this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 79 points 11 months ago (2 children)

"Lisa, if I didn't have this gun, the king of England could walk right in here and start pushing you around!"

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

It's not as funny now that Charlie would do it if he could, with his grubby little hands.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

At least there actually is a king of England now.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

There hasn't been a King of England since 1707.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 11 months ago (1 children)

"Active Shooter"

It's like reading about a hurricane. Almost a weather phenomenon.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago

There are far fewer hurricanes. You also get a couple days warning on most weather events. I take your point though, between waking up to seeing a related push message and seeing this meme I had forgotten about it.

At least it appears nobody died, only 5 injured.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

The key to getting on with life is to have complete and utter disregard for the well-being of your children, family, friends, fellow countrymen and yourself.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)

"A man who has nothing to lose, has nothing to fear."

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Sort of. This is more like “A man who cares for nothing, has no reason to care.” These people have everything to lose they just don’t think it will happen to them personally

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

They want it to happen to the "other" groups to whom it's "supposed to happen"

[–] [email protected] 31 points 11 months ago (4 children)

At least four people were wounded, none critically, in a shooting at Morgan State University in Baltimore on Tuesday, according to authorities, who urged students to take shelter on the campus of the historically Black college.

No one dead, Americans won't care.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

They don't care when someone does die either...

[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Some people actively get mad too when you mention that people died.

"Of course people died, here we go another fucking gun grab wrapped in a sob story. If all THOSE people had guns too it'd have never happened. This is what you get for being unprepared now stfu I'm shopping online for another AR. 🤷"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Any country where you need a gun in order to feel safe walking around is a shithole.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Yeah it's kind of wild to me the number of people that think teachers having guns is a good idea, that way teachers can get into a shootout with students that go crazy. Absolutely insane.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

None of those gun nuts have ever been able to answer my basic question about their stated goal of everyone carrying at all times -

You're at a public event, few hundred+ people in attendance,everybody (even just most) are packing. A gun goes off. Every "Good guy with a gun" turns toward the sound while pulling their guns. You now have 50-100+ (adjusted for crowd size) people with guns drawn. How do you know which of the 50-100+ people actually fired their gun?

Noone has ever had any answer other than "oH yOuD kNoW" which, call me crazy, doesn't really answer the question.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Does it actually make you feel safer? I think I would feel less safe every time I remember I have a gun on me because I may need to use it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

People have gone numb as an emotional safeguard. People have lives they're trying to live, and if they fell to pieces every time someone got shot in this country they'd die of dehydration from all the crying.

[–] TopRamenBinLaden 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

There is so much death and cruelty in the world that if someone cares too much they are just bound to wind up depressed. It seems that the majority of people really only care about people that they are acquainted with, or if they witness the terrible thing in person. It's just kind of built into human nature, otherwise we would be in a constant state of grief.

Things like mass shootings bother most empathetic people, in general. It's just that life kind of has to go on, and all they can really do to try and change it is to vote for one of two lesser evils in some local or national election.

The problem is not really with the people. It's with our crappy political system that is controlled by corporate lobbyists. The majority of US citizens don't really seem to have a say. Source: Empathetic person with chronic depression.

[–] Kecessa 8 points 11 months ago

Heck, the government doesn't consider it a mass shooting unless there's three people that died! How fucked up is that?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

✅ hbcu

✅ no casualties

✅ Dispute "between two groups"

Had to Ctrl+f to even find it as a bullet point on the CNN front page...

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Well, to be fair, what they meant to say is "There is no way to prevent this while not changing gun law, state of mental healthcare, income inequality in economic classes, or criminal law and policing issues." which is correct statement overall.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I mean i generally agree with your point and i know its a small detail but it kinda rubs me the wrong way when people always bring up mental health when talking about mass shootings. There isn't much of a link between mental illness and violence despite common belief. And i have ptsd, bipolar and psychosis which are often associated with violence but i and nearly everyone else with these illnesses just these shooters as nazi assholes. I don't believe you had any wrong intentions or anything and i believe that healthcare is a human right, but i thought i should clarify.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

So you don't think a lot of these mass shooters went with untreated and ignored mental illness which sprouted in to things worse than most people could ever understand and it was too late? It's a huge issue that these people would show signs beforehand and nobody did anything about their mental health or bullying.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

It is a huge problem that people with mental health issues go undiagnosed and untreated. It's also very disingenuous the same people who want to blame mental health for all gun related violence will do absolutely nothing to provide care for people with mental health issues AND actively oppose providing care.

Despite all of that, if mental health was truly the main driving force behind mass shootings you would expect a higher rate of violence among the documented populous of people with mental health issues. That alone isn't conclusive of anything but when you do look at the data and it shows the exact opposite you have to question the original hypothesis.

Maybe, not generalizing all mental health to be the cause for people to be violent, would be a place to start? Possibly. Are there specific disorders that contribute whether or not someone is capable of violent acts? Who knows but I can guarantee to you the people pointing the finger at mental health do not care, in the slightest, to find out.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It is a huge problem that people with mental health issues go undiagnosed and untreated. It's also very disingenuous the same people who want to blame mental health for all gun related violence will do absolutely nothing to provide care for people with mental health issues AND actively oppose providing care.

Truly. It's sickening seeing Americans advocate even harder for gun laws while completely ignoring the mental health or bullying scenarios that cause these..

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I don't accept their premise that gun proponents oppose health care. I think that is true of Republicans in general, but while I would concede that Republicans are better for gun rights, I do not accept that they are actually "pro gun".

Trump was certainly not pro-gun. He supported broad gun control before he was a presidential candidate. As president, he infamously called for taking guns first, due process later.

Previous Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney promoted and signed a state-level gun ban into law; Romney was certainly not pro-gun. Most Republican lawmakers are wishy-washy at best on guns. They pay lip service to the second amendment, and then fail to support any pro-gun issues whatsoever.

The greatest measure sought by pro-gun advocates is national reciprocity - 50-state recognition of any state's concealed carry license. Republicans do not support that measure.

The Firearm Owners Protection Act adopted a uniform set of transport rules for people engaged in interstate travel. So, even if a gun was prohibited in a specific state, a traveler could possess that gun while passing through the state. Gun proponents offered an update to FOPA to allow traveling licensees to carry on the interstate if they were legal at their origin and destination. This would be a compromise to the desired 50-state reciprocity; Republicans refused to advance it.

Another big one was the Hearing Protection Act, which would have delisted silencers from the national firearm registey, and re-regulated them in the same way as pistols, rifles, and shotguns. Republicans refused to support it.

Republicans are better on guns than Democrats, but Republicans are still pretty terrible on anything gun proponents actually want.

Republican opposition to universal health care is yet another way that Republicans fail gun owners, who regularly call for such measures.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Despite all of that, if mental health was truly the main driving force behind mass shootings you would expect a higher rate of violence among the documented populous of people with mental health issues.

There is. There is no question that mental illness strongly correlates with a propensity for violence.

From the source:

A meta-analysis of 204 studies of psychosis as a risk factor for violence reported that “compared with individuals with no mental disorders, people with psychosis seem to be at a substantially elevated risk for violence.” Psychosis “was significantly associated with a 49%–68% increase in the odds of violence.”

A review of 22 studies published between 1990 and 2004 “concluded that major mental disorders, per se, especially schizophrenia, even without alcohol or drug abuse, are indeed associated with higher risks for interpersonal violence.” Major mental disorders were said to account for between 5% and 15% of community violence.

Among 3,743 individuals with bipolar disorder, 8.4% committed violent crimes compared to 3.5% of the general population in Sweden.

A 2014 study in Israel identified 3,187 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. They committed four times more violent crimes compared to the general population, and this difference was even more pronounced among women.

A 10-year follow-up of 1,056 severely mentally ill patients discharged from mental hospitals in Sweden in 1986 reported that "of those who were 40 years old or younger at the time of discharge, nearly 40% had a criminal record as compared to less than 10% of the general public." Furthermore, "the most frequently occurring crimes are violent crimes."

The best study used the Danish psychiatric case register, covering the whole country, and convictions for criminal offenses. Between 1978 and 1990, 6.7% of males and 0.9% of females with "major mental disorders" (psychoses) were convicted of a violent crime ("all offenses involving interpersonal aggression or a threat thereof") compared with 1.5% of males and 0.1% of females among individuals with no psychiatric diagnosis.

A Swedish study examined the criminal records of all individuals born in Stockholm in 1953 and still living in the city 30 years later. Men and women with severe mental illness were 4.2 times (men) and 27.5 times (women) more likely to have been convicted of a violent crime compared to individuals with no psychiatric diagnosis.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Im not doubting that bullying isn't involved (i mean its kinda a stereotype that its always the bullied quiet kids who shoot schools, but it happens) but mental illness symptoms no matter how severe don't really cause you to plot and attempt a school shooting. I mean maybe antisocial personality disorder could cause it but i've never heard of such a case.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

No, of course not.. but they can cause things like disassociation, hallucinations, paranoia and loss of ones value in life. I'd hate to think anybody meant that mental illness inherently means you have a high chance of being a school shooter, because I bet 95%+ of people with mental illness would never wish harm on others and only their selves

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

You do have a fair point on problem of association. I don't think diagnosed mental condition have significant prediction power either. Instead, I believe that occasional mental healthcare counselling on people who we find to be normal will be the one that improve this situation.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

That title is what the Onion (a satirical/parody news site) uses every time there is a major mass shooting in America.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago

"We've tried nothin' and we're all out of ideas!"

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

For those that don't know the reference, this is traditionally posted each and every time a mass shooting happens in FreedomLand.

https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-r-1848971668

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

it's also weird to have traditions about it

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's weirder that there's a phenomenon that happens particularly in one nation that claims nothing can be done about the phenomenon.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

well everything about american politics makes sense when you consider that the US constitution is just a bad basis for a country

the government just shutting down on a semi-regular basis for example. That's very disfunctional and not normal

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