Breaking News - Shooting at Newtown, Connecticut elementary school.

Originally posted by nighthawk1954
Ok...confirmed my buddies neighbor's daughter was killed.

Oh, wow.....so very sorry for that! Nothing we can really say to make anything better, but praying for him and the rest of his family. As a parent, what he's going through is a nightmare.

WHY are we having so many shootings in such a close time period?

I feel extremely depressed over this.

I've been crying off and on all day since the story broke.

It felt like something inside of me was dying.

Then I realized that crying is a sign of life.

And then I was just thankful that I haven't lost my humanity even though I have lost hope.

Truly, I think the crux of the problem is the growing detachment/disassociation that is bound to trend given the rise of mass media and digital communication which has all but dwarfed true, meaningful interaction. We've replaced flesh and blood with gadgets and wifi. Corporations treat us like mindless sycophants worth only what we spend. Sitcoms depict us as one-dimensional, flat, lifeless simpletons ... robbing us of all complexity and nobility. Banks see us as commodities. Our Gov't sees us as a useful idiots at best, a threat by default. Food corporations see us as $$. Big pharma sees us all as sick - mentally, physically, or both. We're dehumanized, divided, depressed ...

... degraded by commercials, ads, tv shows, social media, news agencies, politicians, corporations and on and on.

It's an endless deluge from all directions - "DO THIS, DO THAT", "CONSUME", "CONFORM", "BUY THIS," "SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH YOU - TAKE THIS PILL", "DON'T READ THAT LABEL IDIOT, JUST EAT THE DAMN JUNK FOOD", "THINK THIS, THINK THAT", "FEAR THIS, FEAR THAT",

... SUGGESTION is consuming our field of vision, filling our ears and minds - overwhelming our entire sensory apparatus and retarding our ability to think calmly, critically, and clearly. Too much stimuli, too much information, paralysis by analysis, sensory overload ... and all that jazz.

Treat the human creature like it is a receptacle long enough, to be exploited and discarded - and it will start to feel like trash after a while. What happens to a mind, a person that feels no self-worth or value or significance or sense of purpose? It begins to believe that it along with everyone else is is indeed worthless. Desensitization and demoralization in action.

This is only augmented by other obvious factors: poor diet, psychopharmaceuticals, inert lifestyles, GMOs, pollution, wireless waves, the erosion of the family unit, hysterical news agencies instilling fear into everyone, etc., etc.

And how do we react? We play the victim - again and again and again. We don't rise. We don't fight. We don't reclaim our dignity and our courage. We fall pray. We cower. We cave to the fear. Not all of us but too many of us.

We live in shadowy, abstract, cryptic times ... if I HAD to describe what it feels like to be alive on this planet at this exact moment it would go a little something like this:

It feels like we've been tasked with drawing up blueprints of the Taj Majal using an electron microscope to study the layout WHILE being in a small room with 20 people ALL talking to you ALL at once ALL the time in perpetuity. Those are our tools. That's what we have to work with and the setting in which to work. It's NO wonder no one knows what the hell is going on.

People are lost. Those among us with fragile minds ... are cracking.

As for the rest of us, we're just trying to hold onto whatever semblance of hope and internal fortitude we have left.

The growing disconnect among families, among friends and peers, among communities is rearing its ugly insidious head. When at risk individuals (with CONFIRMED diagnoses - at least in numerous cases) are able to withdraw socially, steal/purchase firearms, plan a massacre without raising ANY flags ... that's a problem. Where were the parents? The siblings? An aunt? A teacher? A grandma? Heck, a co-worker or classmate?

We're losing touch with each other, with ourselves, with our humanity.

Platitudes aren't enough for me anymore. This was too much. Vacuous, overstated emotionalism isn't going to cut it. Posting some vaguely sentimental memes on Facebook and carrying forth like nothing ever happened is not going to work for me anymore. I'm going to spend the rest of the night in prayer and in mourning ... appealing to God for direction and wisdom. Perhaps, just perhaps I'll figure out what to do because I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING.

Blessings to you all. And to those directly affected by this tragedy - I only wish I could shoulder your burden, if even in part.

Originally posted by JAK

Please note

due to the tragically emotive nature of this story any and all pro/anti gun posts from here on will be removed immediately.

Please respect the request being made here and refrain from all such related posts and comments.

edit on 14/12/12 by JAK because: (no reason given)

Posted in response regarding some of that, before I got to this - apologies. And, thank you.

reply to post by followtheevidence


Thank you for sharing. I feel physically ill, and sick with sadness. I can't find words. I just want to know why we are having so many shootings in succession.

Speechless. Again.

It's hard to put into words how i feel about this,such a terrible,horrible tregedy,how could someone do something like this ??
I feel for all involved,how do you even start to put the pieces back together after this ??

taking your children to school,watching there happy faces as you leave them in the caring hands of a school..i just can't imagine what they are going through.

the answer ?? i really haven't thought about it that much yet..

very sad day..prayers go out to those involved.

reply to post by followtheevidence


Very well said. You sum up perfectly how im feeling and also many others I should think.
I will pray with you.

