Mass Shootings And Their Effect On The American Psyche
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-12-17/mass-shootings-and-their-effect-american-psyche
Reaction to Friday’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn., has been loud and swift. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on President Barack Obama to make gun control his No. 1 agenda. The dean of Washington’s National Cathedral said, “enough is enough ... the massacre of these 28 people in Connecticut is ... the last straw." A sense of helplessness and frustration is palpable across the nation. While many are calling for more controls on guns and ammunition, others say we must focus on creating a more accessible mental health system. They worry we aren’t doing enough to de-stigmatize treatment. Diane and her guests discuss the effects of mass shootings on the American psyche.
Guests
Ladd Everitt
director of communications at the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
Daniel Webster
co-director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Dr. Alan Lipman
director of the Center for the Study of Violence and professor at the George Washington University Medical Center.
Dr. Jana Martin
clinical psychologist with 30 years of practice with children and families. Dr. Martin also leads public education efforts with the American Psychological Association.
Comments
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This morning even Joe Scarborough had an epiphany due to this latest massacre. He was demanding change and more restrictive gun laws and enforcement of existing gun laws. Great to witness him join those of us who have been pushing for more restrictive gun laws...but do you think the majority of Americans will actually take this horrific event and move into action?
It seems to me that there are people with mental illness in every country, and yet it is in our country that these mass killings occur with astonishing regularity. It is the access to weapons that is the problem. It is cowardly not to face this problem head-on and deal with it.
Diane, when we have popular radio hosts, namingly Glenn Beck, who proclaim "buy land and fill them with guns and lots of ammunition, we have a black man in the white house"....this sickens me. We need to get rid of these mentally ill celebrities that promote hatred. Only in America are we allowed to act this out. What an abomination!!
How we treat those amongst us who are mentally illness, reflects what kind of a nation we are. Until mental illness gets the awareness and attention that breast cancer gets, we will not see these killing diminish. The state of mental health in America is appalling. Stop talking about guns and focus on the problem mental health! Until we do, we will not heal as a country!
The Atlantic Monthly recently featured an article on concealed- carry gun laws stating that in the presence of more and more guns over the last decades, murder rates have plummeted, and argues, therefore, more guns, carried by law-abiding citizens, increases public safety. A few days later, the Wall St. Journal featured a front page article stating that gun-related violence has increased by over 50% in the last decade. The reason there are less deaths from gun shot wounds is that the lessons of trauma medicine in the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan have been applied successfully to the emergency room. Simply put, many people that would have died from gsw's and been murdered in the past are now being saved in the E-room. Put away your guns and we will all be safer.
I am eternally grateful to the high school teacher that years ago alerted us to my son's "casual" comments. What we had thought was normal teenage angst was much more. We immediately got him psychiatric help and after several years and several psychiatrists and therapists we finally found the right one and the right combination of drugs & therapy. The problem now? Living the healthy, productive life he has now appears finite because the drugs he takes cost about $1000 a month. WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN A YEAR WHEN HE IS NO LONGER COVERED BY INSURANCE? BTW, strangely enough, he has told us that playing the videogames is actually a stress outlet...
Diane,
The e-mail you read at the beginning of your show was so interesting and disturbing. The writer of that e-mail did not refer to the President as a man, but as a "black man", a threat to his freedoms because of his race. Isn't this one of our largest problems with this kind of mindset? What other kinds of paranoia must reside in that kind of view and mentality?
Jim McMahon
What's up with the disconnect in the American Psyche and their government's practiced murder of hundreds of thousands of children through senseless wars when juxtaposed to this one nutty kid's decision in killing 26 innocents?
JamieT wrote:
"Relax. Nothing is going to happen. No one is going to ban guns now any more than they are going to ban gay people or the mentally ill or smoking marijuana. The wheel has turned.
All of this talk is just posturing. Anyone who has listened to Diane Rehm for any length of time knows she mines topical outrage for its 24-hour shock value then moves on to the next opportunity. For example, any mention on the latest George Zimmerman bloody nose picture? Didn't think so.
The most ironic thing is that a year ago Obama's own justice department proposed a significant strengthening of background checks, but because Eric Holder was in trouble and Obama was running for reelection it was quashed.
