Hot Topic: Virginia Tech Shootings
It looks as if we’ll be talking about this horrific event for a while. Here’s a place for it.
Date: April 19, 2007
Categories: Non-Muse news
Comments RSS TrackBack 104 comments
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1
iwanttobeamuffin
in April 19th, 2007 @ 10:26What are the Virginia tech shootings? I haven’t heard about it.
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Red-tailed HAWK
in April 19th, 2007 @ 10:571-32 people were shot and news networks from the entire planet are covering the story. First he shot two people in a dorm, and then he mailed a package to NBC news in NY with writings and photos/movies of why he “had to do it”. Then he went to a place on the VT campus called Noris Hall and went to several classrooms shooting people, killing 30 more and then himself.
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SuperSaiyan424
in April 19th, 2007 @ 12:32personally, i think htat dude’s just a psycho. what kinda person “has” to go around killing 32 of his classmates n’ teachers?
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FrigidSymphony
in April 19th, 2007 @ 14:09What did he say his reasons were? Stupid americans and their gun stores…
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SuperSaiyan424
in April 19th, 2007 @ 14:48don’t worry, Fridgy. most of us Americans aren’t like htat.
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cHill
in April 19th, 2007 @ 14:50The reasons listed in his letter haven’t been released yet, but he said something about the world forcing him to. He also called The Columbine shooters martyrs.
About the gun stores- the American revolution was accomplished by farmers who owned guns. They had them to protect themselves, and to fight the British. Without the right to bear arms, there would be no America today.
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Red-tailed HAWK
in April 19th, 2007 @ 15:134-He made movies and wrote a big rant out in one huge paragraph (plus pictures of himself pointing guns at the camera). He mailed those things to NBC.
He just thought the whole world was against him, and said it was our fault he did what he did, and he didn’t like rich people.
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Red-tailed HAWK
in April 19th, 2007 @ 15:166-Well, sure, but have you seen any British soldiers around? The only thing we need to protect ourselves from now is everybody else here with guns too. We have basically forced ourselves to need guns.
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Jadestone
in April 19th, 2007 @ 15:30God. And isn’t tomarrow the aniversary of Columbine, too? There’s rumors going on around the school distericts in the area that someone’s planing to do something here. O.o god I hope not…
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Beavo the Great
in April 19th, 2007 @ 15:43What’s really scary is that I live two hours (or something like that) away from VT and I know a bunch of people who go to VT. Both my LA Teachers went there, and so did a lot of my relitives friends and classmates friends. : (
Im all depressed now. FS, you KNOW that most americans would not randomly go into a college dorm and kill 33 people.
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Elizabeth
in April 19th, 2007 @ 16:125-if most americans had to kill 32 other people, we’d have an extremely small population…that’d solve to problem with using so much unrenewable energy…thar’d solve a lot of problems… but it’s still way wrong to do
7- there aren’t many rich people in VT
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Conrad Byrdie (BtG)
in April 19th, 2007 @ 16:2111-I think he was a psyco anyway. Not all rich people are bad. NO IM NOT RICH but I know a really rich family, and sometimes I go to their house. His mom is really nice.
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Beavo the Great
in April 19th, 2007 @ 16:22Whoops, I’m only Byrdie on the war threads
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Glassboro the HAWK
in April 19th, 2007 @ 16:55These are the types of reasons that I prefer England to the U.S., even though I live in the U.S., am half American, and know that it is completely unreasonably biased, but I can’t help it. Also, I just hate american football and baseball.
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Axa
in April 19th, 2007 @ 17:41Don’t you see? Don’t any of you see how sad, how angry and alone he must have been…? This is not an American issue, this is an issue about how we treat other people. If you push some one, and push them and push them eventually they’ll snap. The preach to us in school about preventing suicide and helping kids but whenit gets down to no one cares.
Copied from my LJ post on the matter,:
Everyone says “how could this happen” or “why would you do something like that?” “What kind of sick person…?”To me, it’s not so much sick as it is a reaction. To me, I feel for the killers. Apparently this is wrong. I’m not supposed to understand, because that’s subversive.
But, I still understand an overwhelming desire, born of loneliness, to show people the pain that they gave you, that you feel, that no one seems to care about or understand. It’s not that I don’t feel for the horror of the kids who died, and my heart does clench when I think of being locked in a classroom knowing that this is the end of the line. But still, while everyone grieves for these people, and this applies for the other school shootings, I wonder “What if they deserved it?”
You think “No one deserves this”. Really, who am I to say? But I think of scenarios that could have come up for him. It’s all about passing comments, things people joke about when they forget you’re there (or don’t forget), careless jibes, and intentional smearing of your character. It sickens me how they interview kids and the word most emphasized is “loner”. Because I can see the anonymous American sitting in their computer chair away from sorrow and anguish, nodding their head in that smug, condescending manner as if to say: “Well, there’s your explanation.”
The fact that he mailed a videotape and pictures only furthers the idea of loneliness. If you don’t see me in life, if you don’t give a sh– about me in life, what about in death? What about after I kill these students? Then what? Maybe now you’ll see.
Can someone tell me why no one is doing anything about this? Why do we live in a country that can learn exclusively from its mistakes, and even then, does little? Instead of demoralizing the bitter, angry, dead, we should be helping the kids that fall to this. The journals of the boys from Columbine showed they were real, they were lost, and the only way out they could find is this. Some people have so much pain they can’t bear it, and the only way to eradicate that is to let others shoulder the excess.
