I only just read about that. It's disturbing but the suspect clearly has some mental health issues. I've never really thought about rampaging knife attacks.
You're right, you can protect yourself or take precautions against some things (funnily enough I just had a police talk on personal safety yesterday, turns out my office is in the red light area - news to me!). But at the end of the day you can't prevent something that is randow - bar wearing a bomb-proof suit 24/7 but otherwise you just live in fear and what's the point of that?
What makes me wonder is how much the media perpetrates it. Once you get one weird murder sometimes several others arise. There was a huge furore over some suicide cases amongst young people in Wales. Basically so many young people in this little town starting ending their own lives. This continued both during and after all the publicity and media attention on how the village was "spooked" and people started wondering if it actually encouraged kids to do it more than anything else. After all, if someone was so depressed yet afraid to do it, then all their peers started taking their lives suddenly it seems so close to home, and yet acceptable? I don't know how to explain that...
Whenever things like this happen people start looking for patterns too, as if to rationalise it or make it make sense. Like the girl who was killed in Tokyo not all that long ago, the British press was dragging out a similar ten year old case to prove that Japan is such a scary and dangerous place to be! Full of Manga fiends all intent on murder, some readers and papers seemed to claim.
And yet how many stabbings happen in Glasgow in a week? A lot I can tell you, but I'm still not afraid to leave my home and walk the streets.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-06-11 03:57 pm (UTC)You're right, you can protect yourself or take precautions against some things (funnily enough I just had a police talk on personal safety yesterday, turns out my office is in the red light area - news to me!). But at the end of the day you can't prevent something that is randow - bar wearing a bomb-proof suit 24/7 but otherwise you just live in fear and what's the point of that?
What makes me wonder is how much the media perpetrates it. Once you get one weird murder sometimes several others arise. There was a huge furore over some suicide cases amongst young people in Wales. Basically so many young people in this little town starting ending their own lives. This continued both during and after all the publicity and media attention on how the village was "spooked" and people started wondering if it actually encouraged kids to do it more than anything else. After all, if someone was so depressed yet afraid to do it, then all their peers started taking their lives suddenly it seems so close to home, and yet acceptable? I don't know how to explain that...
Whenever things like this happen people start looking for patterns too, as if to rationalise it or make it make sense. Like the girl who was killed in Tokyo not all that long ago, the British press was dragging out a similar ten year old case to prove that Japan is such a scary and dangerous place to be! Full of Manga fiends all intent on murder, some readers and papers seemed to claim.
And yet how many stabbings happen in Glasgow in a week? A lot I can tell you, but I'm still not afraid to leave my home and walk the streets.