Skipping over stuff where we agree, I wrote: >... Whatever the answer, it seems to me that having a solid community where individuals feel a part of a society with others they are less likely to want to hold guns. Liberal efforts at gun control seem to miss this point....< Sam writes: >The "trenchcoat mafia" and Patrick James Purdy were social outcasts. They were persecuted for their conscious non-conformity and inability to conform to was deemed "cool" by their respective social environments. This persecution of them because of their inability or unwillingness to be "cool" caused in them antisocial hatred and rage which finally culminated in the explosion. I think it is telling that they turned the guns on themselves afterwards.< It used to be that the main way of expressing one's total social alienation during the high school years was to commit suicide without directly attacking anyone else (though usually suicide seems a way of sending an angered message to others). Nowadays, we see more kill others first and then commit suicide. The level of anger has ratcheted upward. >There is far too much emphasis on being cool and fitting in with the cool people and not enough thinking for yourself and being your own person. The trench coat mafia's actions were caused ,at least in part, by their social environments intolerance and persecution of non-conformity and difference, not by some deficience of conscience or psychopathy. ... Also, I think Leftists should be aware of the problem of the "tyranny of the majority".< absolutely! the "communitarians" miss this altogether. Their proposals to "re-create community bonds" usually ignore the fact that often communities are united against "deviants" and "outsiders." That's one reason why stressed the need for more egalitarianism and democracy. In the elipsis: >The explanadum of these kinds of explanations is in peoples heads and not in social relations. One of the goals of a Left, it seems to me, would be to educate such people and try to explain to these people why they feel the way they do and what they can do about it in a non-violent way. To give their confusion and anger an organizational ( and thus community) expression. I think what we have is a lot of confused, angry and isolated people (isolated from each other too) which is a recipe for disaster. Some of these people have found outlets in the militias and survivalist organizations.< right. Again, we need to fight for more than community, but also for egalitarianism and democracy. I won't bore people with my experience in High School, which was pretty bad because of my very poor social skills at the time. Chess club anyone? Besides, I want to hear the female perspective, or that of members of racial minority groups. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/Faculty/JDevine/jdevine.html Bombing DESTROYS human rights. US/NATO out of Serbia!
