Virginia Tech Massacre Options

[BrentDanzig]

This story has lurched suddenly in the past 15 minutes --- CNN TV is now reporting the death toll at 20. Their website (and several others, including Drudge) seems to have crashed from traffic, so I don't know if any more information is available right now.

[bonnastares]

PalePhoenix, nail on the proverbial head in regard to childhood trauma. Tiny safe little boxes made of ticky tacky.

Firsthand knowledge- it is very damaging to a child to be told by adults "You’re fine. You’re okay, now"� directly after a traumatic event, rather than being allowed to release whatever needs to be released. It just gets bottled up and seeps out over time like radioactive waste. So, when I speak of appropriate reactions- I speak of appropriate reactions based on the situation at hand. I have experienced instances in which there was a connection or "trigger"� to past memories, and I reacted in a way that would have been expected based on the past circumstance, not the present.

I have spent the past few years working with a trauma specialist on all the reasons my family basically felt they needed to send me away to foster care. I was not fine or okay, so it was easier for them to send me away rather than let me come to terms with it all (i.e.). Granted, they were not provided strong enough coping skills, so I am forgiving of that. However, I choose not to put myself into a position in which they can demand I "forget about it all"�. For a while, I did just that- but I also blocked out all the good things along the way. It has been an intriguing excavation, I can tell you that.

Much like you, I don’t usually concern myself with things well outside of my sphere, more or less. I can be sympathetic, but the reality is, I prefer to focus my energy onto things that are within a few degrees of separation to my well being.

I sort of understand why Marjorie tries to reach out to survivors every time there is a shooting. However, I question if that is partially de-habilitating. I guess that my final thought for the evening is that there is a point in which you don’t get over things, so to speak, but you stop allowing them to define you. Perhaps, that is crass of me to say. If so, I apologize. It’s just that part of me feels like she may still be at a point where she is still re-traumatizing herself. Not my business, I suppose. I have friends who have gone through that which is similar to what I have gone through. They are at different stages, and I am there as a shoulder, an ear, a friend. However, I have never gone to any sort of group therapy for the exact reason you brought up about psychodrama group therapy not being conducive to the process. Right now, I’m not strong enough in my own shit to take on so many other people’s dynamics outside of the structure I have learned to feel safe in. Perhaps, it is the capacity to honestly feel safe that is more defining than the experience itself. Understanding my own limitations is part of that.

[JBlueEyes]

I sort of understand why Marjorie tries to reach out to survivors every time there is a shooting. However, I question if that is partially de-habilitating.

The impression I got from that part was, if she wasn't "crisis junkie" before, she's well on the road to becoming one now. I don't think that's good for her OR anyone she tries to "help."

I had a cousin who would always try to get on television every time something happened near her. She became president or captain of some school club, and called the local stations to see if they'd come out and cover a protest, or a play, or whatever noise she was making. One kid FINALLY made the mistake of bringing a gun in to show off to his friends, putting the school on "lockdown" (yeah, it's always a great idea to trap people indoors with their potential killer). Sure enough, there she was on the evening news, blabbering on about how horrible it was[n't]. She's the sort of person who...and I hate to say this...sounds like she wishes she would get raped so that it would "validate" her Take Back the Night marches on the campus in town.

This Marjorie girl, I don't know. It doesn't sound like she's doing anybody favors by inserting herself into other people's trauma when she hasn't fully resolved the issues for herself. I understand the desire to be with and speak to people who've had similar experiences (hell, that's the whole internet), but from what I've seen, it's better if those people choose to seek out the support rather than have it shoved on them.

PS: No, I will not shoot my cousin and do everyone a favor.

[PalePhoenix]

With this NYT article, we mark that saddest of anniversaries...the one that comes with no additional protections for college students, no special impediments to purchasing firearms by the severely mentally disturbed, and a tick-tock settlement for parents who lost kids or had their children permanently injured due to the university's poor response to the crisis.

[Bryan9000]

Does it really surprise anyone that they've done so little in a year? They've learned well from FEMA. Far more lives were ruined, ended, or needlessly complicated by a hurricane than one crazy kid. and we still haven't saved that city from future horrors.

[ganymede]

Now the students want to be armed so they can "defend themselves." This is going nowhere good, fast.

"Would you rather just sit there and cower underneath a desk when someone executes you or would you rather have a chance to defend your life? That's what it really boils down to."

Michael Flitcraft, a 23-year-old sophomore at the University of Cincinnati, has become a leading advocate for college students to carry weapons on campus. He's an organizer for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, a grass-roots organization that was formed after last year's Virginia Tech massacre that left 32 college students and professors dead.

The group boasts more than 25,000 members... (read more)

I smell someone's parents trying to force a 2nd Amendment fight somewhere it should never have to go. Students shouldn't be armed. Period, end of story. Whoever this jackass is fronting for should be shot for not having the guts to reveal him- or herself, though it's not likely a "her."

And 25K sounds like a lot until you realize some single campuses today can have over sixty thousand students living both on and off-campus.

[5trych9]

Try this for dodgy:

Schools Struggle With Dark Writings
In the Wake of Virginia Tech Killings,
Colleges Weigh Students' Safety vs. Free Speech

When Steven Barber turned in a short story this semester for his creative-writing class at the University of Virginia's College at Wise, his instructor was alarmed. The 23-year-old student had produced an imagined account of someone on the edge of a violent breakdown, touching on suicide and murder.

"It had to be acted on immediately," says Christopher Scalia, the instructor. He alerted administrators, who reacted swiftly, searching Mr. Barber's dorm room and car. Upon discovering three guns, they had him committed to a psychiatric institution for a weekend. Then they expelled him.

Steven Barber, 23, was expelled from college for possessing guns after his disturbing fiction prompted a search.
Yet the psychiatrists who evaluated Mr. Barber during his hospitalization determined he was no threat to himself or others. Mr. Barber says the guns were for protection from threats such as school shootings. He maintains that his story, titled "Sh---y First Drafts," was merely a fictional attempt to address school shootings such as the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech massacre, which left 33 dead, including the gunman. The story "was supposed to show how disturbed people are who do that," Mr. Barber says... (read more)

So, without saying as much as "you can no longer write fiction containing violence for your HS or college, unless you want to be thrown into a psychiatric hospital," we now live in a society where it's acceptable to do this to kids. Fucking brilliant.

[irishblessing]

There's still fun to be had at the old killing field.

A graduate student from China was decapitated with a kitchen knife in a campus cafe at Virginia Tech by another graduate student who knew her, police said Thursday.

Xin Yang, 22, was killed Wednesday night after arriving at the campus from Beijing on Jan. 8 to begin studying accounting, Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said.

Her accused attacker, 25-year-old Haiyang Zhu of Ningbo, China, knew the victim but no motive for the slaying has been determined, Chief Flinchum said. School records showed that Mr. Haiyang was listed as one of Ms. Xin's emergency contacts...