And while this may not completely fit with the most recent case (he listed the “rich” kids and such as reasons) I think it is a partial fit.It’s so hard to be alone like that. I used to be a really angry kid, and I’ve mellowed out a bit, but still. If I didn’t have some of the things that make me feel safe, and alive, then what would I do? What would any of us do?
Edit: Yahoo is exploiting this just like everyone else. I hate the news for making “hour long special editions”. Everyone is dehumanizing this guy. The first step to prevention is understanding! Instead of all this we should be out there doing something about it! But who am I to talk…I’m just as inactive as everyone else.
Even so. Even so, we need to try.
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All you who write him off as a psycho disgust me. Don’t you see, this isn’t about rich kids. This is about the people who destroyed his life, and since they were rich, he lashed out against this., I am so fed up with this society that demonizes the most lost of all of us.
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E2MB
in April 19th, 2007 @ 19:10I haven’t been on in almost 2 days.
Oh for good greif. The WHOLE WORLD is freaked out by this. THE WHOLE WORLD!!!
This is so blasted with publicity I don’t even want to list all the places I heard about this. And I didn’t even watch the news at all.
-Hours after it happened, the story was out on MuseBlog
-The next day it was on the front cover of San Fransisco Chronicle at my school, and today it was up again
-Also on the Front cover of Press Democrat at my school
-Youth pastor talked about it Wendsday night
-School band teacher talked about it todayMUSEBLOG??? MUSEBLOG?!?!? MUSEBLOG IS WHERE I FIRST FIND OUT ABOUT THIS SORT OF THING!?!? *shudder*
Sorry if I’m acting weird, but I lived a very sheltered life until last year when I enrolled in a public school, where I learned so much stuff about the real world I am just downright shocked.
THIS THREAD HAS BEEN RATED A "C" USING RED-TAILED HAWK'S GUIDE TO RATING THREADS.And also…
FS, please just stop it with your prejudiced statements about the US. Nobody in the history of the US has EVER gone out and murdered 33 people.
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E2MB
in April 19th, 2007 @ 19:1415 – I slightly disagree with you. Those students didn’t deserve to DIE . But everything else you said makes some sense.
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18
Anata~ChinTsu
in April 19th, 2007 @ 20:06I understand what you mean, Axa.
What’s so apalling is how easy it was for him to get the gun. I know that the right to bear arms is the reason why America exists, but we do need better gun laws. Anyone in Virginia can get a gun, as long as they don’t have a criminal record.
I’m sure there are some Americans who would go out and shoot 33 people. But I bet there are also some British, or German, or Sumalian, or people from any country in the world who would do the same thing. Anybody from anywhere could do it, if they were pushed far enough.
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19
Margaret
in April 19th, 2007 @ 20:0815 ~ I admit I skimmed that. I’m a bit pressed for time – my mom’s about to kick me off and I just got here. But the kid was mentally ill. I totally understand what you mean about his being a loner and such, but people had tried to reach out to him and he’d pushed them away.
He clearly needed more help, and that’s definitely something to work on.{Added} I just looked over your post again and I see you did say that it might not fit with the most recent case. In general, I agree. Have you read Give a Boy a Gun? It was a kind of scary book, in a way, because it was so real. The kids in that book, you can probably find kids like that in any school (especially bigger public schools; although I don’t want to stereotype, smaller private schools in my experience of visiting my friends’ schools and such tend to have less “cliqueyness” than my biger school), and you can see how they could be pushed to do such a thing.
My final word on the matter is that the V-Tech kids didn’t deserve to die, nor did the Columbine kids, or anyone else, but I don’t think you’re disputing this.
~~~
The world really depresses me sometimes though. The Times usually has a lot of little stuff, including something nice on the front page, but today there were only about five big stories and they were all bad and I just had the urge to rip the thing up and curl up in bed or something. I wish there were more I could do.
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Anata~ChinTsu
in April 19th, 2007 @ 20:10Arrg…bad html. Fix it please.
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Margaret
in April 19th, 2007 @ 20:13And about the gun, Virginia has incredibly lax gun control compared to other states, but the fact that the federal government finds banning abortions more important than gun control honestly astonishes me. People say “He was insane, if he really wanted a gun, he would’ve gotten one no matter what,” but does that really mean we should dismiss it like it doesn’t matter? It makes no sense.
And in a random added rant, I hate when politicians dodge issues so they won’t make a couple of people angry and lose their position. What’s the point of keeping them in office if they’re just going to dodge the issues that are important to us/them?
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Axa
in April 19th, 2007 @ 21:10(16) The world is not the US, just so you know. People die of starvation and disease everyday, but we don’t hear about that like we hear about this do we? It’s becasue you’re sheltered, like you said. It just…it just frustrates me to saee that so many young people think this is the end of the world when there are horrible things happening on school other places (getting bombed, for example).
(17,19) I am not saying they deserved to die, or defending his actions I’m saying that is is understandable why he did it, that it’s not just his fault, and that instead of smearing his character we need to work to stop bullying because this is what it leads to. Also I am not wiping anyone at that school clean of blame. You can’t tell me that no one made fun of him there.
