Las Vegas Priorities

It has always amazed me how some people are able to maintain their composure and priorities regardless of how dire the circumstances may be.

I'm not saying that OJ was the real shooter...

But less than 24 hours after being released from a federal prison in Nevada for armed robbery and kidnapping charges stemming from a robbery of a sports memorabilia store at Mandalay Bay the largest mass shooting in the country occurs at the same site.  

Humor already? Seems a little too soon for that

NEALSMO said:

Humor already? Seems a little too soon for that

Yeah this all doesn’t sit well with me. 

Avoiding large crowds will remain one my top life strategies. Terrible story that I am not going to joke about.

I'm not sure what's going on with this thread. I will repeat what I told people last year when we were headed to Rome and they asked if we were nervous because of the Paris shooting:

"I'm not going to live my life in fear. We will go out and see the world and what happens happens. I refuse to let single incidents decide my future because of fear."

In reply to Bobzilla :

I would agree with you if it were actually a single incident. 

Bobzilla said:

"I'm not going to live my life in fear."

You are obviously not the target audience of the mainstream media.

I should add: That's a good thing.

In reply to captdownshift :

I laughed.

Robbie said:

Bobzilla said:

"I'm not going to live my life in fear."

You are obviously not the target audience of the mainstream media.

I should add: That's a good thing.

Here I thought it was wackjobs and terrorists doing all the killing.  Apparently it's the media murdering random people.

In reply to joey48442 :

They are single incidents. This had as much to do with Paris as I do to Lady Gaga. 

In reply to Bobzilla : single incidents in that they may not all be related, but for a single incident they happen with an alarming frequency.

I enjoy concerts, movies, shows, and events where large amounts of people gather.   I also frequent many races, including the Indy 500-- attendance around 350K.

I enjoy these events and will continue to attend them.  If we live in fear of these abhorrent people, they win.   Screw them-- there is more good than bad, more love than hate.  I'm going to continue living my life, with the understanding that times are more complex and difficult than they used to be.  I'm going to continue to enjoy life and spit in the face of those who would have me hide. 

I'm also going to the SEMA Show in Las Vegas later this month,  with hundreds of thousands of others......fear be dammed.   

In reply to NEALSMO :

They aren't to blame but they make it look like these events are lurking around every corner. I have family that don't do anything because there are terrorist, muggers, and madmen that will kill them when we are all far more likely to kill ourselves getting out of the shower.

joey48442 said:

In reply to Bobzilla : single incidents in that they may not all be related, but for a single incident they happen with an alarming frequency.

 

but that's the thing, they aren't. We can thank the global 24 hour news cycle for that. When you consider that there are 6 billion people on this planet what happened in Vegas (while horrible in it's own respect) is nothing. There's legitimate genocide in Africa and the middle east. ongoing wars in parts of the word we've never heard of. Child slavery, sex slavery etc. This stuff never makes the news. THis stuff is equally unbearable. 

Sad to say, but there was NOTHING that any law they thought of passing would have done to stop this. Perhaps it's time to sit down and have that honest talk about mental health and why all the state run hospitals were closed and the "crazies" turned loose. But that doesn't generate the click bait and fear mongering they all want.

In reply to Joe Gearin :

bingo. I try to bring my situational awareness everywhere we go...... but it's not going to stop me from going. All any of us can do is prepare ourselves and let life take us where it's going to take us. 

I think it's pretty crazy how as many people died last night at a music venue than died due to Irma. An absolutely devastating hurricane that has hit Puerto Rico has not hit those number, although it may. These are life altering events for those involved and their loved ones, and while each may be predictable or preventable in their own ways, it is interesting how our fears and solidarity play out politically. 

Wall-e said:

In reply to NEALSMO :

They aren't to blame but they make it look like these events are lurking around every corner. I have family that don't do anything because there are terrorist, muggers, and madmen that will kill them when we are all far more likely to kill ourselves getting out of the shower.

I just don't see how the media is to blame for reporting these events.  It happened, they reported it, end of story.  Your family's, or anyone else's reaction is on themselves.  What you decide to do with the information is your choice, not the media.

