Comments on: Fear 101

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:10:15 +0000

I would like to point out the following possibly impotant items:

big schools themselves are a new phenomenon. There were no big schools anywhere prior to about 1975, and most have been built in the last 25 years.

there may have been a lull in certain kinds of crime during the 1960s and 70s (or some other recent period) which makes that crime look like a crime wave subsequently. But if you look over a century long period, violent crime has decreased by an order of magnitude.

By: Stephanie Z

Stephanie Z — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:53:33 +0000

Wayne, there’s plenty of vague to go around. I meant “you” as a generation. 🙂

I agree that big school shootings seem to be a fairly new phenonmenon, but I’m not sure that’s due to more than the attention they get. A kid feeling the need to lash out probably finds some appeal in the idea that people will pay attention.

I suspect (but don’t have evidence at hand!) that part of the increase in violent crime from 1961 to the present is due to changing definitions of victims of crime. There were a number of acts that in 1961 weren’t broadly considered criminal, based on the idea either that the victim deserved it or that the crime was a private matter. That’s less true now. I can’t say how much of the difference that would account for either.

By: Wayne Conrad

Wayne Conrad — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:05:08 +0000

Stephanie, I’ve never been violent. I was thinking about whether schools are more violent, and whether we as a people are more violent. My fault for being vague. Have schools become more violent places? Columbine and Virginia Tech seem to be a modern phenomenon. I do not remember schools having these events as a child: I’ve come to associate them with “gun free zones,” whether fairly or not.

You did make me go look at statistics, though–thanks. Looks like my perception that we as a people are more violent now may not match reality. A cursory look at the web (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States) shows that overall violent crime has decreased greatly since 1980, when I graduated (but it does matter where you start measuring: If you start from 1961, when I was born, then violent crime is now greatly increased). I’d like to also know whether schools are safer places. Perception and reality having this way of not matching, that, too, probably holds surprises for me.

By: Stephanie Z

Stephanie Z — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:04:43 +0000

Wayne, what’s your evidence that you were less violent?

By: Wayne Conrad

Wayne Conrad — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:50:20 +0000

Fear sells. Always has, always will.

It as pretty common for us kids, back in the day, to leave high school, drive out to the country, and go shooting. With the rifles and ammo we had kept in our cars, on school property while we were in class. Those were different times. We were less violent. We were also raised around arms and knew their safe handling.

By: Mike Haubrich, FCD

Mike Haubrich, FCD — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 10:36:33 +0000

I was going to suggest fishnet bodysuits because even plastic shivs can be concealed with speedos, but even then I am sure that otherwise peaceful kids would find a way to kill other kids.

No, I think that we should all be required to be naked in all public indoor places.

By: MarkusR

MarkusR — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:03:33 +0000

I vote for superhero outfits.

By: cthulhu's minion

cthulhu's minion — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:58:56 +0000

It shows my age and the fact that i went to a rural high school but during deer season it was pretty common for students to bring rifles and shotguns to school and leaving them in the office for safety (by that i mean so no one could break into the cars and steal them).

By: catgirl

catgirl — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:37:52 +0000

Good point about the Speedos and bikinis. It has an added benefit of reducing air conditioning and laundry costs. So, Speedos in summer, Star Trek jumpsuits in winter.

By: noel

noel — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:15:34 +0000

Good one, catgirl, but Speedos and bikinis would be safer.