Vee's Thread of GAD and World Domination

[AntsyVee]

Welcome to my venting session...

So there have been 20 mass shootings here in the US since the Atlanta shootings against Asian women. Some people won't even call that a hate crime. Yesterday, we had one in the town next to us. Five people were killed, including a 9 year old boy. The shooter used bike locks to lock the gates and entrances so he could spray bullets. They have him in custody.

It made one national news outlet, that I could see. I guess this is common place now. I guess if no one was going to do anything after Sandy Hook, where little kids were killed, nothing will happen after these. Especially since crazies like Alex Jones think they're all conspiracies to take away their guns.

Switching subjects, I'm tired of parents who don't care about the education of their kids. I know we're all depressed, and the pandemic sucks, and no one has any money, but I can't be the only one who cares about whether your kids gets an education. I can't really do anything since I'm behind a computer screen. I can't blame the kid for not doing any work when I call home and the parent is like, "Eh, what do you want me to do?" During the regular school year, I'd reward the kid somehow for doing my work. But since I'm not around them...how do I do it this year? I'm not rich enough to mail home gift cards or hot cheetos to everyone.

Oh, and when I call home, I'm informed they may miss my class because they're traveling for Spring Break. Oh, and so are many of my coworkers. So wait...I thought we were in a middle of a pandemic? I thought we were not supposed to travel unless absolutely necessary? Now many of my coworkers have gotten the vaccine because they're educators, but their kids haven't. And not all adults all eligible yet. But hey, I guess the pandemic is over when people say it is, right? Who cares about the fourth wave?

It's okay if none of you have advice. I just needed to vent. I keep telling myself it's only a few more years until I take over the world...

[pulisa]

So...When you do take over the world what would you do first, Vee? Would would be the most important thing you would want to happen?

It must be so frustrating to have to deal with apathetic parents who just don't care about the importance of education and what their children are doing/not doing.

Carry on venting...

[Lolalee1]

Hi Vee
You know what I reckon! If Kanye can run for Pres,you can too.

I can be the Education Minister over there,I will sort out the mf’s.

I believe if more women were in higher government positions and had a set of balls Guns could be banned.

All the shootings over there have been on the news here,I remember Sandy Hook I was over there when it occurred,bloody horrific along with the shooting of those Asian women,it makes my blood boil.

Hope you are well Vee,Oh did you ever get the water feature for your garden?

[Fishmanpa]

I concur with your vent V.... Maybe it's because I'm getting older and I've really become jaded, or maybe I have no idea and it's a combination of things, but the last 4 years and especially the last year has made me realize how incredibly f'd up people and mankind are. I used to truly feel that people were inherently decent. Now, it's the opposite. They say respect is earned. Now it feels like that respect and inherent trust must always be earned as well.

FMP

[Pamplemousse]

Welcome to my venting session...

So there have been 20 mass shootings here in the US since the Atlanta shootings against Asian women. Some people won't even call that a hate crime. Yesterday, we had one in the town next to us. Five people were killed, including a 9 year old boy. The shooter used bike locks to lock the gates and entrances so he could spray bullets. They have him in custody.

It made one national news outlet, that I could see. I guess this is common place now. I guess if no one was going to do anything after Sandy Hook, where little kids were killed, nothing will happen after these. Especially since crazies like Alex Jones think they're all conspiracies to take away their guns.

Yeah, how is his libel trial going?

Speaking as an outsider Vee, your country has 4.4% of the world's population and >40% of the world's guns. They have become sacrosanct and whilst you still have bodies like the NRA and a mantra of "it takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun", you'll have normalised it. The fact that the incident you cited barely made the news shows that either you have "massacre fatigue" or you just accept this behaviour as 'normal'.

You've a long way to go, I'm afraid.

If it's any consolation, I'm saddened at the decline in public standards and political discourse in the UK in the last five years which is why I try and stay away from it all.

[Lencoboy]

Yeah, how is his libel trial going?

Speaking as an outsider Vee, your country has 4.4% of the world's population and >40% of the world's guns. They have become sacrosanct and whilst you still have bodies like the NRA and a mantra of "it takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun", you'll have normalised it. The fact that the incident you cited barely made the news shows that either you have "massacre fatigue" or you just accept this behaviour as 'normal'.

You've a long way to go, I'm afraid.

If it's any consolation, I'm saddened at the decline in public standards and political discourse in the UK in the last five years which is why I try and stay away from it all.

And all the whataboutery and one-upmanship that has come with it.

I think public standards in general have been in a bad way here for donkeys years, but politics, especially over the past 5 years has become more oddball by the day.

For example, people moan non-stop about the austerity measures imposed by the Tory govts over the past decade but still at the same time seem to consider it one of the lesser evils over say, 'them pesky foreigners' and 'benefit scroungers' which many still seem to associate (rightly or wrongly) with Labour govts, in particular those who routinely worship The Scum, Daily Fail, etc.