Everyone tells me “he was offered help”. Can anyone say that, in his position, they would take it? If you were disgusted with your surroundings, including the people and what they stood for, can you honestly tell me that you would happily receive help for the problems they saw in you?
Honestly, all we know is what the news is telling us, and I for one don’t think most people have an accurate remembrance of th past. if I were to die, people who weren’t even my friends would clamor all over the place saying “how nice she was” and crap like that. So of course they say they reached out to him.
I am sickened by the public response.
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Pentatonikk.salir
in April 19th, 2007 @ 22:0015 (Axa)- YES.
16 (E2MB)- Except for plenty of soldiers, and this gunman.
I think on some level, we all understand what the shooter went through. Any Museblogger who hasn’t been teased or hurt by other people, ever…well, I want your life. Different people react in different ways to depression and stress, depending on how severe it is and what kind of a person they are. But those impulses are there. You can’t tell me that you’ve never wanted to just lash out at the world when it’s dealt you a bad hand. Just because you’re mostly happy and you’ve never hurt or killed another person doesn’t mean you’ve never thought about it. Maybe it wasn’t very serious. Maybe you were ashamed afterward. It doesn’t matter. You understand.
I really hate it when people try to turn this sort of tragedy into a debate about gun control. I am anti-gun, but this isn’t about guns. It’s about simple human empathy, or the lack of it.
I haven’t seen the videos or read the letter, but I’m pretty sure that the absence of empathy, the absence of people who really cared, were a huge part of this. And it’s sad, how people pretend they’ve never been hurt before, like they don’t understand something so human. And it’s sad, how someone could feel so alone, how someone could be driven to this.
And it’s terribly terribly sad that so many people had to die.
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Otzi
in April 19th, 2007 @ 22:20Everyone on this thread is going to think I’m some kind of a callous groak, but I have to say this: I have a difficult time feeling terrible about this when the thousands of innocents slaughtered daily in Iraq and Afghanistan remain only an asterisk in the news, if they are mentioned at all.
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E2MB
in April 19th, 2007 @ 22:29What did they do to this guy to make him do that?
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Axa
in April 19th, 2007 @ 22:35(23) Thank you. I don’t know if I mentioned that, but this is not at al about security, like you said.
(24) No, I get what you’re saying. And I agree.
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Pentatonikk.salir
in April 19th, 2007 @ 22:4724 (Otzi)- I understand what you mean. The sheer numbers murdered and the tiny mention of that murder is horrible and unfair. I do feel awful about this incident, and I feel awful about Darfur and Iraq and Afghanistan as well.
I also feel hopeless, like there’s nothing I can do to change the way the world is, and the way it treats other people, like the shooter or the shot or the millions of innocents whose deaths I’ve never even heard about. I hate that feeling, that I should be doing something but I can’t.
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Axa
in April 19th, 2007 @ 23:39(25) That’s what we should be looking into. I heard from someone that her sister or something knew him from high school and he supposedly had a really bad stutter so people made fun of him and eventually he just stopped talking.
See how frustrating it would be? People taunt you into silence, but once yoy’re silent, they taunt you for that too. So what do you do?
(27) The best way to do change others is to start with yourself..this is really driving me to be a better person.
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Red-tailed HAWK
in April 20th, 2007 @ 07:56People tried to get him help. They tried to tell the police. But since he had not directly threatened anyone, they couldn’t arrest him because he was weird. Some people just can’t stand being made fun of. There always used to be some people who were picked on, but they didn’t go around shooting people.
And he wasn’t picked on as much as you may have been led to believe. He just seemed to take simple little comments as personal insults.
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Lady Moonstar
in April 20th, 2007 @ 10:27I think that it is sad that some newspapers don’t care. Actually, that’s true with a lot of papers. For example (Although I doubt many, if any, of you would have heard about this,) one day I was reading the paper, and the worst thing that happened that day was a preacher being murdered. I had to look through several papers for school, and what were the front page stories? A leopard changing its spots, something about how Tony Blair just passed a law about nuclear submarines, and, worst of all, that Gordan Brown had parted his hair on the left instead of the right. A man had been murdered for no reason, and the biggest news was that the deputy PM had parted his hair on a different side then normal. That’s what’s sad.
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E2MB
in April 20th, 2007 @ 10:55Though let’s not forget what this man did was seriously wrong. You do not go out on a murderfest one day just because people are mean to you.
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Penty-tonikk
in April 20th, 2007 @ 12:08Argh. You misunderstand me.
Of course what he did was wrong. Of course there are other ways of dealing with anger and hurt than murder. That wasn’t what my post was about. I’m not in anyway trying to condone or explain away what he did, because it was wrong. I was talking about the fact that he’s been dehumanized, that people are trying to pretend that he was some sort of monster, rather than another human being.
I’m reminded of my English teacher’s favorite quote: ”
“Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto.” Translated, it means something like “I am human, and nothing that is human is alien to me.” So let’s stop acting like it is.
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Glassboro the HAWK
in April 20th, 2007 @ 12:1815- I know that this isn’t the lyrics thread, but I think that it fits the situation.
No one knows what it’s like/to be the bad man/to be the sad man/behind blue eyes.
No one knows what it’s like/to be hated/to be fated/to telling lonely lies/
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Midnight Fiddler
in April 20th, 2007 @ 13:19I can understand that he might feel really horrible about just about everything, but I don’t think that going and killing people is the answer. You can really work out pretty much anything in a nonviolent manner, I think.
