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Shooting at University of Georgia

I would venture to guess that in millions of years, human beings may yet find a means of stopping 'senseless violence'. They may at least come close to snuffing it out.

The worldwide scourge of human slavery ended in no time flat. Erratic, civilian violence could theoretically become extinct once our minds evolve past the hind-brain, ancient instincts.

Or (in a less optimistic scenario) a government could implant humans with technologies that could stop human-to-human violence. It isn't out of the realm of possibility. Few things are.

I'm generally an optimist, but what you state is almost surely impossible. I find it somewhat disturbing that people today still equate an "evolved" brain with some sort of peaceful utopia, as violence is one of the driving forces of natural selection. Even if humanity survives in it's current form for another "millions of years", we'll still be animals. We always will be animals, except in your last scenario, in which we will stop being anything but things.
 
Why is it that every year around Columbine's anniversary, everyone feels the need to start gunning students down?

This is just sad... My thoughts are with the families.
 
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I would venture to guess that in millions of years, human beings may yet find a means of stopping 'senseless violence'. They may at least come close to snuffing it out.

The worldwide scourge of human slavery ended in no time flat. Erratic, civilian violence could theoretically become extinct once our minds evolve past the hind-brain, ancient instincts.

Or (in a less optimistic scenario) a government could implant humans with technologies that could stop human-to-human violence. It isn't out of the realm of possibility. Few things are.
:funny: You think slavery doesn't exist now? It happens, but it's just illegal in many countries.

We're still animals, but we now use excuses other than "food" and "mates" and "sheer survival" when it comes to killing our own. Or maybe with intelligence comes mental illness.
 
Of course there's still slavery and human trafficking. But it is no longer a global scourge. When it was no longer accepted as a 'necessary evil', it began to decline.

I'm not saying humans can be perfect... But there are things we must get better at if we're going to make it in the universe. If we can't help from killing one another, what can we do?

I'm naive, perhaps. It is soul-crushing, though, to think that these things will always happen. :csad:
To be fair, I think truly evil, rational people are very rare. More often than not, people who do these kinds of things are mentally ill and in no shape to make any sort of rational decisions. Like in the most recent Columbine book that came out, the author claims that Eric Harris was an utter psychopath and nothing could have swayed him from what he meant to do. Dylan Klebold was a made killer, having hung around Harris and influenced by him, and those are the kinds of people that can be helped.

And you have more lofty, far-reaching goals for humanity than I do. :funny: I doubt the universe even cares if we exist. We're not even a blip in the big scheme of things. But that comes back to the same idea - we're all we have, so why not be good to each other?
 
Holeman said Zinkhan’s two young children were at the lunch but neither was a witness.
I kind of feel sorry for the media whirlwind that his kids will probably have to endure until the next shocking story replaces this one. We don't know what Zinkhan was arguing about with the other person prior to the shooting, but I'm guessing that this was a dispute that had been at the boiling point for some time.
 
Why is it that every year around Columbine's anniversary, everyone feels the need to start gunning students down?

This is just sad... My thoughts are with the families.

No where in that article does it say that it was students. It may have just been a crazy Teacher.

I really dont see this as news worthy. People literally get shot all the time. since this thread has been open. I gaurantee more people have been shot & killed than 3 people.
 
Yes, but natural selection among human beings is no longer driven by who is the most skillful hunter. Violence plays a much smaller role in our lives than it once did. Violent impulses may yet diminish over time.

No, we don't live and die based on our hunting skills anymore. To paraphrase Liam Neeson in Batman Begins, we've found a new weapon: economics. Sure, economic struggles are not violent in the literal sense, but it is just as aggressive as a hungry wolf. That aggression is what got humanity where it is today, and that is what keeps us here, and as long as that aggression exists, so will be those who will express it in violence.
 
Indeed. I do love humanity. For all our faults, we have the ability to contemplate the universe. As small and meaningless as we are, we have the capacity to at least know we are small are meaningless. But that, in itself, is a triumph.

Carl Sagan said it best. "Humans are a way for the universe to know itself".

*End of digression* *Back on topic*

Unless, of course, we are not the only species with that ability, and that is something we may never know for sure.
 
No where in that article does it say that it was students. It may have just been a crazy Teacher.

I really dont see this as news worthy. People literally get shot all the time. since this thread has been open. I gaurantee more people have been shot & killed than 3 people.

There's always one of these guys.

Regardless of who else is getting killed, a TEACHER is the one pulling the trigger. You know, the one we trust with young peoples' lives and futures. THAT is what worries me the most about this particular case.
 
No where in that article does it say that it was students. It may have just been a crazy Teacher.

I really dont see this as news worthy. People literally get shot all the time. since this thread has been open. I gaurantee more people have been shot & killed than 3 people.
People do get shot all the time, but it's all about context. It's not that surprising that there are gang-related shootings every day, because that's how that world deals with its problems. They shoot them to death.

For a professor at a major university to do it...that's not how such people deal with their problems!
 
I am just saying this is a horrible tragedy. But I just don't really get why this is breaking news worthy. To me it seems like fear mongering. For instance these have not been confirmed to be college students.

I would bet that it had to do with his wife, or family or something. Nothing to do with the College at all.
 
I am just saying this is a horrible tragedy. But I just don't really get why this is breaking news worthy. To me it seems like fear mongering. For instance these have not been confirmed to be college students.

I would bet that it had to do with his wife, or family or something. Nothing to do with the College at all.

What sounds more terrifying? Your gangster friend getting shot in a drug deal, or your teacher shooting people- possibly your classmates- down?

OF COURSE the media would get on top of this.
 
Did they catch the guy yet?
 
I, honestly think these shootings will never stop. It's sad but true. Columbine started a freakin trail of shootings to come. Terrible.
 
Great. Bad enough this type of thing happens, now the Jack Thompson wannbes will be out in force.
 
I, honestly think these shootings will never stop. It's sad but true. Columbine started a freakin trail of shootings to come. Terrible.

Not only that, but the bigger and more drawn out this shooting gets, the more likely copycat shooters will appear in the next couple of months, and the their potential to be even more deadly rises by a LARGE margin.
 
^^ Very true, I mean, out of all the shootings, the things Harris and Klebold did have had the most impact. SPeaking of copy cats, did you hear about how back in November of '07, 3 kids were planning on shooting up their school togeather in a Columbine like style. It was supposed to happen in April of 2010. It's just crazy.
 
They will most likely find this guy with a bullet in his head somewhere.

Glad I went to Georgia Tech now instead of UGA.
 
This sort of thing is now so random it could happen anywhere. :(
 
What makes me sort of...well.......uncomfortable is that it can happen at any time. You can turn on the news and see hundereds of kids sprinting out of a school.
 

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