It’s not meant to be a criticism of back to school advertising. It’s a criticism of the lack of meaningful action to counter the growing danger of school shooters with easy access to powerful firearms. It merely uses the familiar vehicle of Back to School advertising to deliver the message, and convey how this, sadly has become the new normal, and preparing for this eventuality has become a standard part of school life.
And about being more gripped about school shootings - do you need that? Yeah, I think we all need that. Some more than others, obviously. And I’m sorry you feel hurt by this, but hey, when you bring out the big guns, there’s going to be a lot of collateral damage (bad, poor taste pun/metaphor absolutely intended).
I think I wasn’t clear, or maybe overlooked that at this distance the wrinkles around my eyes don’t make it immediately apparent that my “rather violent” high school adventure was thirty years ago. That, however vague, was my point.
It’s a criticism of the lack of meaningful action…
Yes, that lack of meaningful action is clearly evident, but I just don’t get there from this PSA. And that particular truth, even if conveyed to most by the piece, doesn’t jibe with the final statement about recognizing the signs or the bulk of the Sandy Hook Promise platform, which seems to be less about criticizing current policy or shocking people into action and more about plans for a cultural change.
Thank you for your explanation. Again, maybe I’m being borderline sociopathic by not grokking it immediately, but it falls flat for me. Clearly, I am in the minority, so that’s good.
I know some schools arent like this, and things have been sorta slowly improving (for some districts) - just that everything I remember about K-12 education, is that the students were never really given any realistic recourse against bullies. We could go squeeling to the adults, who would put us right back with the bully having firmly told them to stop, or else theyd get another firm scolding… or we could defend ourselves, and get the same punishment for fighting as our tormenters if caught.
So bulletproof backpacks and live shooter drills are entirely in keeping with the time honored traditions of “letting the kids sort it out for themselves” except now the bullies have guns.
I know there are active, successful efforts to train kids not to bully other kids. And I think in addition to real firearm regulation, these measures will eventually stop the bloodshed.
This whole attitude of, “I was schooled in hard knocks and it didnt hurt me none” is giving the NRA and its apologists all the cover they need.
Shock doctrine has become part of the curriculum, to make workers of the future who are too traumatized to ask for decent working conditions and fair wages. The live shooter drills do nothing to keep our kids safe, but it fits with all the other demoralizing obedience training we’ve already come to accept as normal.
It certainly was a lot of fun explaining to a 7 year old GirlChild last year what lockdown exercises were about and why it was something to take seriously.
Since they started doing them, there have been two unplanned/responsive lockdowns; one when a local police chase ended up with someone ditching their car near the school, and another based on some sort of electronic alarm error.
The frightening thing is that she and her classmates don’t think twice about it. It’s part of their routine. Just like we didn’t think about earthquake drills etc… these kids accept the possibility of hiding from a school shooter as a “normal”.
that’s so many degrees of fucked up that I do not have words to describe how angry that makes me
I just started law school at Seton Hall. A couple of weeks ago, they emailed us a link to a video on what to do in the event of an active shooter. It was called “Run, Hide, Fight.” Think “Duck and Cover” for the modern age. The production quality was kind of shit, and yet…it really freaked me out. I really, really don’t like this timeline.
I remember feeling sorry for my parents’ generation because they attended grade school at a time when students had to conduct A-bomb drills. At least none of those kids had to actually face their nightmare scenario.
I agree. I’d love to see that. Due to the fact that there are millions of guns already owned by Americans I doubt it would be a 100% solution. But still I’d love to see us try.