Killing is NOT the answer. It WON’T solve anything. In fact, it will make it worse, because then there’s no chance of resolve.
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SuperSaiyan424
in April 20th, 2007 @ 14:43what exactly wuz columbine? BTW, if almost everybody had to kill 32 people, (almost is around half teh population) then lotsa people would have 2 commit suicide and americans would be extinct. just a random fact.
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FrigidSymphony
in April 20th, 2007 @ 14:51The guy was being bullied, and he was ticked off by religion and rich people. But the loose gun laws in the US make it extremely easy for him to get a gun.
Columbine was too poor kids driven dumb by the society they lived in.
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Shadowkat
in April 20th, 2007 @ 16:03In MI, the news reported that, at Walled Lake Central HS and Walled Lake Western HS, in the boys’ bathroom, someone had written (the day of) on the mirror, “Virginia Tech tomorrow.”, and the schools made the kids leave their backpacks and purses home and come to school, anyway. Of course nothing happened…but yeah. One of the seniors interviewed was like, “Yeah, it’s a prank…you’re not getting out of school this way, guys!”…it was…um…interesting.
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Margaret
in April 20th, 2007 @ 16:04The guy was definitely bullied. It depresses me to know that even in this day and age people can still laugh at a kid like that and say “Go back to China,” like people did in his high school. (Yes, I realise he was South Korean.)
All I can say is thank god that everyone who’s bullied like that isn’t mentally ill or we’d have a heck of a lot more shootings on our hands.
22 ~ Yeah, I realise that you weren’t saying that. Sorry, tried to make that clear in my previous post. However, the thing is, we don’t know at this point that the kids who died made fun of him at all, and we don’t know that people didn’t reach out to him. Some of them may be lying but it’s quite possible that some of it’s true. So while I don’t want to paint him as an insane murderer and say everything’s his fault, I don’t want to blame it even a little on either the victims or the people who say they reached out to him unless there’s evidence that these were the specific ones who tortured him!
Okay. That was too long. All I’m saying is that this is a lot of speculation. Yes, he was bullied unmercifully. Yes, the bullies were wrong. Yes, he was wrong to retaliate the way he did, but yes, he was mentally ill and should have had help! Yes, he was disgusted by his surroundings, but he was stalking people! I think that he should have had help whether or not he wanted it. And yes, there are serious bullying problems that need to be dealt with.
Sorry if my opinions “sicken” you.
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39
:idea: pie parade :idea:
in April 20th, 2007 @ 16:20agreed on the bullying thing. wait. the guy was mentally ill?
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FrigidSymphony
in April 20th, 2007 @ 16:23The guy has my full sympathy.
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Beavo the Great
in April 20th, 2007 @ 16:33I reccomend that we should boycot companies that put out such games like Grand Theft Auto and stuff because most all school shootings have been commited by children who have played violent video games that were ment for army training. Thats why they have such good aim. That guy in VT had been playing X rated video games like GTA. Some kids actually have better aim than cops! Games like that should be pulled from the market. I dont even talk to a friend because he plays Grand Theft Auto on the bus.
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Beavo the Great
in April 20th, 2007 @ 16:3440-Sorry because I didnt see your post, but you shouldent sympathize with someone who plays games that are ment for police and military training.
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Axa
in April 20th, 2007 @ 18:03(29) Look at what you’re saying! “Because he was weird”; you don’t even know him. If he was sensitive, people should have noted that and stopped. So it’s okay to make fun of people, and if they’re sensitive, that’s their problem? To me, that’s what you seem to be saying.
(31) There is no “just” because in this situation. You’ve obviously never been ridiculed into a corner, or had your life stepped on. How can you say that? You don’t know what he felt like. I’m not saying this is what we should do, but people who think he should have had the inner strength or crap are just self righteous.
(38) I didn’t say you, I said the public response, like th news and the papers, that cry out “LONER! IMBALANCED! SOUTH KOREAN IMMIGRANT!” as if these are excuses and take the lame off of everyone except him. These problems don’t just come from inside.
(41) Oh please. Don’t give me the video games are the bane of society speech. He was obviously already upset by that time, the use of such games was a result of that, not a reason. I agree that GTA is a crappy game, but don’t put so much blame on a game.
And what is this about not feeling sympathy for someone because of the games they play? That’s like me saying I’m not going to feel bad for you if you skin your knee because you have different religious beliefs than me.
I agree with Penty. Stop seeing him as a monster and look at him as a human. This is the result of bullying. No, it wasn’t the best way to deal with things, but people think in different ways, and obviously it got so bad this is what his mind seemed to turn to.
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Margaret
in April 20th, 2007 @ 21:0043 ~ I wasn’t sure how my opinion compared to your perception of the public response, because honestly, the papers I read (mainly NYT) say that he was mentally ill and bullied, nothing about S Korea.
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45
dark duke of darkness
in April 20th, 2007 @ 21:525-LAWL. thats not what he meant.
6-umm yes. lol. but does that really apply today? what is one instance similar to the revolution that could occur today? in which all/most americans would need guns? and PLEASE, DO NOT SAY zombie uprising
12-not all rich people are bad. of course not!!! but the fact that rich people exist is bad. wow lol. that came out horribly. what i mean is that if rich people exist, poor people exist. not that we should kill all rich people.