Diane and Obama are just stroking liberals' necks and giving them a pearl necklace so they'll feel loved. It won't ever come to anything, and everyone knows it."
Fascinating post, JamieT, thanks.
Any one who argues that Diane and NPR are "middle of the road" and/or "fair" should be listening to this show. The most one-sided program I've ever heard. Look at the guest list and listen to the comments. It's a disgrace to journalism.
So for all you folks who think arming school staff would have helped in the Sandy Hook school situation, just pause for a moment, and let's think this through: a gunman enters a school. Let's assume the principal and teachers have access to a weapon, have all been properly trained in the use of this weapon, and are able to access that weapon in an instant (quite a few assumptions there, but let's go
with it...). So now we have a standoff. The teacher is now responsible for protecting their life, protecting the lives of their students, and possibly acting in a law enforcement capacity to "take out" the shooter? Is this situation one you would really like to see? What are the chances that bullets would be flying a variety of directions and additional injuries and deaths are likely to occur? I'd say pretty high. As a teacher, my job is to protect my students, not get into a gun battle with a potential assailant. That's the job of law enforcement. JF Grand Rapids MI
I am becoming increasingly concerned because all morning long I have heard mostly talk about preventing these tragedies, and not enough talk about gun control. I would also like you, Diane, to do several shows on exactly what the Constitution says about the right to bear arms, because I think most of our citizens do not know.
Beverly
my observation is an uncomfortable one. Our culture has a conflict of values at its core. Ironically on one hand we claim to be a "Christian" or "God fearing" nation founded on biblical principles while on the other we condone assassinations, drone-targeted killings, invasions into sovereign nations and have the largest military presence on the planet. We are hypocrites with a selective view of morality. We seek to justify our war-based foreign policies with claims of moral superiority while ignoring the teachings of the very religions we claim to honor. We reap what we have sown. Our children see the truth of the matter and ingest it into their psyche. "We are right, they are wrong. Our violence is justifiable." This poisonous notion infects or culture from top to bottom. There is no solution beyond an individual and personal revolution over our own conflicted value systems and spiritual principles. We need to own the ugly truth about ourselves.
Dianne Bauman wrote:
"Dianne Bauman wrote:
Diane, when we have popular radio hosts, namingly Glenn Beck, who proclaim "buy land and fill them with guns and lots of ammunition, we have a black man in the white house"....this sickens me. We need to get rid of these mentally ill celebrities that promote hatred. Only in America are we allowed to act this out. What an abomination!!"
Dianne, you're a liar.
If you can provide a reference for that "quote" from Glenn Beck, then bring it. You can't.
Chrisfuen:
Wake up and smell the cordite.... if you believe violent video games cure.
Maybe you could transfer some gaming money to cover those meds.
My daughter, a teacher, wrote on her blog that she cannot keep perfumed markers in her classroom because they can bother some students. She wrote about how she could not keep a gun in her classroom and why on the blog: http://somethingcreativeihaventthoughtofyet.blogspot.com/
She asked what would the public be willing to give up so she can be trained as a first responder who would be able to shoot an intruder without harming her students. I certainly agree with her. Teachers should not be armed!
Cas Saint Denis wrote, "Show me one documented instance where a mentally ill/bi-polar/schizoprenic/autistic has been cured!"
I don't know if it meets your criteria for documentation, but I have a bi-polar brother-in-law who is quite stable when he's on his meds and quite frightening (but not homicidal) when he isn't. He has loving family monitoring him and helping him manage his illness. I don't know if he'll ever be "cured," but medication and family help him stay managed. His treatment absolutely works.
Wake up and smell the cordite.... if you believe violent video games cure.
If people paid their gun and ammo money in taxes maybe we could use it to treat them.
.
How does one read, on paper or a website, the research reports of the 5 year results, the 10 year results, the 15 year results, and the 20 year results ?
Public Service Announcements, radio and television, could direct people to websites which require a log in where the research is made available.
There are more of us (the potential targets) than there are secret service researchers; than there are teachers; than there are personnel department employees.
