NEWS: Bush Praises Slain Minn. Security Guard

President George W. Bush has praised former police officer and school security guard, Derrick Brun, who, having ignored warnings to take cover, confronted Jeff Weise, the Red Lake school shooter, for having saved many lives, while losing his in the process. President Bush also stated that he and First Lady, Barbara Bush, are praying for the victims and their families and that the FBI and the Department of Justice are assisting in the investigation. Other agencies are helping affected families with counseling, funeral arrangements and other pertinent services. President Bush had been criticized for not responding to the event in a timely manner.



We all suffer when a tragic event of this magnitude occurs. Even when we don't know the individuals involved, it is easy for us to identify with the victims and, surely, all of us, at one time or another, have felt the alienation that the perpetrators have often expressed in the days and months leading up to the event.

I believe that the rise in incidence and prevalence of these events is a "barometer" of the state of our society. These shooters are rarely "squeaky clean, honor roll types," but rather obviously troubled, often ostracized, individuals who are not receiving the attention they require, either from their families or their communities.

When our society tolerates all manner of odd behaviors as simply fashion and lifestyle choices, it is very easy for the truly disturbed to blend into a cohort of "non-conformists." In a community with established, stable norms, those who wear idiosyncratic clothing and hairstyles might likely garner enough attention and scrutiny for officials to determine if there is indeed a problem worth addressing. As it is, the most disturbed among us fit right in with a crowd of those who just think it's cool to look and act deranged.

Related News Links:
abcnews.go.com
www.wjla.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Username Weise here at ATS was Minn. Shooter Killer
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Well is about time the "Great white father in the white house" said something about the terrible killings in the Indian reservation.

Kind of took a while for Bush to write his speach.

The shooter must be pitied. I DONT condone what he done, he deserved the ultimate price to pay for his evil.

But looking at his past it was clear he was in pain and in need of help. Where was the help, why didnt anyone spot it brfore he flew off on one.

Tragic.

Actually, the shooter is not to be pitied. He is dead. What really needs to be done is to keep tabs on the young so that they don't have the opportunity to go as astray as this one did and so many others do.

That, of course, is impossible to implement on a massive scale as the the social structure that once insured that most children would be properly socialized has been "deconstructed."

I think that we can rest assured that these inicidents will continue until such time that our schools will be more like prisons than schools.


[edit on 05/3/27 by GradyPhilpott]

I'm sorry but its American culture that drives a person to do this, everyone is going insane. Why doesn’t this happen in other countries? Sure... shootings happen in other countries, but American shootings are different, they're usually pointless and the person has been driven insane by a system where the rich control the poor to the point where they’re living on as little as they need to survive while working as much as humanly possible; and a culture where you’ll get looked down upon if you don’t have a nice car, or get bullied at school for not having the newest trainers.

It disgusts me.

No one individual is to blame. Everyone is equally responsible.

The sad thing is, in my country, England, the same type of culture is starting to take roots.

Originally posted by Ishes
I'm sorry but its American culture that drives a person to do this, everyone is going insane. Why doesn’t this happen in other countries? Sure... shootings happen in other countries, but American shootings are different, they're usually pointless and the person has been driven insane by a system where the rich control the poor to the point where they’re living on as little as they need to survive while working as much as humanly possible; and a culture where you’ll get looked down upon if you don’t have a nice car, or get bullied at school for not having the newest trainers.

It disgusts me.

No one individual is to blame. Everyone is equally responsible.

The sad thing is, in my country, England, the same type of culture is starting to take roots.

I'm sure the history of mental illness in his family had nothing to do with it.

I guess his interest in such child friendly things as the Nazi party had nothing to do with it.

The only way I see American Society having anything to do with this kind of behavior is that our kids have access to nearly everything they want to see. I'm not saying this is bad, simply saying that a kid can get information on any topic via libraries and internet connections. The kid's family had serious mental illness issues and he was taking anti-depressants which have been linked to similar cases and suicides.

If you want to blame someone, blame the grandfather and the teachers who didn't spot his internal struggles. It wasn't our kids' obsession with Paris Hilton and bling that drove him to kill these people.

Crakeur , you are blindly incorrect.

I'm sure the history of mental illness in his family had nothing to do with it.

American society is a breeding ground for such behaviours. Take his mental illness for example, why dose America have such an extreme rate of metal illness compared to the rest of the world?

44.3 million American adults suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder.

10 million American adults have a major depressive disorder.

2.3 million American adults have a bipolar disorder.

schizophrenia.healthyplace2.com...

I guess his interest in such child friendly things as the Nazi party had nothing to do with it.

High levels of racial prejudice and bad/miss-education by the government are just a few factors which leas children to such extremes.

If you want to blame someone, blame the grandfather and the teachers who didn't spot his internal struggles. It wasn't our kids' obsession with Paris Hilton and bling that drove him to kill these people.

Oh yesss! Blame the teachers! That’s very American of you! I have empathy for the teachers who put up with all the # they get, because the bad education children are receiving is their fault! It’s not the fault of the government for teaching them bullsh*t they don’t need to know, or the children themselves, who are stuck in a culture of not wanting to go to school, and hating it.

Oh, and while im on the subject, I'd just like to remind you that this was not an isolated event. These events run deep in your culture.

holology.com...

Have a nice day.

[edit on 27-3-2005 by Ishes]

There are many social factors that need to be scrutinized to determined why such events happen. American society underwent some radical changes in the 1960's and 1970's that were supposed to liberate everyone and create a "Great Society."

Well, now we have that "Great Society," but it ain't so great. One thing for sure, economic class conflict is not one of the contributing factors. To suggest such suggests a very flawed understanding of American society.

[edit on 05/3/27 by GradyPhilpott]

ishes, the history of mental illness in the familyy is a factor. Why do americans seem to have more of it than other areas? Dunno, perhaps it's a combination of many things. Not arguing that point as I live in the looney capital of the world.


Also, I hold teachers higher than any profession. They shape and mold our children. However, when a kid posts on a website that he's been accused at school of planning a comlumbine type massacre and some time later he actually goes thru with it, well, clearly someone suspected it but didn't follow up on the fears and that is a grave error.

Feel free to blame my society for the ills of the world. I have no problem with it. I know that my child won't grow up to slaughter innocents. If this kids grandfather paid closer attention to his obviously troubled grandson, perhaps it might not have happened.

or, maybe it was the big macs and the video games. yeah, that might be it.