14-why englad? theyre very similar to america you know. why not.. say, denmark?
15-agreed. so. he should not have acess to guns (along with everyone else) he should get a psychologist.
16-is that true? well, maybe. but, one cannot do that with a chefs knife. in countries with no guns, this does not happen.
21-umm. not quite true. about the getting a gun.
24-i agree. totally.
32-indeed. all people are evil, as demonstrated by the stanford prison experiment. and that other thing, which i forget whats called. you know what i mean. trust me.
36-yep.
41-lol. i disagree. i am a full time fps addict. and gta pwnz. although i understand what you are saying completely, it is a violation of the free press. what if anarchistic books were banned? tons of them exist. all of them urge killing people. well, thats an exageration, but they encourage bad and immoral things. (example the anarchists cookbook.) or what about movies that are violent? some of them are sick, but prohibiting them is a violation of teh 1st amendment.
42-ridiculous. blaming video games… dude. at columbine, they
blamed marilyn manson. i mean, seriously.
44-thats cause you dont read the papers the masses read. dont know where you live, but here it daily news, ny post, am new york, metro, etc.
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SuperSaiyan424
in April 21st, 2007 @ 07:48i’m not gonna ban v-games that are put out by a company that does M-rated games along with the perfectly awesome games, too. i play T-rated games, an’ i’m 12. i’m also half-pacifist. come on! don’t blame teh games.
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Glassboro
in April 21st, 2007 @ 08:1945- Because England rocks! My dad’s English, and I have a lot of cousins on his side of the family. I like them, and I like his parents, and I think that England actually is different. Not completely different, but different nonetheless.
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cHill
in April 21st, 2007 @ 10:39I can’t see how video games alone would cause someone to do something like this, but it’s unbelievable how much violence some kids see every day, and how well they can aim a (virtual) gun! if you don’t feel any sympathy for people in a game, then it will become increasingly easier to compare that game to real life.
The games are only responsible for an increased effect, not the original cause.
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cHill
in April 21st, 2007 @ 10:4946- Oh, sorry for the double post, but how can you be half pacifist? Sounds like half-vegetarian, or half-pro-life!
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50
Kagcomix
in April 21st, 2007 @ 10:57i think that guns should be left with security(police and what not) not wiht civilians.
if people had not felt the necesety to create bigger better war weapons random shootings would not happen.
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51
Purple Panda
in April 21st, 2007 @ 14:1838,43, 44, and everybody – I hate how everyone is calling him South Korean (in the news, etc.) Yes, his parents were born in South Korea. Yes, he spoke Korean. But he came to the United States when he was seven years old and all of his schooling was in the United States. He was a naturalized citizen and the culture he was brought up in was American culture. Everyone in the news are saying “Korea” every five seconds, and that has nothing to do with anything. It is his ethnicity, but not his nationality.
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Robert Coontz (Administrator)
in April 21st, 2007 @ 14:31(51),
It could be worse. Could you imagine what it would be like if he had come from an Arab country?
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Beavo the Great
in April 21st, 2007 @ 14:4843-They were’nt meant to be games, they were meant to be training simulaors for law inforcement. Then they sold the rights to gaming companies.
45-I’m not blaming the video games for the guys actions. He was probably unstable anyway. But the games just incourage that kind of behavior and TRAIN kids in gun use. The kid in Kentucky had not held a gun before that week. These people are disconected from reality. They need HELP. I didnt mean what I said about that sympathy, (:oops:) I need to rephrase that. Frigid Symphony cant seem to understand that what that guy did WAS wrong. I sympathize with him too.
48-Yea, kinda.
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E2MB
in April 21st, 2007 @ 15:0152 – I can’t even imagine.
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55
Liesolotte
in April 21st, 2007 @ 15:23How can anyone say that people should be allowed to carry guns? Our society is completely pro-violence! There are hunting guns in Wal-Mart that anyone can buy! I agree that video games add to the problem, maybe not in this particular case, but in the general enamormant in favor of violence. America’s ideas are great, but many of our practices are dumb or horrible.
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56
FrigidSymphony
in April 21st, 2007 @ 15:56The video game argument? *slaps forehead*
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57
Otzi
in April 21st, 2007 @ 16:3452: Oy vey.
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58
FrigidSymphony
in April 21st, 2007 @ 16:40Bah, America is messed up. The US should hand government back to Europe (yes I know it’s a neo-colonialist idea but frankly we could do a lot better).
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59
Otzi
in April 21st, 2007 @ 16:5258: I’m starting to think so too. Then maybe we could cut down on greenhouse gases and follow the Kyoto protocol. And the Geneva Conventions.
Or…how about we elect a competent president this round?
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60
FrigidSymphony
in April 21st, 2007 @ 16:5659: I’ll be president. First decree: Every citizen must read the Complete Oxford Dictionary, or be banished to antarctica.
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61
Otzi
in April 21st, 2007 @ 17:0760: I think you got that from John Cleese.
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62
FrigidSymphony
in April 21st, 2007 @ 17:1361: Wherever I got it from, it’s damn accurate.
Second decree: From now on, only music with european roots.
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63
Red-tailed HAWK
in April 21st, 2007 @ 17:29But what about that article in Muse, remember about mirror neurons? And how so many of these people loved violent videogames? Why have violent games? How is that a fun pastime?
