• Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
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    2 months ago

    Your perceptions about the experience of the average American are a long way from accurate. You might want to take a hard look at the media you’re consuming.

    EDIT: I have now discovered that the fastest way to kick the Lemmy hornet’s nest is to say you aren’t living in constant terror of being mowed down at random. How do you people function out in public? Do you even go out in public? This place is a fucking hole.

    • BleatingZombie@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      There’s a child in my family who has monthly school shooter drills

      I’m american. Is my perception of the average American correct?

      • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
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        2 months ago

        And when I was a kid we had tornado drills. Schools got hit by tornados, but it was a freak incident that was ultimately an overblown fear.

        If only there was some parallel we could draw here…

        • Breve@pawb.social
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          2 months ago

          If only…

          According to a quick search I could only find 2 cases of tornadoes hitting US schools in the last 25 years, giving an average of about 1 school tornado hit per 12 years. I believe it’s fair to say that was overblown.

          However, in the same 25 years there have been over 400 school shootings in the US, meaning there is an average of about 1 school shooting per month. I’d say that’s a pretty reasonable fear.

          Also one is an “act of god” while the other is entirely man-made. Keep the thought and prayers for the one god is actually responsible for.

            • Otter@lemmy.ca
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              2 months ago

              It could be that many tornados have been near schools, (justifying the drills), but only that many have actually hit the schools (which would be catastrophic without the drills)

              • That’s possible. I think where the data goes astray is the severity of the tornado. Like in other words, I bet tornadoes are hitting schools all the time but it’s hardly more than a strong wind.

                Like just from a quick Google search, there are about 1,200 tornadoes a year in the United States. And there have been days that have had record tornadoes of like 100 tornadoes per day. And I know, at least as of a few years ago, there were quite a few areas of the country where there are huge gaps in radar coverage.

                It’s just that it’s not really anyone’s job to count how many schools get hit by tornadoes. It’s kind of like how with dog bites, it’s not anyone’s job to record the breed, so the data ends up being a total crap shootn and nobody really has any idea.

          • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
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            2 months ago

            And that figure is inflated. The School Shootings That Weren’t https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/08/27/640323347/the-school-shootings-that-werent

            When people hear “school shootings” they imagine events like Columbine, even when that’s not what’s being counted. Literally every time a gun is fired at a school regardless of circumstances, it’s a school shooting. This includes cases where nobody is injured, the event happens after hours, or the people involved are unaffiliated with the school. Seriously, the NPR article I linked mentions a case where a guy killed himself in the parking lot of a building owned by the school district (that had not had students in it for years). That counted as a school shooting.

            The sort of event people imagine IS more common than tornadoes, and even stupid, unrelated incidents that result in injuries is ALSO more common than tornadoes. The fact remains that there are not 400 Columbines a year. The chances of a particular student dying of any violent means on school property is vanishingly small. People worried about their kids getting killed in a school shooting should also worry about meteor and lightning strikes.

            • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
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              2 months ago

              It’s insane that a gun is even fired off in school that often. What circumstances could make that OK

              • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
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                2 months ago

                It isn’t OK, every single case is a crime.

                There was a newsworthy incident where a cop managed to pull off a negligent discharge. Nobody got hurt, but guess what? Still a school shooting.

                • Jumpingspiderman@reddthat.com
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                  2 months ago

                  I think that’s happened more than once. And at least once was captured on video and put on YouTube. It has to do with trigger “safeties” such as on Glocks which increase the possibility of a negligent discharge. Were I a warrior who likely would be in a situation where their lives depended on getting a quick shot off, I’d consider a pistol with a trigger safety. But not otherwise.

            • forrgott@lemm.ee
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              2 months ago

              So what? Still proves that your comparison to tornado drills is, well, utterly ridiculous and without merit…

              • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
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                2 months ago

                Not ridiculous, the odds of either event injuring or killing any particular individual are vanishingly small. A person who worries about school shootings should be positively terrified of climbing ladders or crossing a busy road.

                People are really bad at contextualizing risk. Just look at the “stranger danger” scare.

                • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.comM
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                  2 months ago

                  You’ve moved the goalpost from “odds of happening” to “odds of injury or death”.

                  I’m sure you’ll move it to “physical injury” when it’s pointed out that a single school shooting has major and long lasting effects on children’s mental health, even if they themselves never even see the shooter.

            • Breve@pawb.social
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              2 months ago

              Clearly I wasn’t using the figures in that article because I said it was 400 over 25 years, not 240 in a single year. Even in that article they say they were able to confirm at least 12 shootings in that year, supporting my estimated average of 1 per month.

              Also children don’t have to be actually shot to be traumatized by a shooting. The number of children affected by school shootings is thousands of times higher than the number of injuries or deaths.

