Module 1 Discussion
The U.S. school shootings
The school shooting in Blacksburg, Virginia on the 16th of April 2007 was deadliest in American history. Twenty-three year old Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people before taking his own life. He carried a 9mm semiautomatic and a .22-caliber handgun, both with the serial numbers obliterated, federal law enforcement officials said.
No matter what kind of perspective one uses there is not just one event that occurs before a person chooses to become a mass murderer and the motivation builds up over time. The perpetrator may also be seen as mentally disordered. He may also have felt that a large amount of people were up against him. This bears resemblance with the profile of perpetrators from other mass shootings, who often feel that people are after them, or that society is evil in some form. The way a person perceives society may then work as a trigger that decides whether he develops a motivation to go to such extreme steps. Mass murderers are often isolated individuals that over time have built up aggression towards to the society they feel disconnected from.
Mass shootings are more frequent in individualistic compared to collectivistic societies. The lower degree of social integration in an individualistic society may lead to a greater risk of social isolation. This bears resemblance with school shooters who often have low social skills, and are poorly socially integrated. Such vulnerable individuals, who are in a state of emotional chaos, may then use violence as an outlet for their built up anger toward society, which they feel has betrayed them.
Witnessing a school shooting can have emotional, psychological, and physical effects. These effects include nightmares, resisting the return to school, headaches, stomach problems, and sleeping problems. Schools that experience shootings have a decline in grade nine enrollment, and that math and English test rates dropped. Students who have witnessed violent crimes also show symptoms of
The school shooting in Blacksburg, Virginia on the 16th of April 2007 was deadliest in American history. Twenty-three year old Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people before taking his own life. He carried a 9mm semiautomatic and a .22-caliber handgun, both with the serial numbers obliterated, federal law enforcement officials said.
No matter what kind of perspective one uses there is not just one event that occurs before a person chooses to become a mass murderer and the motivation builds up over time. The perpetrator may also be seen as mentally disordered. He may also have felt that a large amount of people were up against him. This bears resemblance with the profile of perpetrators from other mass shootings, who often feel that people are after them, or that society is evil in some form. The way a person perceives society may then work as a trigger that decides whether he develops a motivation to go to such extreme steps. Mass murderers are often isolated individuals that over time have built up aggression towards to the society they feel disconnected from.
Mass shootings are more frequent in individualistic compared to collectivistic societies. The lower degree of social integration in an individualistic society may lead to a greater risk of social isolation. This bears resemblance with school shooters who often have low social skills, and are poorly socially integrated. Such vulnerable individuals, who are in a state of emotional chaos, may then use violence as an outlet for their built up anger toward society, which they feel has betrayed them.
Witnessing a school shooting can have emotional, psychological, and physical effects. These effects include nightmares, resisting the return to school, headaches, stomach problems, and sleeping problems. Schools that experience shootings have a decline in grade nine enrollment, and that math and English test rates dropped. Students who have witnessed violent crimes also show symptoms of