Oh, and if there aren’t ANY guns, then there wouldn’t be any violence to be afraid of!
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64
FrigidSymphony
in April 21st, 2007 @ 17:3863: There was a time when guns didn’t exist… When all you needed was an axe to rip people’s arms off.
Although personally, I think all wars should be fought with traditional weapons. It would give a totally different perspective on war if you needed to be 3 inches away from your victim’s face while his guts spill out, instead of pressing a button 500 miles away. And it would need talent and practice to become proficient, and a lot less people would be killing eachother, simply because they wouldn’t be able to.
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65
The Lurking One (AKA Zyka)
in April 21st, 2007 @ 17:584) Yes, you say, “stupid Americans and their gun stores” but obviously the people who DO go out and shoot people, commit murder, and random other crimes having to do with guns would STILL get a hold of a gun if it was against the law to own a gun.
Laws are only followed by law-abiding citizens. That guy was NOT a law-abiding citizen.
36) So, you’re saying this wouldn’t have happened if he had had the same thing happen to him in a different country? WRONG! It is the person’s mentality, not the availability of material. Guns CAN be gotten a hold of by stealing, and he was desperate enough to do anything to get a hold of a weapon, even if he had just had to use a knife or something.
I don’t like you.
51.) Yaaaay! good point.
52) Yaaaay! even better point.
58)I still don’t like ye verra much, ye scuggan. Note the size of our country, please. GIGANTIC. Give it over to some little olive-sized blot of land? What is WRONG with you?
62) I know lots of people who wouldn’t like you very much, if they knew you. I myself would hang you upside down by your toes if I could.
63) (Rob N E bo D speekin’) Ye’re fergit’n the knives and the forks, ye are. And the soap. Aye, the soap. *shudders*
(Just finished A Hat Full of Sky. The Nac Mac Feegles are taking over my brain)
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66
Axa
in April 21st, 2007 @ 18:19(44) All the news stations in Southern California were being completely…I don’t know. they were just uncompromising in their views. I refer only to what I have access to.
(52) Yeah, I have a friend who’s parents are Middle Eastern, and he mentioned that…
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67
FrigidSymphony
in April 21st, 2007 @ 18:2165: Duh. If guns are illegal, zing go all the gun stores, zing goes all the ammo in wal mart, and this guy would have had to either resort to the black market (which I doubt he would have done) or use a knife, which would have been much easier to take away from him. Arguing pro-guns, or arguing that strict gun legislation wouldn’t change anything, is completely idiotic.
The size of the country has nothing to do with the intellect required to govern it. I’m sure any current western european governor (wester europe simply because I don’t know the eastern european ones) would do a hell of a lot better job than many of your presidents put together. And those “olive sized blot”s of land happen to have hosted the birth and growth of most that is considered culture in the western world. America
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68
dark duke of darkness
in April 21st, 2007 @ 19:2464-i agree. except for the fact that all wars shouldnt exist in the first place.
63- i probably agree with you. but as i said, fps’s are fun. and you seem to be saying that vdeo games teach people how to shoot? i don t get how being good at pointing a mouse has anything to do with shooting. sorry. expain please. cand how is it not a fun pastime? ever played counter strike?
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69
Otzi
in April 21st, 2007 @ 22:09In Otzi’s perfect world, there would be no guns- we would all throw them into an incinerator and then bury
the ashes. However, Otzi has to acknowledge that her perfect world is unlikely to exist anytime soon, and also acknowledge this persistent thing called the second amendement:A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
This is used by pro-gun people to mean “complete freedom to own a gun”. However, they forget the first half of the thing. The part about the militia. The founders were scared to death by the idea of an autocracy, and so wanted to ensure that we would always be protected by a militia- a people’s military, not a governmental one. Which, hello, we don’t have. So when we get the initiative to get off our butts and form a militia, we will have earned the right to carry guns. But not before.
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70
E2MB
in April 21st, 2007 @ 22:3469 – In Otzi’s perfect world, do people fire pies instead of bullets?
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71
SuperSaiyan424
in April 22nd, 2007 @ 07:5149 – the other half is busy reading bloody manga.
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72
SuperSaiyan424
in April 22nd, 2007 @ 07:53fridgy: BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!! (censorz)
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73
Margaret
in April 22nd, 2007 @ 12:2445 and 66 ~ I read the New York Times for the most part. I assume you’ve heard of it, but I could be wrong…It’s a huge, famous paper, that I think has a somewhat liberal bias, but that might just be my perception because I tend to view things with a liberal bias.
52 ~ I shudder to think…
59 ~ If we don’t, I will cry nonstop until 2012, at which point I’ll be able to vote. And become incredibly politically active and try to get him/her impeached/removed from office. I’ve spent enough of my life with incompetent presidents! I mean, I was only seven when Bush was elected and back then an election was a little like a football game for me (root for whoever dad’s rooting for) but when your dad’s a polysci professor you kind of have to be interested in politics. (Well, I guess it’d be possible…)
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74
dark duke of darkness
in April 22nd, 2007 @ 12:4669-weeellll. actually. ever heard of teh national guard?
but i totally agree with you.