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      They literally gave no details about their perception. They might just pity people with kids who worry about school shootings which is a valid thing to feel and a valid thing to pity.

      • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
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        2 months ago

        And I’m saying most level-headed people don’t worry about school shootings.

        While I’m sure other parents do worry about that, they’re also the kind of people who worry about serial killers.

          • stringere@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            It does affect them personally therefore it is not an issue.

            It’s a simple conservative stance because they’re simple people.

            • yuri@pawb.social
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              2 months ago

              There were 327 school shootings in the 2021-22 school year in the US. That’s more shootings than there are days in a school year. If we had an event wherein a known serial killer publicly tried to murder someone literally every day, reckon folks would be a might bit more concerned about it?

              What I’m saying is this is a silly comparison for you to make.

              • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
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                2 months ago

                And in that example, people would still be foolish to panic.

                The US is a nation that covers half a continent and has a third of a billion people. The lifetime odds of getting murdered by a stranger versus literally any other way to die?

                Any person who rides in an automobile runs a greater risk of death. If you’re not clutching at your sheets in terror at the thought of getting in a car, you shouldn’t worry about getting killed by a random person.

    • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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      2 months ago

      Earlier this month, I had a parent-teacher meeting with lots of parents and she had to explain to one parent to please stop allowing her 2nd grader to come with weapons. The parent kept putting a butterfly knife in the kid’s bookbag and she explained that they are doing everything they can to ensure safety, but now when a 2nd grader has a knife.

        • Scary le Poo@beehaw.org
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          2 months ago

          Do you even read what you write before you send it? I came away with the same conclusion as he did.

          Also, what is this nonsense about ops perceptions being incorrect? How could you. Possibly know?

    • FurtiveFugitive@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Anyolduser: You’re all a bunch of pussies for being afraid to get shot in a country without reasonable gun laws and increasing political unrest.

      Also Anyolduser: People are disagreeing with me?!? “This place is a fucking hole”

      • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
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        2 months ago

        That is the poorest decision making I’ve ever even heard of. You left the largest, most stable economy in human history - one that is insulated from any serious geopolitical threat by oceans - because you got spooked by scary news stories?

        Great job hamstringing your kids.

        • SassyRamen@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          No, because a school shooting happend at my kids school in Virginia. Aren’t you due to go suck off the NRA and MAGA any moment now?

          • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
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            2 months ago

            So instead of putting your kids into a private school, homeschooling, or just understanding that it was a freak incident that almost certainly wouldn’t happen near them again you took them away from the best long-term economic prospects?

            Parent of the fucking year, here.

            • SassyRamen@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Long term economic prospects? My kids currently have free healthcare and college. America is a burning dumpster fire and it’s mainly because of the republican party. Take your trolling to truthsocial lol

            • CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca
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              2 months ago

              “My kids school was shot up”

              “well, its your fault for sending them to public school, instead of paying through the nose for private school”

              Yea… the USA is screwed.

            • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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              2 months ago

              Yes because money is the only thing that matters in life, so what if my kids get psychic damage from having guns go off near them? They probably won’t die. Gotta get into college so I can retire!

              You kinda dumb dog, like the people responding to you are also dumb but you’re particularly dumb.

    • fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      Honestly. For one the US is huge. Its like saying “living in Europe” as a shared common experience, two because of our news stations sensationalist stories are blasted 24/7 and on repeat.

      The day to day life isn’t THAT crazy. No one I know personally had any personal experience with gun violence at school. 0. Out of about 100 people.

      Its still tragic that any kid has experienced violence in school. 1 is too many. Its just not the daily lived experience of most Americans.

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      As an American I’ve never been a target of gun violence, but every once in a while (maybe once a year tops) I hear that telltale crack when I’m not in the best of places and I have to skedaddle. I’ve never been in a mass shooting, but I’ve mourned too many. I’m not living in constant fear of them, but I’m exhausted by how many happen.

    • jaschen@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Lived in America for 30 years and left 2 years ago. Had an active shooter come into my office looking to kill a co-worker. Luckily he couldn’t get into the inside secured door and left.

      My best friend had an active shooter in his daughters grade school. The guy was looking to kill a specific teacher but couldn’t find him and left.

      It’s very fortunate that your life is so innocent. It’s not the case for all of us.

    • CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      Yea, you would have to pay me an INSANE amount of money to move to the USA. Between your increasing facism, lack of basic human services like healthcare, and issues like school shootings… I’m shocked more people aren’t fleeing.

    • freddydunningkruger@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Your perception thinking that your experiences make up the default “average American” experience is a long way from accurate. You may want to take an empathetic look at other people’s lives.