Define Cynical Fan Forums

Geez...has it become open season on college students now. This former graduate student at NIU walked into a lecture hall with a shotgun, a small handgun, and I think a third gun and began shooting. By all accounts this was not a troubled person. He had even won an award while attending NIU for some sociology project. It's unreal. I like the openness of college campuses and I'm afraid at this rate there will be greater restrictions, especially with the major campuses. Glad I'm not taking classes at UGA's main campus now.

The only possible explanation I can think of is that something snapped inside him for purely neurophysical reasons. I absolutely hate when that happens. It makes for the most unpredictable tragedies. (Yes, there was a shooting warning back in December, but it wasn't so specific.) Hopefully more details on the madman will come.

In the meantime, I pray for all involved.

I'm sorry to hear this, I just don't see how determined attacks can ever be fully prevented.

Rather than launch into the same old:

1. Oh god no!
2. Gun laws.
3. Video games aren't to blame

topic, lets just see how long it takes the Bad Taste Brigade to come up with some jokes about this.

For comparison - V-tech jokes/images were in circulation after about 3 days.

They're thinking of them already. I can feel it. It itches.

Rather than launch into the same old:

1. Oh god no!
2. Gun laws.
3. Video games aren't to blame

topic, lets just see how long it takes the Bad Taste Brigade to come up with some jokes about this.

For comparison - V-tech jokes/images were in circulation after about 3 days.

I'm sure I could come up with something, if I twerent lazy.

EDIT: Well I thought of a pretty bad one.

Rather than launch into the same old:

1. Oh god no!
2. Gun laws.
3. Video games aren't to blame

topic, lets just see how long it takes the Bad Taste Brigade to come up with some jokes about this.

For comparison - V-tech jokes/images were in circulation after about 3 days.

Oh, fine.

How many NIU students does it take to change a lightbulb? Eight: one to change the bulb, and seven to get shot by Steve Kazmierczak

How did the USA allow itself to get to this state?

It's meant to be land of the free, not home of the pantsless mental crazy lunatics.

(this post has been edited to smugness)

How did the USA allow itself to get to this state?

It's meant to be land of the free, not home of the pantsless mental crazy lunatics.

(this post has been edited to smugness)

By beating you guys in The Revolutionary War. OH SNAP!!!

Yeah, and look what good it's gotten you!

Remember kids, rebelling against society makes the babby Jesus cry.

Alert...the following is dull and serious in nature. Don't expect a good laugh from any of it.

It's really hard to pinpoint any one causative factor for all this crap. Some want to say it's because guns are too easily purchased. I'd point out that one of the guns used in the VA massacre was stolen. Basically if someone has set their mind to doing it, they'll steal a gun to do it. After all, what's theft by taking to them, they're committed to killing people. As for the shooters themselves well....as of later it all seems they've been, for a lack of a better term, pants up in the head. Let's face it, you'd have to be to commit these acts. One of the greatest problems facing us now is that mental health is not taking seriously enough. Now not everyone who's had some form of mental illness is gonna go shoot up a place and then kill himself. I sure haven't yet (nor do I plan to so don't worry, y'all are safe). Still there are many who, without some intervention can get to that point. I hear a lot about what the candidates want to do with health care. I would like to know specifically what they'll do to insure that the effects of mental health are fully researched and that better treatment is available and not dictated by the insurance companies. Probably the best treatment for helping to prevent these horrible homicides and suicides is simply the love and support of family and friends. Consider yourself very fortunate if you ever had to deal with mental illness yet had a close knit group of friends and family to get you through it. There are many who are not as fortunate.

On a lighter note: Hooray for my tricentennial post.

Warning: the following contains my usual blunt opinions. If you're offended, I couldn't care less.

Frankly, I'm sick of seeing people defending the perpetrator in these situations. Claiming they're "not the type to do this" or similar BS is either lying through your teeth or an admission of complete ignorance. You can't say someone isn't capable of something they just up and did in front of the world.

Regardless of what inane babble his sympathizers spit out, this guy shot 5 unarmed people dead before turning the gun on himself in what's becoming a disturbingly common display of cowardice and callousness. It doesn't matter who or what he was prior to the act; he died a murderer, as did his school-shooting predecessors. It's time to take the killers down off the pedestal and take a look at the innocent victims. Their deaths are the tragedy. Their lives held the potential. And their stories are constantly ignored because of the media's obsession with the villain.

Victims =/= innocent.

Victims =/= innocent.

Perhaps not always, but the majority are.

Possibly! But who is to say these people were innocent? They could have been closet racists or homophobes.