You can always live in a TV, internet, newspaper free bubble if you wish.  The rest of us are interested in what's happening in current events.  It's pretty easy to avoid sensationalist media.

joey48442 said:

NEALSMO said:

Humor already? Seems a little too soon for that

Yeah this all doesn’t sit well with me. 

You deal with human tragedy your way and I will continue to use Irony as a means of coping in my life.

In reply to Bobzilla : I understand that.  Statistically speaking it is nothing.  But I will say that things like Las Vegas, Orlando, Paris, all happens often enough to qualify as alarming frequency.  All of this isn’t stopping me from doing what I want to do, I still go to events.  

I think many blame the media by providing information to those who would do such events with a recipe or precedent to emulate or surpass. I think the thought is that if there was media silence on such events, they would not be recreated. 

I think this theory is rooted into the comparison of our country vs others. For example, we don't see these types of attacks in South Africa, or Chile, or Czech Republic, and the thought is that because those other places don't hear about these events; the people who normally carry out such attacks are not inspired by them. 

The other thought is that American culture is now somehow intrinsically linked to "mass-murder-suicide", that our fascination with militarist guns and "going out in a blaze of glory" is becoming an American phenomenon. 

To me, blaming the media is fine, but to assume we'll be able to limit the flow of information is ridiculous. As the world becomes more connected, it doesn't need to be mainstream media that puts this on the morning news, people will hear about it. Meanwhile, Australia has at least somewhat limited gun violence with increased gun control. That doesn't mean we can mirror that result, in fact, similar attempts in this country may result in no change in the amount of violence, but we can't blame the media without blaming our culture (and political will) as well. 

Bobzilla said:

joey48442 said:

In reply to Bobzilla : single incidents in that they may not all be related, but for a single incident they happen with an alarming frequency.

 

but that's the thing, they aren't. We can thank the global 24 hour news cycle for that. When you consider that there are 6 billion people on this planet what happened in Vegas (while horrible in it's own respect) is nothing. There's legitimate genocide in Africa and the middle east. ongoing wars in parts of the word we've never heard of. Child slavery, sex slavery etc. This stuff never makes the news. THis stuff is equally unbearable. 

Sad to say, but there was NOTHING that any law they thought of passing would have done to stop this. Perhaps it's time to sit down and have that honest talk about mental health and why all the state run hospitals were closed and the "crazies" turned loose. But that doesn't generate the click bait and fear mongering they all want.

OK, I started out guarded and ready to disagree but on your second paragraph I agree 100% or whatever level above 100% is possible and trendy today. We have a mental health crisis in this country and need to address it. I have no idea when that will happen and it's depressing.

My nit to pick with the first paragraph: quoting here: " In 2013, there were 73,505 nonfatal firearm injuries (23.2 injuries per 100,000 U.S. citizens), and 33,636 deaths due to 'injury by firearms.'" Yes this is a big country but that is not nothing. It's more people than were killed in car accidents that year. And yes, the majority of those gun deaths were suicides, but it still needs addressed. Via the methods you seem to be suggesting, in my opinion.

I think we also need to separate death as a result of civil unrest and instability like situations in Mayanmar and central Africa, death as a result of famine or natural disaster, and even terrorist actions in Europe from what we've got in the USA. 

We've got significantly more incidents of people committing mass murder for no other reason than to "go out in a blaze of glory". They don't have a ideology, they aren't radically religious, they don't organize with a bunch of like minded individuals. The lone-wolf problem is harder to predict, harder to prevent, and seemingly unique to America. 

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe there are more grim examples of people who aren't Islamic radicals or ISIS/ISIL inspired, maybe there are more examples like that of Vegas or Orlando or Newtown and we just don't hear about them, or at least we don't remember them. 

When I turned the "News" on today they were reading tweets from other country music stars, people who were not there, and politicians regarding what they had to say on the subject of a madman opening fire on a festival crowd with an automatic rifle. They may have well just said "We have no information so here are the thoughts of some other idiots who don't know what's going on". No content or information... for like 10 minutes. I had to go to the BBC to find out what actually happened. And now that I know - I'm a little sorry I went looking.