Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/12/08/sandy-hook-promise-releases-a.html
…
3 Likes
I was going to make a stupid joke about actors (because of the conspiracy theorists), and then I watched the video.
Powerful stuff.
9 Likes
I do not know who made this video. But if there is anything good in this world, it will be played at EVERY film/movie awards show and be given every possible award.
that. was. mind. blowing.
10 Likes
What disappointed me after the Sandy Hook events was that after everything that happened the people in the community that suffered greatly got harassed by idiots thinking it was all made up. On top of that gun control regulations in the state were loosened, not the other way around. I can’t even.
14 Likes
Oh, yeah. If you look at the suggested videos to the right if you play this video on YouTube, at least half of them are conspiracy theorists. The one ‘proving’ that a little girl was physically abused and coached to lie shows her parents supportively holding her in fear, disbelief, and love. That video is a slap in their face on the toughest day of their lives. Imagine how empty your heart has to be to make a video like that.
12 Likes
It’s definitely a well-made PSA. I have some misgivings about the “if you see something say something message” though. It’s hard to avoid the thought that this could be taken as “guns don’t kill people, kids who are different kill people”
9 Likes
It’s the obsession about guns, though, that is one of the known symptoms.
7 Likes
I do think that the “See something say something” message is valid but it needs to be framed differently. The majority of the shootings done by young people at schools are individuals that have been marginalized, bullied and driven to lash out. They need help, and by the time they’ve picked up a gun that is someone that has been failed by their peers and by those in charge.
4 Likes
Every society has marginalized kids. Ours is just alone among the developed world in making sure they have relatively easy access to handguns and assault rifles.
There’s a difference between “social outcast who plays World of Warcraft in his basement” and “social outcast who posts pics of himself brandishing pistols on facebook.”
6 Likes
except… It is true.
Grey_Devil’s point drives home the subtlety that while it may be “kids who are different kill people” it is usually a particular type of “different” and not just being different in general. Further, it is a noticeable type of different that should always be addressed (even if it wont escalate to violence).
It is a mental health issue, as much as it is a problem with easy access to guns. However if they were not able to turn to guns or other weapons the problem would not go away. Yes a bunch of people would not die at the hand of a shooter, but that troubled person may become a ticking time bomb in some form or another down the line.
P.S: Not disagreeing with you btw 
just saying that blocking access to guns alone is not enough.
2 Likes
There is nothing wrong with the “IYSS-SS” thought process. It is WHAT we train/teach people to see.
Seeing me a white male walking down the street with my 13 yr old son who is mixed but clearly more black than white as an ominous issue to report is a problem.
Seeing a teenager you know posting a social media pic of him pointing a gun menacingly - SAY SOMETHING GOD DAMMIT.
5 Likes
The issue with that line of thought is what would someone consider something worth reporting? Most of the time the “IYSS-SS” thing pops up there’s no criteria and is left to be very vague. Which brings about problems of racial profiling, or selling fear to the masses in a way that is not helpful.
What’s why i said that it needs to reframed to be more specific. And in the case of school shootings, you want to be able to reach the kids that are having problems before they decide to pick up a gun. Not once they have it.
4 Likes
wow, this is definitely an effective piece. i was totally waiting for the main character to get jilted and spin out, or find out that the person he was scribbling with was a guy, triggering some homophobic meltdown, or who knows what.
we had a kid here in reno yesterday pull a knife at school and start swinging it at people, and in the end the school cop shot him in the shoulder and disabled him. at first i thought this was the right call (and it’s definitely the right call to disarm, not kill), but this AM i’m reading stories about how the kid had been bullied and now i’m conflicted. he probably could’ve just as easily gotten a gun and done much worse, but this was definitely a cry for help. i wish those who know him would’ve said something about the bullying before now. maybe they did, but i haven’t seen any mention of it yet.
5 Likes
Meanwhile…
You may remember the awesome parent who was victimized from this story:
6 Likes
agreed. can’t fave enough
2 Likes
Good video but the message is wrong. You couldn’t reliably spot the signs that someone is going to do a shooting because life isn’t a YouTube video you can rewind. Remember all the quotes of “they were just a normal quiet guy” from most of these events?
The charity navigates the debate away from limiting people’s access to guns, which should be the real point of debate here. Surprised this was shared on BoingBoing without comment, and seems unchallenged here.
2 Likes
That’s because the bb headline gives away the topic of the piece right up front. When I first saw it I didn’t have the advance spoiler and as effective as everyone here finds it I have to imagine that the PSA is even more powerful with the surprise intact.
Pretty good, until you consider that you could change the blonde gun-obsessed kid to a middle-eastern kid reading arabic literature and news sites that turns out to be a bomber, and then you have an ad advocating racial profilling.
The point is, thousands of kids show those “suspicious” signs and they do NOT start shooting schools. Just as other school shooters have NOT shown those signs.
Profiling inevitably rounds up more innocents than guilty persons.
5 Likes
Did you watch the video? That was one of the components shown.
1 Like