And I bet if Bozzer was found guilty of anti-Semitism hardly anyone would bat an eyelid, but still gleefully woe betide Jezzer and Keir over it, and no doubt play the 'Broken Britain' card!

Luckily the UK still isn't a full-on 'gun' state/society though.

Though some pedant will no doubt pipe up with 'What about Hungerford, Dunblane, Cumbria, plus some of our cities being nicknamed 'Gunchester', 'Shottingham', etc, back in the 90s?'

Yes all extremely tragic situations/events, though fortunately rare in the grand scheme of things, and almost all of them did lead to our firearm laws being tightened even more.

[Lencoboy]

So...When you do take over the world what would you do first, Vee? Would would be the most important thing you would want to happen?

It must be so frustrating to have to deal with apathetic parents who just don't care about the importance of education and what their children are doing/not doing.

Carry on venting...

Trouble is, parents (and teachers) are simply damned if they do and damned if they don't when it comes to disciplining and educating kids.

[fishman65]

There's not much I can add to previous posters here. Living in a society where going berserk with a gun has become unremarkable is frightening. And as has been said, access to guns/ownership of them, that facilitates an oddball with a grudge becoming a literal terminating lunatic all the more probable.

We've had a handful of spree killings here. Hungerford, Dunblane and the Cumbria shootings of 2010 standing out. But its remained a handful and other gun/bomb related atrocities have been politically motivated. Does that make them any more acceptable? I don't know.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Vee, some day I hope all this has become a thing of the past for you guys. It will always happen, whether a knife or sword or even a motor vehicle, but the more weapons removed the better. Along with this the paranoia some Americans seem to have about big government. Maybe the time will come when you have our cigarette moment where society shifts and it all changes. They said the same about getting rid of all those "freedoms" and the companies owned the big MP's.

It's hard for teachers to ensure students are doing the work, the parents have got to be on board. You know this better than any of us. You can only do so much and doing your best IS good enough, I have no doubt about that. You don't strike me as many of the teachers I had who were just going through the motions on some form of conveyor belt as you care about their wellbeing far beyond what I remember. I had a few teachers like that but they were the minority and they stay with me to this day because they were much more than teachers. Some of your students are going to be saying that about you in years to come.

I used to work hard at school and then I went to sixth form college and did the same. But I had a long period of illness towards the end of my first year and when I returned I wasn't the same person. I gave up, started drinking more and failed most of it. The teachers were (sadly) uninspiring. I wanted to pursue history and much of that was because of my inspirational teacher so I was disappointed as the next 2 teachers were mostly phoning it in. But years later I regained my commitment within work roles and worked very hard (too hard, that's why I'm on here!) as well as looking back to education. As I get older my views change and I see just how important it is even if I forgot back then and it's never too late. So, even if these students don't make it early on maybe they will later and what you gave them will still be in their heads.

Our best may not mean everyone makes it but perhaps even if you get through to that one person you have succeeded? You've changed someone's life.

[AntsyVee]

Sorry, I've been busy. Grades were due as it's the end of the trimester and we're going on Spring Break. Also it's been Passover. I've decided when Passover is over, and I can eat bread again, the first thing I'm going to do is make homemade pizza. Good or bad events, stress, just add up. The good news is, I will have a much needed break from the computer and trying to cajole teens into doing some work this week.

If you all didn't know, my school district and several other inner city districts have decided just to stay online, since the school year is almost over. As far as the pandemic goes, California has now dropped to the lowest positivity levels of the nation for Covid. Although I worry everyone traveling might make it go back up, I'm telling myself not to worry about things I can't control.

@Pulisa, I struggle with this question all the time. I think the first thing I will do is start with what I know: education. Provide it for all that want it, and send the zealots to my re-education camps

@Lola, no, I put in a fire pit instead. I might still invest in a water feature, but I haven't gotten there yet. The winds took out part of my patio awning roof, and I gotta spend the money to get that fixed before I do anything else.

@ Lola, FM, LB, PM, Terry: regarding the gun issue, it's nucking futz here. Congress feared studying the issue of gun crime due to the Dickey Amendment from 1996. Only in the last two years has any research been done, and all of it fought all the way by the NRA. Money controls our government as much as it does many others, and the NRA's funds run deep. And Republicans have spent the last four years gutting our campaign finance laws, making it a lot easier for corporations, PACs and other lobbyist groups to make it easier to influence lawmaking and elections. Unfortunately, I have to agree with this dude on tiktok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMefb2d6v/

@FMP, yeah, I come on here and vent when it gets too much. All I can really do.

@Terry, yes, that's what I keep telling myself. As long as I help someone this year, I've done something. I keep telling myself what FM told me earlier this year, that online I'm not going to have as much influence on kids as I would in person. I get frustrated easily, because the one way I feel I can change the world and make a difference is through education, and online, it's hard to educate anyone, as we've all learned this year.

Thanks you all for listening to my venting session! I appreciate each and every one of you, even if I don't say it very often