I've been thinking about this for the past 24 hours and i'm curious to hear some opinions.
First thing, though, this topic will touch upon race but no racism (veiled or otherwise) will be tolerated. Second, keep the rhetoric to yourself. Honest opinions are welcome, but inflammatory posting on either side will shut this down fast. I haven't had the chance to lock any threads yet, so don't think i wont hesitate to shut this one down.
Maybe i'm naive to think that we can have a rational discussion of these things on OSA, but we shall see.
So, my question is in regards to the language we use to discuss violence like we saw yesterday. It's obvious that each side stakes out buzzwords and language that either promote or minimize an issue whenever something like this occurs.
When several people are shot, such as happened yesterday, there is lots of talk of 'mental illness' from one side and 'racism' on the other. Yet when the same number of people are killed in other places, it's often written off a 'gang violence' instead of a 'mass shooting'.
If religion is involved somehow then things change more, with 'mental illness' and 'racism' often being traded for 'terrorism'.
So, how do you decide in your own mind which words to use to describe something like this? Can these things be a combination of things? Are people not capable of seeing these issues as being more complex than just being made up of one or two problems?
Finally, i know it is easy to make the media the scapegoat for these things, but lets be honest, we all parrot the words. Simply writing something off as a larger 'agenda' seems too easy. I want to know how you sort these things out for yourself (media and politics aside).
First thing, though, this topic will touch upon race but no racism (veiled or otherwise) will be tolerated. Second, keep the rhetoric to yourself. Honest opinions are welcome, but inflammatory posting on either side will shut this down fast. I haven't had the chance to lock any threads yet, so don't think i wont hesitate to shut this one down.
Maybe i'm naive to think that we can have a rational discussion of these things on OSA, but we shall see.
So, my question is in regards to the language we use to discuss violence like we saw yesterday. It's obvious that each side stakes out buzzwords and language that either promote or minimize an issue whenever something like this occurs.
When several people are shot, such as happened yesterday, there is lots of talk of 'mental illness' from one side and 'racism' on the other. Yet when the same number of people are killed in other places, it's often written off a 'gang violence' instead of a 'mass shooting'.
If religion is involved somehow then things change more, with 'mental illness' and 'racism' often being traded for 'terrorism'.
So, how do you decide in your own mind which words to use to describe something like this? Can these things be a combination of things? Are people not capable of seeing these issues as being more complex than just being made up of one or two problems?
Finally, i know it is easy to make the media the scapegoat for these things, but lets be honest, we all parrot the words. Simply writing something off as a larger 'agenda' seems too easy. I want to know how you sort these things out for yourself (media and politics aside).