When i was a teenager about 1987 - 1988 i was a metalhead long hair in my youth, after moving to to a mid west town from the city i didnt fit in. I had no friends and kept to myself soon i was diagnosed with "manic depression" so i was given prozac, it made me "numb" and robotic, I had homicidal thoughts. One day after being bullied by some jocks i flipped out and tried to chop up some class mates after breaking a mirror in the weight room at my high school during PE, i remember the horror in the eyes chasing them, down hall ways but blurry. The principal at the time kicked me out for a year in his own words "Im sick and tired of your Mickey Mouse bull #" lol i was a skinny # and a clown even then but far from killer .... this was not me. I rather play legend of zelda and play my guitar and fap to scrambled porn on tv ya dig. So i stopped taking prozac and pretended to take it while my mom was thinking i was. I have been fine since and outgrew the teenage angst. I had to come to grips with the real reality "life is a bitch then you die" and thats just the way it is. I think this has been a taboo issue people are afraid to discuss. its always the exotic gunplay to blame... but not the animal or the chemicals flowing in its blood stream.

reply to post by 00nunya00


Meanwhile ABC says

Ryan Lanza, 24, brother of gunman Adam Lanza, 20, tells authorities that his younger brother is autistic, or has Asperger syndrome and a “personality disorder.” Neighbors described the younger man to ABC as “odd” and displaying characteristics associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

www.heavy.com...
www.mediaite.com...

Can't find it on the site though so might of retracted it.

I have just read through most of this post, I must say it is deeply touching. No innocent person, never mind child deserves their life to be taken before it is just. As posted earlier, I too believe the world should end after what it has come too, the world as I see it today is truly disgusting. All my prayers go out to those affected and peace be with you all.

Prays out to all the affected familys'!!!! It's something tragic and unthinkable!!!

Now for my cents. This lone gunman(or team) has had issues for a while! More than likely in and out of group therapy several times! We now as a country comming together for a brief moment in time to tune in such a tragic event! Which could have been avoided all together!! I can just about guarantee their were events that lead this deranged soul(#ed up) to his actions. It appears he shot his mom? Who is supposed to be a builder of character in all children's lives, and she was a teacher???? A teacher of what???? Conspiracy, if it is you would need government level training! ! For the outcome of this injustice is way far from being over. It will effect us all in some way shape or form.

Sorry again for the loss of loved ones close to any and all

This is just so sad, it takes me back to 1996 and the horror that was Dunblane, 16 5yr olds gunned down at their primary school in a fairly quiet Scottish town, proving that evil is everywhere and can strike at any time.

My thoughts are with the families whose lives will never be the same

Originally posted by Charizard
I'm not claiming any conspiracy, but it does amaze me how news programs can already have tribute specials airing within 9 hours of an event like this. I flipped on 20/20 just now and they're doing a special about the shooting, the victims, etc. They already have tons of interviews, fancy graphics, statistics and the history of some of the victims when just hours ago we didn't know anything about them. It just blows my mind how quickly they can throw together something like this.

I am amazed by the ability of some of the survivors, to sit down with media and get through an interview not 12 hours after the shooting. I watched a teacher describe how she holed up in a class room with her students. If I was in that school, I'd be unable to function after that for awhile. I would need to go home,shut the door, and pray, cry, freak out..... anything but sit down and discuss something with Diane Sawyer as if it happened a year or two ago.

Originally posted by jharpoon
I have just read through most of this post, I must say it is deeply touching. No innocent person, never mind child deserves their life to be taken before it is just. As posted earlier, I too believe the world should end after what it has come too, the world as I see it today is truly disgusting. All my prayers go out to those affected and peace be with you all.

Who's to say the shooter didn't also have the "World should end" mindset?. What other mindset would go out of their way to destroy families lives as they know it and tear the heart out of a nation by killing it's most innocent and defenceless?. Right now I can't think of any.

reply to post by Aisling


Everyone handles crisis differently I suppose. I'd imagine it's only a matter of time before the shock and grief properly kicks in for those who seem calm right now. I just hope everyone has enough support at the time they crash and burn. You can't keep a brave face forever.

reply to post by Suspiria

Who's to say the shooter didn't also have the "World should end" mindset?. What other mindset would go out of their way to destroy families lives as they know it and tear the heart out of a nation by killing it's most innocent and defenceless?. Right now I can't think of any.

I agree with this in regards to Thomas Hamilton the Dunblane killer...he had no connection to the school or the kids and their families,, not that there could ever be a reason to shoot innocent children, but I think he just wanted to commit the most evil atrocity that he could...Why? We'll never know

There is never so terrible a tradgedy as those which involve the young and defenseless. Never is an act of violence more inexplicable, than when it is perpetrated against children, and never does it wrench at the heart, and twist in the guts of good people in such a fullsome manner.

These were the hopes and dreams of fathers and mothers, made flesh and animated with spirits all thier own. Sinless, wonders of creation, emptied of all vigour at a whim of lead, accompanied by the tinkle of brass hitting the floor, the screams of the innocent, and the devastation of families all over the town.

These were the future. They do not get to grow old, they do not get to have families of thier own, become the firefighter, the nurse, the doctor, the mechanic, the racing car driver, that they hoped to one day become. They dont even get to do the difficult bits, like surviving puberty, dealing with hangovers, paying taxes. They were the future, and now they do not have one.

It does not matter how the damage was done, what tool was used, or how the scum that killed these babes aquired it. It is likely that the same result or similar could have, and would have been achieved no matter what tool he had to use. The real question here, is when is humanity going to come together and figure out a method for avoiding this scenario in the future? When is there going to be a full and frank discussion about WHY these mass shootings are taking place, why now in this century and not before?

One can no longer pass these things off with comments like "Who knows what goes on in such broken minds" in reference to the perpetrators. It cannot be dealt with by platitudes and promises of extra care being taken with individuals who have mental dysfunctions. This must, surely be a societal issue, and it must be adressed unless people are happy to keep loosing children in such terrible circumstances.

My deepest sympathies and condolences to all who have been caught up in this abomination.

reply to post by destination now


I remember Dunblane well. I was over 300 miles away and still had the urge to rush to take my five year old out of school and bring her home. I probably wasn't the only one that day and I can imagine parents all over America feeling the same way.

reply to post by Hadrian


Brevik know what he was doing, whether he is considered insane or not.