Do Bullies Drive People to Kill?
Looks like a violent day. A teen shot dead 9 people in a school in Finland, including a principal and a nurse. He had bought a gun on Oct 29 and planned his attack. While such violence is rare in Finland despite its highest number of gun owners, it shocked the nation that a bullied teen went to such lengths on a killing spree. After the Columbian and V Tech shooting spree, this seem to indicate that teens who feel like they have are outcasts will go on a shooting spree. They will finally get themselves killed or commit suicide.
In Japan, bullied school children commit suicide either in a group or alone. Goes to show that bullies drive people to their graves. A few questions that are running in my mind are why do they get bullied, why do they want to bully them and why no one cared enough to notice that something is wrong? Why are they shunned?
Are we that discriminating? Do we avoid abnormal people? Or we avoid them because they are physically abnormal, we just don’t like the way they are dressed, hate their thinking or we like to group together and just criticize them?
Are gun laws to be blamed? Should the laws be changed such that this will not happen again? Should family members and close friends talk to those who have been bullied constantly and assure them that despite these odds, they will survive?
November 13th, 2007 at 12:30 am
I don’t think it’s because of the guns. Look at all the media attention those shootings get all the time. It can influence a lot fragile minds. Violence only leads to violence. Maybe we shouldn’t do so much publicity to these sad events.
November 13th, 2007 at 8:56 am
@modobs
Finland proved that even with the highest rate of gun owners than in other countries, this was the 1st time that such a shooting spree occurred. Hence, like you said, it isn’t about guns. Most likely it’s due to psychological and pressure from bullying and dominance of the bullies that led to this tragedy. Other issues like families may add on to it. By publicising these sad events, the media will get noticed. This is about business in a way.