What Does The Internet Have To Do With The Finnish School Shooting?
from the absolutely-nothing dept
The story of the Finnish school shooting that left 11 people (including the shooter) dead is certainly a tragedy, and you can understand why people immediately respond to such things by looking for something to blame, or some law or process that needs to be changed -- but at some point you have to admit that it's going to be impossible to totally prevent such actions. Yet, for some reason, people always want to place some sort of "blame" for these sorts of things on the internet. Witness comments from Finnish Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen, where he talks about various changes to look at, such as with gun laws, but also says:"The internet and YouTube forums... are not another planet. This is part of our world and we adults have the responsibility to check what is happening, and create borders and safety there."But, the thing is, those channels are being monitored, and they were watched in this case. In fact, as nearly every press report on the shooting mentions, police visited the shooter a day before the shooting, due to a YouTube video he posted where he was heard pointing a gun at the camera and saying "you will die next." So it's difficult to see how the internet is even remotely worth calling out here. The internet was used to alert authorities, it's just that there wasn't any evidence of a crime or intention to commit a crime at that point. So why bring it up at all?
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: blame game, finland, internet, school shooting, videos
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Has everything to do
You should consider reading "IQ and the Wealth of Nations", Mike. It's a great read, especially when you see various correlations between IQs and such. Seems the further South you go, lower the IQ.
Seriously good read. Sometimes, I wonder.
I wonder if people below say 32-degrees north latitude want to vote in someone who would be a drinking partner at the bar. Hey, you! Let me tell you something-- you'll beat him on the second beer. Bet four beers, you'll put him on dialysis. Old Man McGee is missing a liver and kidney as it is.
Pick the one who will run the country, not your drinking parner.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Has everything to do
Dumbass.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Has everything to do
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Has everything to do
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Has everything to do
Looks like it will all be sold to the Saudis.
Fuck Vietnam. Pussy battle. Personally, I had some respect for McCain but when I learned he turned his back on his 1st wife, and later sued her... It was over.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Internets don't kill people ...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
how is this story about presidential politics?
guess that's the big question these days.
-Brian
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: how is this story about presidential politics?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Has everything to do
It is true that there is a correlation between latitude and average IQ in the US.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Has everything to do
As for IQ and the election. IQ != wisdom. A lot of very smart people I've met seem utterly incapable of learning from experience. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. But after the third time, maybe try something different?
Oh, BTW, there are plenty of statistics that show that blacks, or pacific islanders, or (pick some ethnic group) have lower IQs. Lies, damned lies, and statistics.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Blaming the internet or the police procedure?
On the other hand having read the article, and in particular the paragraphs surrounding the quotation you quote I don't think he was blaming the internet. I think that he was suggesting that police use of information from the internet needs to be reviewed.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Has everything to do
Reason being that a good buddy- Phil Gramm. This piece of work not only defeated my personal Hero, Ron Paul in vote, but he also repeated three grades in school to overcome his academic deficiencies by "hard work".
This piece of "Hard work" was also responsible for a quite fascinating bill passed the few days (possibly under the radar) after the 2000 election. It was called the "Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000" and is the reason why gas fluctuates day-to-day.
Today, it's has a fancy name coined the "ENRON HOLE", even though Enron fails to exist today. This guy thought it was a great idea. Probably 3 times over.
It needs to be killed thrice. Those adventurous and wanting to make a difference, click here.
He's also credited with saying the happy quote below:
"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," and "We have sort of become a nation of whiners, you just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline."
But overall, my favorite quote from this hard-thrice time worker is:
"I recently told Ed Whitacre [former CEO of AT&T, who retired with a $158 million pay package] he was probably the most exploited worker in American history"
So yes. You can try harder. Three times harder, and screw America three times over. Isn't America Grand?
Are you mad yet?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Internets don't kill people ...
people kill people...
a gun is just a tool...
I can use a knife, my hands, a car, a pipe, a 2x4 to kill.. should we ban those too
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
someone to blame?
Actually I do NOT understand why people immediately look for something to blame.
Sometimes there is something obviously wrong. But, in most cases: Shit happens. Get over it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Internets don't kill people ...
...bullets kill people.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Like the fact that Finland has the highest murder rate of all western European nations http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita and highest gun ownership in Europe http://www.slate.com/id/2200722/?GT1=38001.
Seems it was only a matter of time before the two started to collide.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Has everything to do
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Has everything to do
[ link to this | view in thread ]