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75
cHill
in April 23rd, 2007 @ 19:4769- I’d come and live in Otzi’s Perfect World in a flash! What constitutes a militia though? The National Guard? What about a gang? Princeton’s defitnition is as follows:
“# civilians trained as soldiers but not part of the regular army
# the entire body of physically fit civilians eligible by law for military service; “their troops were untrained militia”; “Congress shall have power to provide for calling forth the militia”–United States Constitution ”
I think I could put together a group of trained civilians. I’m in complete agreement with your big picture though.
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76
Pentatonikk.salir
in April 23rd, 2007 @ 22:3662 (FS)- I happen to like Asian music, thank you very much. And what about those aboriginal Australian chants I’m so fond of? Gawsh.
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77
The Insane Blue Sage
in April 24th, 2007 @ 08:04FS: The people in our goverment are messed up but the rest of us normal poeple aren’t
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78
rabbity24
in April 24th, 2007 @ 15:55Omg!!! Why is everybody interested in Virginia Tech shootings? Som biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggggggg psycho/jerk decided to kill a bunch of people. it’s sick and twisted but everybody doesn’t need to talk about it!!! Gosh!
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79
Glassboro
in April 24th, 2007 @ 16:11Just when I thought that it was time to close the tab. Oh well.
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80
Ayame Yume Neko-Chan-Sama (Penty~)
in April 24th, 2007 @ 16:5778 (r24)- I do try to make it a habit of being nice to those who don’t yet know the ropes. So here’s some blogly advice for you:
1. Read the backlog.
2. Be considerate of what others think.
3. If there’s a thread for it, people will talk about it.
4. We’re all Musers–SPLATTAGE.
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81
Kiara
in April 24th, 2007 @ 19:0633 – Behind Blue Eyes
37 – Some senior at Gabriel Richard did a bomb threat, and a lot of my freinds’ older siblings came to our school that day. There wer a bunch of high-schoolers walking around. The kid was expelled, and is going to be prosecuted as n adult for up to 20 years in prison. His life is basically ruined.
40 – I understand that, but shouldn’t you also kinda feel sorry for all those kids who got their lives blown away by him?!?!?!?!?
41 – Actually, his aim wasn’t very good. He had shot over 100 bullets, and many victims had multiple wounds, whhile the injured were not usually crucially wounded.
Axa – I understand your point of view, and I understand that this was the product of bullying. I understand that he had to take it out somehow, but I do not understand why he had to go around and kill people because of it.
“The cry that is never heard is often the most pained”
I pretty much agree with you.
58 – *sigh* Is this why the English are still referring to America as “The Colonies”? We can take care of ourselves, we just need to get a better prez. (i.e. Kokopelli)
64 – Traditional weapons would be good, but someone would be bound to cheat and blow up the opposing army with current technology.
67 – Sure, zing goes al;l that stuff, but wheeeeeee goes the illegal smuggling of guns., Even if it was harder to get guns, people still would.
73 – My lil’ sis said that she would vote for Bush because she thought that he looked better.
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82
Beavo the Great
in April 24th, 2007 @ 19:3681-That is why she is your lil sis and not an 18 year old voter.
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83
Koko du Pelle
in April 25th, 2007 @ 11:562- He killed himself after shooting all those students? I didn’t hear about that.
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84
E2MB
in April 25th, 2007 @ 12:1283 – If he hadn’t killed himself, what would people have done to him?
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85
Elizabeth
in April 25th, 2007 @ 17:41did anyone read the article in newsweek about this? It explains everything thoroughly, then it had profiles of everyone that was killed, also first hand accounts of 2 people that were in the room where the killer went and got shot but lived, it was really interesting and sad
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86
Glassboro
in April 25th, 2007 @ 17:4581- 80 colonies still free. I completely agree w/ FS, except the US should go back to the UK.
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87
Pyro
in April 25th, 2007 @ 20:0253-Just because you are good a Doom or Counterstrike doesn’t mean you can shoot a gun well, nor does it make you more violent, unless you are predisposed towards that sort of thing. There have been so many studies about this sort of thing… and regardless of that, when they searched his room, no video games were found. So there.
GAPAs, do we have a Gun Control/political issues thread?
that would be a good place to argue about all this.
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88
Glassboro
in April 26th, 2007 @ 06:0586- That was meant to be “50 colonies still free”.
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89
pen,/ta/to'/nikk (adj)
in April 27th, 2007 @ 00:42Penty has concluded that Musers want to turn any remotely serious topic into a discussion about how much America sucks.
And maybe it does, and maybe she’s moving to Toronto as soon as she gets out of college, but still. There are worse countries in the world. And if European supremacy has ever solved anything that didn’t create more problems later, I will eat my computer.
Don’t say America, or India/Pakistan, or Africa. I’ve heard it, and I will argue it. But on Hot Topics, and not here, because this thread is about tragedy, not about gun control or colonialism.
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90
Agrrrfishi
in April 28th, 2007 @ 14:4189- America is a good country. we may have our wars, squabbles and differences but I think we can all come to the conclusion that evryone has good in them somewhere, even the murderer who killed all of those innocent students. It seems hard to beleive in such things like that at this sorrowful time, but at least we can count that somewhere in the world there is something good to expect from the future.
