I went to Catholic school for 12 years, 16 if you include La Salle. The people who went to the neighboring public school definitely had more involvement with drugs, alcohol, and the like at a younger age. Though I couldn't see them being more likely to go on a mass murdering spree. If anything, I would imagine the Catholic boys who have been sheltered their whole lives and grow to resent themselves are much more likely to commit acts such as this.

drsmooth wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:

drsmooth wrote:this inspires me to want to systematically remove Mike Huckabee's flabby face from the rest of his head

what a profoundly god-damned dumbass

He's a moron and an ass. I'm also what you would describe as extremely lapsed Catholic.

That said, having spent 12 years in Catholic schools, I'm ashamed to admit that something about what he said intrigues me. Is there a lower likelihood of these things happening where religious instruction is a key part of your education? Where you go to mass every week as part of school? Do these tragedies ever happen in Catholic/Hebrew/whatever schools in the US? Is there a reason why they don't that can be tied to religious teachings?

I don't know, man. Would be curious as to other Catholic school kids' thoughts on this.

you've mentioned your lapsed status, so perhaps you've been inattentive to the sorts of things for which startlingly numerous catholic clergy have been found guilty recently as regards harm to schoolchildren

(ex-altar boy myself)

Oh, I know. I obviously disagree with church teachings on a ton of issues (including child rape, AIDS, homosexuality, condoms, women priests, and so on) but, as I'm sure you know, there is a repeated emphasis in Catholic schools on the value and sanctity of the human life and the consequences of not valuing said life that does stick with you as get older. I'm not really arguing in favor of anything. I'm not sure what I'm arguing. Maybe we don't need more "God" in schools, but we could use a little more of what Jesus was selling.

Also, guns were apparently registered to the mother.

Trent Steele wrote:Also, guns were apparently registered to the mother.

oh man, what?

Eddie Jordan wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:Also, guns were apparently registered to the mother.

oh man, what?

Twitterverse saying NBC News is reporting that. Seems insane to me.

Catholic school kids generally go to catholic school because of at least one of the following reasons:

1) their parents give a shit where they go to school
2) their parents want to and conceivably are able to pay for their kids to go to what they perceive to be a better school
3) they want their kids to not just get an education, but to be a part of a community

There are probably more reasons than those three but that's just off the top of my head.

Eddie Jordan wrote:the catholic school kids I've known are usually in some variation of a bubble. Is that good? I don't know, they seem happier. The ones that broke free from the bubble were pretty into drugs and sometimes seemed like their behavior was reactionary to their upbringing. Armchair psychology, small sample size at work here on my part.

In terms of politicizing this, seems like we've got an interesting new play from the right wing (new to me anyway). Really pushing the "religion in schools/values" thing pretty hard today, maybe because all the hippies got their weed and the gays have civil liberties now.

it's weird, i have two friends who are NRA members and shoot and have guns. one of them goes hunting a lot, the other just enjoys shooting at a range. neither of them seem to agree with anything the NRA does politically but still belong??? i dont get that.

Trent Steele wrote:

drsmooth wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:

drsmooth wrote:this inspires me to want to systematically remove Mike Huckabee's flabby face from the rest of his head

what a profoundly god-damned dumbass

He's a moron and an ass. I'm also what you would describe as extremely lapsed Catholic.

That said, having spent 12 years in Catholic schools, I'm ashamed to admit that something about what he said intrigues me. Is there a lower likelihood of these things happening where religious instruction is a key part of your education? Where you go to mass every week as part of school? Do these tragedies ever happen in Catholic/Hebrew/whatever schools in the US? Is there a reason why they don't that can be tied to religious teachings?

I don't know, man. Would be curious as to other Catholic school kids' thoughts on this.

you've mentioned your lapsed status, so perhaps you've been inattentive to the sorts of things for which startlingly numerous catholic clergy have been found guilty recently as regards harm to schoolchildren

(ex-altar boy myself)

Oh, I know. I obviously disagree with church teachings on a ton of issues (including child rape, AIDS, homosexuality, condoms, women priests, and so on) but, as I'm sure you know, there is a repeated emphasis in Catholic schools on the value and sanctity of the human life and the consequences of not valuing said life that does stick with you as get older. I'm not really arguing in favor of anything. I'm not sure what I'm arguing. Maybe we don't need more "God" in schools, but we could use a little more of what Jesus was selling.

sounds like if you still believe in god you should probably be an episcopalian. the only two religious people in my family are my gf and my mom and neither go to church but at this point would probably no longer be catholic or lutheran but be UCC if they went.

when the VT shooting happened i was in a pretty awful emotional place. i remember texting with my buddies. they kept telling me our one friend couldnt get in touch with his sister. he and his family quickly drove down to blacksburg from northern va. none of her roommates had seen her. they knew she had french in norris hall that morning. it was all so surreal. i had only ever met her twice.

i remember just sobbing for days. going to class was hard. noises in the halls made me jump. i couldnt focus on anything.

anyways, i say all of that to say that this stuff is absolutely heartbreaking for me. i was on the absolute outskirts of the vt. so im not trying to compare my experience. i am just trying to say that i know what my experience felt like being significantly removed from it. i dont know how you are supposed to deal with something like this being in it. it surely is absolutely devastating.

sorry if none of that makes sense.

I don't really believe in any of it. Just think some of the general ideas are pretty solid and carry additional weight when backed by the hocus-pocus, heaven/hell, keep a clean soul stuff. Assuming you believe, of course.

