Road Rage Incident

[Jonathan Randall]

Suv driver apparently chased and shoots to death a fourteen year old boy who threw an egg at his vehicle:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16014703/from/RS.2/

 

[arnisador]

We had a similar case in Indy a couple of years ago. Shudder. It could have been me at 14 throwing snowballs at cars. Wrong? Yes. But this is grossly disproportionate.

 

[exile]

The thing is, it's not even clear that this kid actually threw anything. Not that an egg would matter anyway, you get your car washed and that's it---under the worst-case circumstances it might have caused an accident, but 999 times out of 1000, no.

You wonder... where does so much rage come from that some people keep inside them until something like this switched the safety off... How could anyone have so much violent anger inside them???

 

[Cruentus]

How could anyone have so much violent anger inside them???

Everyone does. The difference is that most of us have a small 'safety switch' in our heads that prevent us from doing a senseless violent act on another person. But our society, with media, TV/movies, video games, and so on, does a good job of desensitizing people. This reduces the effectiveness of that "safety switch," and next thing you know, something like this happends.

 

[Jonathan Randall]

Everyone does. The difference is that most of us have a small 'safety switch' in our heads that prevent us from doing a senseless violent act on another person. But our society, with media, TV/movies, video games, and so on, does a good job of desensitizing people. This reduces the effectiveness of that "safety switch," and next thing you know, something like this happends.

So true. It is our normal person control mechanism that keeps us from acting upon the moments of anger and rage even that all living are prey to at various times.

 

[exile]

Everyone does. The difference is that most of us have a small 'safety switch' in our heads that prevent us from doing a senseless violent act on another person. But our society, with media, TV/movies, video games, and so on, does a good job of desensitizing people. This reduces the effectiveness of that "safety switch," and next thing you know, something like this happends.

I can buy that. But I wonder two things: first, why is there that huge burden of anger to begin with---is this just a feature of modern life?(I can think of the kind of story that the evolutionary psychologists might want to tell about stress and frustration triggering fight-or-flight centers in spite of the fact that modern stressors are typically not the kinds of things which you can fly from or counter physically, so the ancient R-brain responses kind of build up, and up, until :flammad:... etc. etc. etc.) and second, why do some people become so desensitized so relatively quickly---compared to the much larger number of people who never shoot other people or go after them in some other murderous fashion? Built-in `damaged' neuropsychological components? Neuropsych components damaged by childhood abuse? Screwed-up chemistry? All of the above? Some of the above?...

 

[Rich Parsons]

I can buy that. But I wonder two things: first, why is there that huge burden of anger to begin with---is this just a feature of modern life?(I can think of the kind of story that the evolutionary psychologists might want to tell about stress and frustration triggering fight-or-flight centers in spite of the fact that modern stressors are typically not the kinds of things which you can fly from or counter physically, so the ancient R-brain responses kind of build up, and up, until :flammad:... etc. etc. etc.) and second, why do some people become so desensitized so relatively quickly---compared to the much larger number of people who never shoot other people or go after them in some other murderous fashion? Built-in `damaged' neuropsychological components? Neuropsych components damaged by childhood abuse? Screwed-up chemistry? All of the above? Some of the above?...

(* Not defending any of these, just putting them out there *)

1) Lots of brake lights and tail lights that are RED and sometimes causes people to react with anger.

2) The days are getting shorter and some people have Seasonal Affectiveness Disorder. They are depressed or quick to anger do to lack of sun light.

3) People work hard for thier things, and others have no respect for their things.

4) Reports that would be ignored years ago are now known world wide with in hours.

5) On Thanksgiving Day I went over a friends house in the evening, while we were there, the police/EMT's/and a Ambulance were taking people out in bags. Earlier in the day there had been a shooting of those at home. This did not even make the local news, let alone the national news. Because the neighborhoos is not the best the people involved most likely had records or were not note worthy, while titles such as "SUV Driver shhots 14 Year Old" catch more eyes than "Two Criminal Family Members living in a poor neighborhood shoot each other."

6) The number of cases might be the same as before, but a stated above we know more about them, or it seems like more as there are more people but the percentage of those without a safety is the same.


It bothers me that people would shoot over eggs on a car.

It bothers me that with all the news about how crazy people are out there, and how we cannot allow kids out of site for fear of them being attacked or what have you, that many still grow up thinking that their Mom and Dad's Lawyer(s) will protect them from everything that is out there no matter what they do. I have seen this where the kids from a nice neighborhood end up in a not as nice neighborhood, and think they are going to go home and get their Dad's Gun (* Been told this myself by some when I saved them *), or that their Dad's Lawyer will put these people away or take everything they have. This works for those who fear loosing their things, but for those who have no fear or no things to loose, or have not safety they find out that being young is not enough to be safe, or having parents is not enough.

Teaching young ones that they are responsible for their actions and also to be aware of their surroundings will help. Now sometimes, the young will make mistakes, this is part of the learning process, and they will be in a situation where they are hurt or die, because of an accident or becuase of someone else's actions.

 

[Cirdan]

This is why not all people should have guns. :2pistols: