After I’d read that the Trump shooter had looked at photos of Trump and Biden and their upcoming speech locations and the fact that the shooter was a lone wolf and bullied at school, I read part of the Wikipedia page about the Uvalde shooting . The Uvalde shooter also was a lone wolf and also used an AR-15. My thoughts right now are like this :

  • The lone wolfs probably have suffered badly from an inferior complex due to bullying and alienation
    and wanted to do something which made them feel historically “significant” instead of feeling completely “useless”.

  • The US appears to have a pretty dominant machismo culture (Think about GOP with their MAGA, it is humiliating for women and minority groups) and so-called snowflakes are looked down upon. This is very bad for everyone involved.

  • Cops are afraid of citizens having an AR-15 on them.

What can be done ?

  • Should vote with our wallets ? Like stop using exTwitter now that Elon Musk has publicly shown support for Trump ? (On Mastodon I’ve seen many comments about people that did cancel their subscription to the New York Times and that seemed to have some effect. Finally the NYT is posting more critical articles about Trump and Project 2025.)

  • Should people talk more often to each other and avoid alienation ? In books of Gabor Maté he talks about the fact that most people in society look down on hard drug addicts but these junkies are still human beings. And the same goes for homeless people and refugees of course. They are still human beings. No need to automatically view them as inferior beings, right ?

  • Should we limit our screen time on mobile phones ? Are we silently producing a sort of zombies that cannot think for themselves anymore ? Should tech companies be obliged to make phone apps less addictive ?
    Should mobile phone usage during class in school be forbidden ?

  • Should we promote exchange projects as part of cultural improvement ? Like say 50 people from Congo Republic in Africa swap places with 50 people from California for 1 year, and then after swapping back talk about the experiences.

  • Should we in our education system or during leisure time educate people more on what happened in World War II and what we can still learn from that ? For example the book by Umberto Eco about how to recognize a fascist ( Ur-Fascism ) could be used.

  • Should bullying at school be pro-actively approached and make victims and bullies talk to each other under professional supervision ?

    • @[email protected]OP
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      fedilink
      25 months ago

      The example you are giving about fighting back turned out to be in your favor.
      But things could have gone wrong, especially when a whole group would have backed the other guy.
      And by that you are sort of advocating a survival of the fittest which is maybe not a good idea
      when you are small and timid versus some strong guy.
      I believe it is not wrong to involve school personnel when bullying happens.

      In Europe anti bullying policies were implemented years ago. I remember reading that in newspapers.

      Here is an example of a school which has anti-bullying policy :
      https://www.eeb3.eu/app/uploads/2022/03/B3-Anti-bullying-Policy-EN.pdf

      • Our Anti-Bullying Policy is based on the principles that:
      • Each individual must be treated with respect
      • Bullying is never an individual problem, as it degrades the atmosphere at school.
      • Bullying is a problem that can be addressed.
      • All members of the school community (school staff, parents and pupils) are called upon to prevent and
        react against all forms of bullying.
      • All members of the school community must have the opportunity to be listened to, respected and
        supported.
    • @Semjaza
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      5 months ago

      Gavrillo Princip and Lee Harvey Oswald show it’s hardly new.

      Both bullied outsiders who wanted to show the world they weren’t weak and could leave a mark on history.

      Edit: your overall point about the constraints on masculinity though is very much on the mark I think, though. All the more reason to break down gender norms.