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91
Beavo the Great
in April 29th, 2007 @ 18:1990-Yes, America is a good country, I’m really patriotic and all. But it’s going down the drain fast. I refuse to buy those little Livestrong bracelets that say “support our troops” because “our troops” shouldnt be over there in the first place. I do have a collection of those little livestrong bracelets saying other things though! I so agree with you that everyone has some good in them.
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92
cHill
in April 30th, 2007 @ 14:56Did anyone heard about the Kansas City shooting? I’m surprised that it happened and almost nothing was said.
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93
the pink stalking penguin of penzance
in May 8th, 2007 @ 16:40a kid in my L.A. class- his brother was killed!
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94
E2MB
in May 8th, 2007 @ 16:4593 – at VT???
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95
Vendaval
in May 10th, 2007 @ 14:22There was a gun threat in my school today, and it’s not one of the schools where that sort of thing normally happens. I don’t think that I would’ve been that scared, except a note written on the wall gave today’s date in December,and another one was found last night. Everyone said that if it was really going to happen, there would be no note, but the VT shooter had sent notes before. He was found with one!! Then the stupid kids who said they would fight someone with a gun just scared me because they were so stupid. Never thought even just a threat would happen in my schoool.
Ok. i’m done.
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96
Kiara
in May 16th, 2007 @ 17:24Okay, a sad poem that’s been going around on e-mail for awhile.
Mommy…Johnny brought a gun to school,
He told his friends that it was cool,
And when he pulled the trigger back,
It shot with a great crack.
Mommy, I was a good girl, I did What I was told,
I went to school, I got straight A’s, I even got the gold!
But Mommy, when I went to school that day,
I never said good-bye,
I’m sorry Mommy, I had to go, But Mommy, please don’t cry.
When Johnny shot the gun, He hit me and another,
And all because Johnny, Got the gun from his older brother.
Mommy, please tell Daddy; That I love him very much,
And please tell Zack; my boyfriend; That it wasn’t just a crush.
And tell my little sister; That she is the only one now,
And tell my dear sweet grandmother; I’ll be waiting for her now,
And tell my wonderful friends; That they always were the best;
Mommy, I’m not the first, I’m no better than the rest.
Mommy, tell my teachers; I won’t show up for class,
And never to forget this, And please don’t let this pass.
Mommy, why’d it have to be me? No one deserves this,
Mommy, warn the others, Mommy I left without a kiss.
And Mommy tell the doctors; I know they really did try,
I think I even saw a doctor, Trying not to cry.
Mommy, I’m slowly dying, With a bullet in my chest,
But Mommy please remember, I’m in heaven with the rest.
Mommy I ran as fast as I could,
When I heard that crack, Mommy, listen to me if you would,
I wanted to go to college, I wanted to try things that were new,
I guess I’m not going with Daddy, On that trip to the new zoo.
I wanted to get married, I wanted to have a kid,
I wanted to be an actress, Mommy, I wanted to live.
But Mommy I must go now, The time is getting late,
Mommy, tell my Zack, I’m sorry but I had to cancel the date.
I love you Mommy, I always have, I know; you know it’s true,
And Mommy all I say is, “Mommy, I love you.”
**** In Memory of The Columbine & Virginia Tech Students Who Were Lost ****
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97
Axa
in May 16th, 2007 @ 19:15(96) Chain emails like that are so contrived. The use of the words Mommy; do you notice how this girl has the perfect life? So it’s such a shame she died, but Johnny doesn’t matter because he was some messed up kid who no one liked.
If it’s about young children, and accidental deaths, then that’s sad; but don’t confuse that with high school shootings, or the shooting at Virginia Tech. They were not accidents, and not something to be “remembered” by with depthless words such as those.
Everyone is a victim in a school shooting, even the shooter. See my previous posts here if you want to know my thoughts, I’ve said enough on it already.
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98
Beavo the Great
in May 17th, 2007 @ 18:0996-Okay, so it’s sad. But it’s so single minded. I kind of agree with what Axa said.
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99
agagabagabag
in May 17th, 2007 @ 19:0596- That poet must have died several times, because i read another poem just like that about drunk driving. What a weirdo.
Hippie type question: Why do the people that got shot get so much buzz, when the fly you just smacked doesnt get hospital treatment or even a proper burial? Why doesn’t it have as much right to live?
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100
Beavo the Online Stalker
in August 8th, 2007 @ 19:09*DTS* (Dead Thread Syndrome)
99-Umm… the only answer I can think of right now is fly’s don’t care about eachother (other than mothers protecting eggs because of survival reasons), and their only purpose that anyone can think of is scientific study. Yeah, they’re pretty pointless so far.
This thread should continue.
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101
agagabagabag zepata (trevor the decent)
in September 11th, 2007 @ 18:04COME HERE! THIS IS STILL AN ISSUE!
100- They aren’t useless. They give people jobs. And to them, humans are useless for making them dependable on our food.
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102
agagabagabag
in December 1st, 2007 @ 20:28Besides, everything matters in the food chain. If there were no flies, other species would die out.
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103
agagabagabag (101 piepoints)
in April 7th, 2008 @ 23:18It might even lead up to us!
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104
Ã߀ƒ
in April 7th, 2008 @ 23:53Ag, if we took care of flies, then it wouldn’t stop there. Soon people would insist that we took care of leeches, fish, mosquitoes, bacteria, worms, plants, and slime eels. And we would be so busy taking care of every little organism that we would forget to take care of ourselves. Why die to save a fly?
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