And even if you don't believe, the hocus-pocus sticks with you for some reason, as I'm sure some of the other lapsed Catholics on this board will tell you.

Trent Steele wrote:I don't really believe in any of it. Just think some of the general ideas are pretty solid and carry additional weight when backed by the hocus-pocus, heaven/hell, keep a clean soul stuff. Assuming you believe, of course.

i havent believed in god since i was 9 years old. basically what happened was i was dying and the doctors saved my life with surgeries, and i wondered why god would even make me sick just to heal me? i have no issue with those that do as long as they dont use it to justify their shitty beliefs. guys like beez are a breath of fresh air, and i hope his church loves him.

i went to SJU, but going to a liberal religious college is a bit different than the k-12 experience, no doubt.

CalvinBall wrote:when the VT shooting happened i was in a pretty awful emotional place. i remember texting with my buddies. they kept telling me our one friend couldnt get in touch with his sister. he and his family quickly drove down to blacksburg from northern va. none of her roommates had seen her. they knew she had french in norris hall that morning. it was all so surreal. i had only ever met her twice.

i remember just sobbing for days. going to class was hard. noises in the halls made me jump. i couldnt focus on anything.

anyways, i say all of that to say that this stuff is absolutely heartbreaking for me. i was on the absolute outskirts of the vt. so im not trying to compare my experience. i am just trying to say that i know what my experience felt like being significantly removed from it. i dont know how you are supposed to deal with something like this being in it. it surely is absolutely devastating.

sorry if none of that makes sense.

no worries, balls, sometimes we all need to ramble a bit and write down our feelings to get it out. better than bottling it up and continuing to worry over it. that's why therapy is so helpful, just talking shit out. have you gone? i would recommend it to you.


it sounds dumb, but sometimes i open a word doc and write my feelings down. then read it back. then delete it. it works.

Barry Jive wrote:Catholic school kids generally go to catholic school because of at least one of the following reasons:

1) their parents give a #$!&@ where they go to school
2) their parents want to and conceivably are able to pay for their kids to go to what they perceive to be a better school
3) they want their kids to not just get an education, but to be a part of a community

There are probably more reasons than those three but that's just off the top of my head.

hmm, good points. it's much like what i always say about why gay parents are so good...because it's COMPLETELY voluntary for them to have kids. it's completely voluntary to put your kids in a private school, so you are obviously going to, on average, give a little more about the education they receive.

Lapsed Catholic here. It's a nice religion and all, but what Huckabee said is utter, stinking bullshit and misses the point entirely. He should lose his broadcasting license.

Oh wait... they let anybody broadcast, don't they?

Trent Steele wrote:

Eddie Jordan wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:Also, guns were apparently registered to the mother.

oh man, what?

Twitterverse saying NBC News is reporting that. Seems insane to me.

He kills his mom with her guns (or more likely guns she bought him) then goes to school and murders her entire Kindergarten class. If all of this is true, have to think a lot more is going to come out about what kind of mother she was. I seriously can't think of anything more upsetting than an entire classroom of children murdered like this.

PSUPhilliesPhan wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:

Eddie Jordan wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:Also, guns were apparently registered to the mother.

oh man, what?

Twitterverse saying NBC News is reporting that. Seems insane to me.

He kills his mom with her guns (or more likely guns she bought him) then goes to school and murders her entire Kindergarten class. If all of this is true, have to think a lot more is going to come out about what kind of mother she was. I seriously can't think of anything more upsetting than an entire classroom of children murdered like this.

come on man, that's a pretty big leap to make that she messed him up. lots of these shooters have perfectly fine parents. the VA Tech parents moved back to Korea they were so ashamed.

I think what Pac was describing with his NRA member friends...it's just a hobby to them. It seems like most people don't want to give up their right to have guns because it's a fun hobby, or it gives them some sort of sense of control/power. The second part I guess I get, although not really...but like, if it's a hobby, I don't get how you are so dead set on keeping your hobby when it causes pain and suffering to so many.

i did the catholic school thing for 12 years. breaks my moms heart everytime i tell her that pie in the sky isn't real.

there is something to the institutionalized teachings of morality

Eddie Jordan wrote:I think what Pac was describing with his NRA member friends...it's just a hobby to them. It seems like most people don't want to give up their right to have guns because it's a fun hobby, or it gives them some sort of sense of control/power. The second part I guess I get, although not really...but like, if it's a hobby, I don't get how you are so dead set on keeping your hobby when it causes pain and suffering to so many.

it's as if it's a drug to them

pacino wrote:

PSUPhilliesPhan wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:

Eddie Jordan wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:Also, guns were apparently registered to the mother.

oh man, what?

Twitterverse saying NBC News is reporting that. Seems insane to me.

He kills his mom with her guns (or more likely guns she bought him) then goes to school and murders her entire Kindergarten class. If all of this is true, have to think a lot more is going to come out about what kind of mother she was. I seriously can't think of anything more upsetting than an entire classroom of children murdered like this.

come on man, that's a pretty big leap to make that she messed him up. lots of these shooters have perfectly fine parents. the VA Tech parents moved back to Korea they were so ashamed.

It's a ridiculous leap but the VA shooter didn't first kill his parents then go to their work and kill everyone there. I just can't imagine the amount of hate to do it in that order. And if he was autistic, she bought guns for him? There's clearly not enough out yet and I'm not going to speculate anymore.