Sharing the research results is a good thing.
-30-
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Flannery O'Connor wrote in "The Misfit":
"She'da been a good woman if there's been someone around with a gun ready t' shoot'er ever minute."
A right wing nut archetype for sure
Has there been any discussion about what medications these shooters have been on. My understanding is that sometimes these medications cause psychotic effects.
From time to time we here have a problem with deer.Over population requires culling of these herds. Local authorities have more authority to control who,when,and how this happens. This means that deer have more rights that human beings. It`s open season on humans,anywhere and at any time,according to the NRA.
If this is the price we have to pay for freedom, I'd rather be less free.
When a tragedy like this happens, many of us want to insulate ourselves right away by thinking of reasons it can't happen to us, so we find ideological reasons. Someone might think, "If I'd been in that room with my gun, I would have been able to stop it," or, "Well, I'm glad my child will never do this because we don't keep guns in the house." It's understandable, but I think it's important to take some time and fight that impulse and realize that, yes, that could have been me. It could have been me in the classroom trying to protect my student. It could have been me, dropping off my child at school and not having him come home. It could have been my child out there, rampaging because of a brain that is lying to him. And even, with some small changes in brain chemistry and life circumstances, it could have been me with the gun. When we can identify with each person in this tragedy and really recognize that, yes, it could have been me or someone close to me, it can help to strip away the ideology that binds us, and hopefully lead to cooperative thinking about solutions.
I should add ... NRA members, legitimate gun owners - including those who own assault weapons, hate incidents like this even more than today's panelists.
Not only do we need an assault weapons ban back, and treatment of mental illnesses on a par with physical ones, but we need to look at the entire culture of hate that now runs through our media. Yes, I mean the blaming hate speech of Rush limbaugh and Glenn Beck, but also the inanae bickering displayed on so many tV shows such as the "Housewives" show. We have the invited derision of "honey Boo Boo" and family. The nastily stated "You're Fired" of a Donald Trump.Even the depiction of the popular -- but mean -- teens on many shows. All of this escalates our bad behavior. And ALL of this needs to be addressed.
Lisa Huntting
Charlotte, NC
2nd amendment was created for Citizens to protect themselves from tyrannical government forces......and was Never, Ever about Hunting.
All communist countries began with the banning of Guns.
Please ask your guests: we create treaties to control the spread of nuclear weapons, and we consider going to war against a nation that tries to build its own nuclear weapons. Does this mean we should apply similar deterrents to the proliferation of guns that are capable of killing several people at a time?
Char M
Bowie, MD
Diane,
We need to get really down to the root of the entire issue. This is not an issue of more gun control or phychological profiles or any other method you are talking about. You are only addressing the surface issue! This is a quote from a celebrated thinker and scientist of our time Richard Dawins.
“In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no other good. Nothing but blind, pitiless indiff...erence. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.”
This is what we've been teaching our children and public for way too long at our public schools and celebrated it by all our media. What we are seeing is the direct result of years of this type of thinking. No design, no purpose, no evil or good, some get hurt an some get lucky, ...as we are just program to do what DNA does, just dance to it's music! How freightening!
Evil is real, and the frightening reality is that we force teach our society to believe in Dawkins assessment of this world, and wonder why these things happen. Until we change the path we are on, no amount of gun control, metal detectors, psychological work or federal budget will prevent current path of increasing destructive behavior.
Yon
This is a great show. I very much agree with the callers. I've had experience with emotional teenagers who were dangerous. Here in Florida, repeated attempts to get treatment or intervention from family services and the schools only result in a minimal response. Most often, the police would be called who would haul someone off for a few days. Even with clinical psychologists telling a judge that a person was dangerous, they were let go on their own and in two cases I know that someone eventually committed murder. Parents and teachers have nowhere to turn if they suspect serious antisocial behaviors until the person commits a felony. Judges can put a person in jail, but don't really have the option or facility to put a person in a comprehensive treatment program (except for drug abuse). Often it's too late.
Most public schools and even universities try to expel or remove identified problem students, but there is little or no real effort to help the ill in my experience.
Interesting comment. So who would Jesus shoot? And which gun would Jesus pick?