Ocala Florida high school shooting, page 3

originally posted by: geezlouise
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Yeah we all need better coping skills and a new acceptance of being imperfect/making error/failing and being rejected.

Byrd, all the stuff you’re saying is interesting. In your opinion what direction should we be moving into that would help reduce the violence? What things should we be focusing on to adjust? Like taking care of poverty and etc?

It's a wicked or superwicked problem (see link in my previous post) and that means you can't just run up and legislate (or program) a bandaid solution. You might be able to mitigate it with in school programs and activities allowing kids to air grievances and seek redress - but without parent involvement and community involvement it goes nowhere. And part of that blame also falls on media, where once you leave the safer waters of early childhood the emphasis is on Individuality Heroes.

We learn what we see and hear, even if it's just fiction and storytelling. That's why the Native Americans had some stories that were only told in certain places and at certain times.

Even fairly innocuous stuff teaches some bad things. Compare, for instance, an American tv show (NCIS, which I adore) and a British tv show (The Coroner - or maybe Vera, another one I liked.) In the American norm, the jerk guy gets the girls and is given a pass for his bad behavior (Tony DiNozzo) which normalized the jerk and his behavior. No such person in the British drama. In the American norm, everyone enters a house to search wearing tactical gear and with guns drawn - in the Brit series, they knock politely and walk in. The American series usually ends in gunfire... in British series the lead detective talks to the perp, gets a confession, and never a gun is drawn.

Now ... think about the difference in the way the American police behave and the way that the British police behave. Both groups have problems, but one is more likely to shoot you to death and the other is more likely to talk to you.

But the thing about wicked problems is that they CAN be changed. Start poking at some of the causes and make them change and you can change the outcomes in some direction.

Alas, I don't see American tv producers suddenly changing NCIS into Vera or Dr. Who (though I wish that might happen) I have read of programs that help reduce violence but they're not nationally promoted or celebrated.

I think that our best shot is for us, ourselves, to step up to the plate. Educate others about programs (even if it's just talking about a less violent show that you like and saying how much better the police are), step forward when you can. We can't stop the ocean but maybe we can save a few little fish... and every one of those fish lives to become part of an ecosystem that is different because they lived.