Anarchist analysis of school shootings?

Question

Is there a specifically @ist take on the dilemma of school shootings and other student-caused murders in schools, as to observations, possible causes and solutions, etc.?

Comments

Zerzan talks a lot about them on Anarchy Radio, and links them to the increasing alienation and isolation of modern society and technology. I don't recall if he's written about it at any length, but I will poke around in a bit and see what I can find.

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@ingrate didnt the kids who shot up columbine call into his show?

edit: i read that on wikipedia a while back so it could be bunkum, im just looking for it now

edit: ok so apparently it was the sandy hook shooter

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It was Adam Lanza, who shot up Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, CT. If I remember right, he called and had a somewhat rambling and disorganized feeling "question." As i recal jz was his normal accomodating self, even though the call was kinda whackadoodle.

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yeah, jz has been highlighting events like mass shootings - and their coverage in the mainstream media - for at least 15 years. both on the show and in his writings. those kinds of events give him great fodder, and he plays the spectacle beautifully (at least he used to, i don't know about now). for a while (back then), his show often consisted largely of him reading clips from new york times (and other mainstream media) articles about such events, and his analysis of that (which was rather repetitive, and much more anti-civ than specifically anarchist per se). jz is jz, but i happen to agree with him that modern human life is a major factor in such events.

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possible cause - hierarchy bearing down on people through the authority of compulsory schooling.

possible solution - stop going to school. stop forcing your kids to attend school.

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ba@: if that was an answer, i'd upvote it.

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@ba, same here.  though whilst no schools is a solution to school shootings i think its kind of a cop-out, though i know your point was a bit more nuanced than that.  id also like to through something in there about alienation and the need to feel and do something, anything.  occasionally i try to imagine what it might be like to be a mass shooter, and what sort of mindset youd have to be in to do that, its must be really fucking intense.  that or theyre so disconnected they dont feel anything even while doing, i guess it could go either way.  anyway i think you are nearly always going to have these sorts of events, just not nearly at the same level as our culture manufactures them now.  i interested to hear if anyone thinks you could completely get rid of mass shootings, or attempted mass murder/torture that sort of thing.

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section removed due to irritation...

jz definitely notes mass shootings, but i haven't heard him say anything particularly anarchist-analytical, but i've only been listening to him for the past year, so maybe earlier he had something more anarchist to say.

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shinmin: " the need to feel and do something, anything"

i do kind of understand that general point, and sometimes it does feel that way. but to me it also has the potential to creep into the "doing ANYTHING is better than doing NOTHING" mentality that is prevalent with so many leftists and progressives i have interacted with over the years. i do not agree that doing anything is better than doing nothing in any generalized way - but of course that totally depends on the context of any given situation.

"interested to hear if anyone thinks you could completely get rid of mass shootings, or attempted mass murder/torture that sort of thing."

well, i would say it might be possible - by getting rid of mass society (and the concept of "mass" in general). i personally would love it if mass society was gone gone gone. but i don't see it happening, unfortunately. so the more pragmatic answer would be: no, i don't think you could ever totally get rid of that kind of event. if it were possible to eliminate capitalism and all the related mindsets, it might be possible to get closer to eliminating mass events. but that (86ing capitalism et al) might be even less realistic than getting rid of mass society.

as to no schools being a cop out, i disagree. i mean, of course that would do nothing to stop these kinds of events from occurring in other places. but maybe the same kind of approach might help.

anywhere large numbers of people gather is always going to be a risk for those people, and not just from outside aggression.

technological advancements, combined with the mediated ways those advances enable and encourage for individuals to relate with other individuals and experience life in general - i do think those things help create and perpetuate the sense of dissociation and lack of both empathy and personal responsibility that enable behavior like mass shootings to flourish.

i just wish the folks that are driven to do such things would target gatherings of elite power-mongers, rather than school kids or music concert/club goers.

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the 'doing something, anything' remark was meant to refer to a possible mindset of someone who might be willing to execute a mass murder, not my feelings towards stopping US gun violence.

my thoughts about the 'no schools' point being a bit of a cop-out were more to do with how @ba's admittedly rather short answer focused what to my mind was too much on the 'schools' part of the question and not the 'shootings' part.  i was thinking the latter to be a more interesting topic and that it might be more fun to keep the focus more on that, whilst still understanding the unwritten nuances of @ba's point, and knowing him to like me believe such pressures about hierarchy exist elsewhere than schools.  something which may or may not have been clear to a newcomer on 'anarchy101' :| saying that i did post a random comment about how jz the famous rapper's radio show about anarchism -which is a way more fun way to read those comments, i like the idea of someone just rapping a new york times article-  was called into by someone who was almost certainly a mass child murderer, so what do i know :P
i dont think @ba took it personally tho, and i liked his point

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Here are a couple links to pieces where JZ at least touches on mass shootings:

https://profanexistence.com/2014/06/13/blown-away-guns-random-mass-shootings-an-interview-with-john-zerzan/

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/john-zerzan-how-ruinous-does-it-have-to-get

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dot your comment doesnt make sense unless you mean agoraphobia or encholophobia or whatever social anxiety you have with lots of people. with or without some ocd or ptsd. then that would make sense to have homicidal thoughts in situations where you've not be given the option of free association or in a crowded mess. would these exist without mass population? likely not as much. claustrophobia has less of a social aspect and more with enclosed spaces like a cave or airplane. there maybe people around but the people likely aren't the cause of your anxiety if claustrophobic.

cumpulsory schooling fails to take into account the areas where cumpolsory schooling is not enforced or doesnt exist and the school shooting is done by older people. in the USA school is cumpulsory and stop going to school can cause problems for  parents from csp.

how is dilemma being defined?

edit: "jz has been highlighting events like mass shootings"

are you people meaning jay z or talking in code?

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georgie: "stop going to school can cause problems for  parents from csp."

well, yeah....anything that goes against the hierarchical institutions can cause problems....but the question asked for an anarchist perspective...and i think one could still pull it off with a little creativity.

fyi...jz = john zerzan

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I have a dream of making a zine called JZ vs JayZ where the two engage in a dialectic.

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i love it!

i once called jz jay-z, and he didn't even notice. (end steven wright impression)

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funky, thanks for the upvote of appreciation... :)

skyline....i focused on the school part over the shooting part because the question mentioned schools and students a few times, and shootings only once....and, probably more so because i tend to focus on schools a lot in my criticism and anger toward the state institutions, since i see the compulsory school system as the first and perhaps most important tool of the state in order to keep the ideology of authority humming.

i meant my short comment/answer more as an individual "solution" than a grand one....i don't see compulsory school going away any time soon, and i don't know what would "solve" the bigger problem with certainty. i do know that i would help any young person who wanted to get out of school in any way that i could, and i denounce the institution of "education" as often as i can. :)