for those who do have problems it's easy to transfer. That's why I kind of understand how some kids can get there in high school, but the college shootings frighten me because as far as I can see there is no motive, message, or means to an end involved. Just seems random.

 

[StrainedEyes]

I think if everyone started each day off by listening to Sunshine, Lollipops & Raindbows by Lesley Gore, the world would be a much more peaceful place.
..
..
...
On second thought that might make it worse.

 

[StrainedEyes]

"The rampage was the fourth shooting at a U.S. school in a week. "

That's crazy.

 

[PyroChamber]

I think it's just really hard. A lot of colleges have good guidance counselors and staff that think about these things, but there's only so much they can do.

That's sort of what happened with the Virginia Tech shooter. People tried to reach out to him, from his family to his teachers, but he was so gone that they couldn't get to him.

I find it interesting that some of these shooters say "you did this to me" when at the same time all these people they thought were against them probably weren't even thinking about them, life's too short to care about what someone else is doing. Like there's no specific target, EVERYBODY is guilty in their mind, even if you didn't know them.

 

[chamber-music]

Yeah. High School was hell for me, then College so far is an amazing and great experience. Plus, for those who do have problems it's easy to transfer. That's why I kind of understand how some kids can get there in high school, but the college shootings frighten me because as far as I can see there is no motive, message, or means to an end involved. Just seems random.

Can't you change High Schools in America?

 

[Tempest19]

I'd like for it to be a solo job, because some people *cough* Geo *cough* don't know a word about what they're talking about. Others, who have been certain places in high school know and see how to help these kids, just not enough of them- such as troubled_josh up above- aren't doing enough to really raise their voice about the issue and if they do they're typically too afraid to talk about it beyond online. No offense dude.

 

[GoldenAgeHero]

It's just shocking and scary. And it's very sad that this is yet another thing people have to fear, especially if this keeps getting more and more frequent.

Like you said, I have no idea why it's happening in colleges now. College is so laid back and hands off. Highschool you are isolated and trapped there.

It's sad that all of this stuff probably leads back to really stupid reasons, like a failed relationship or stress.

depends on your major.Engineering is a pain in the ass. I miss the first two years of college,talk about being laid back.

 

[Erzengel]

When I was in college which wasn't that long ago, I would never ever think anything like this could happen. How naive or unobservant I could have been.

School Shootings over the years

I'm stupified here. I had no idea.

Kids have to register there cell phone with Universities now.

Very, very sad.