Terrorist attack in South Carolina

[Onkel Neal]

He will have to be in protective custody, there is alot of black dudes in prison. alot more than whites.

Well, I'm sure there are some prison guards who will see it that some brothers get a shot at him.

Originally Posted by Oberon

Alvin Toffer wrote a book which became a term to describe this fear of rapid change, 'Future shock', and I think that it's something that people of the generation born between the 1940s and 1970s are probably dealing with. Even I, born in the 1980s, suffer a degree of it, you should see the mess I make trying to operate a smart phone, and the whole way that people can track you down online and hound you into submission through cyber-bullying terrifies me.

Sometimes though, people with good intentions do go a tad overboard, sometimes this is because they're preparing for a fight and when one doesn't happen they kind of go off anyway. I have in the past reacted over-defensively on a subject, primarily since I've expected more people to disagree with me than actually did. A form of turtling perhaps.
But well, that is how it goes, times do change, and everyone will always have their particular era that they will think of when 'times were better' and 'summers were long', and so forth.

In short:

I'm slightly dismayed that you wouldn't have assumed I read Future Shock (which I did about 30 years ago , along with the Late, Great Planet Earth.) Although I am quite sure it did not contain a chapter where society makes celebrities of people with mental disorders. You can imagine that's a shock.

Yes, you're right, every generation has to deal with the changes in technology and society. I've tried to resist the cliche that mature men dish out "what's the matter with kids today", but after my short stint in the classroom, I'm not optimistic.

I'm sure you knew some would disagree with you when you posted this subject. I've done that, too. Sometimes a topic just seems right for contentious discussion. I know you wanted to make the point that white people who commit mass murder should be called terrorists just like Arabs. I just think you jumped the gun a little, posting the thread before this guy and his motivations were established.

[Harvs]

After the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, Australian firearm laws were changed for the better, we still have deaths from shootings but its nowhere as bad as it could have been had the law not changed. Have a read of this and then ask how will gun control work.

http://loc.gov/law/help/firearms-control/australia.php

[August]

Originally Posted by Harvs

ave a read of this and then ask how will gun control work.

It won't work because we Americans have a right to keep and bear arms therefore we don't need to ask permission from our government to possess one.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

I'm slightly dismayed that you wouldn't have assumed I read Future Shock (which I did about 30 years ago , along with the Late, Great Planet Earth.) Although I am quite sure it did not contain a chapter where society makes celebrities of people with mental disorders. You can imagine that's a shock.

Yes, you're right, every generation has to deal with the changes in technology and society. I've tried to resist the cliche that mature men dish out "what's the matter with kids today", but after my short stint in the classroom, I'm not optimistic.

I'm sure you knew some would disagree with you when you posted this subject. I've done that, too. Sometimes a topic just seems right for contentious discussion. I know you wanted to make the point that white people who commit mass murder should be called terrorists just like Arabs. I just think you jumped the gun a little, posting the thread before this guy and his motivations were established.

TBH I didn't even know the book existed until I was looking at the wiki for The Forever War. So you've got the drop on me there.
I must admit, I'm in a situation where I'm quite removed from the lower end of society living in the countryside where most of the populace are retired wealthy Londoners, so I'm a bit out of touch with the youth of today, in particular the inner city youth. However, there's good and bad in all of us, and some of the youth of today will become the great people of tomorrow whilst others will become the villains.
I think I may have jumped it a smidge too, I was going to make that direct phrase a few posts ago but figured that in the situation it was probably better to say 'put the cart before the horse'.
Still, it's got people talking and it's not been swept under the rug as 'just another shooting' which is good.
The biggest problem though is the solution, and I don't think that there actually is one that will work.