No shooting rampage this week so far

[dutchfire]

Seems to have been a poor shooter though

 

[Borachio]

I really dislike the ubiquitous term 'shooter'. It comes across as something you'd find in a video game. After all, we don't hear that the police are still searching for a 'stabber', do we?

But we do hear about rapists, abusers, stranglers, muggers, etc. Maybe I should just let it go.

Besides, I'm not sure what I'd replace it with.

I'd be happier with "shootist". "Shooter" in British slang is the gun itself.

Gunman would work. But then it might be a gunwoman, or gunperson.

 

[Formaldehyde]

An "active shooter" is even worse. It makes it sound like he continues to spew bullets, but the police can't stop him.

 

[Aroddo]

How about gunman?

 

[Borachio]

What if it's a woman?

 

[Phrossack]

What if it's a woman?

Firearm-wielding human, if you want to avoid sexism.

 

[luiz]

All this hype about mass shootings obfuscate the fact that the murder rate in the US has been falling steadly for many years, and could very well converge to Western European levels in a few more.

 

[Gamemaster77]

What if it's a woman?

Gunwoman, it's just shortening the word.

 

[Aroddo]

All this hype about mass shootings obfuscate the fact that the murder rate in the US has been falling steadly for many years, and could very well converge to Western European levels in a few more.

Oh joy, murder rate down but manslaughter rate up! At least you can die knowing that your killer didn't mean it personal.

Btw, this barely made the news: Another mass shooting in Wisconsin. Just 4 dead, though.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

There is little reason to specify gunwoman, since historically "man" has not been gender specific. The word is a cognate with mind, and mans "intelligent being." Woman came from combining the word "man" with the word "wif" to specify that the man in question was female. The equivalent term for the male was "wer," which could have ended up giving us a male equivalent of women pronounced more like "vermin."

 

[Borachio]

Ah. But you see these feminists don't like it. Man=person. Woman=wife-person. I think they have a point. It isn't the other way round, we should notice.

 

[Quackers]

but why should we care what ********s think?

 

[Borachio]

I don't know that you, yourself, should. But for me, because a world that values equality is a nicer place to live? Amongst other possible reasons.

 

[Quackers]

whats the evil inequality in those words though?
i'm betting most people are completely uanware about it or don't care, maybe feminists should stop fretting over such trivialities and ya know, try and do something more constructive. when they get into this pettyness they make themselves look like the dinosaurs most of them are.

 

[peter grimes]

The murder rate has nothing to do with mass shootings. The two are about as related as the prevalence of air bags and deaths from drunk driving - they both happen to perhaps involve cars, but that's about it.

 

[Borachio]

Well, Mr Q, the serious feminists that I know aren't particularly hung up on this sort of issue. Just like you and I, they're busy getting on with their own lives.

The point is though, that there is an implicit inequality in the language, with primacy given to the male. (English is not unique in this. French, indeed, is very much worse.)

And because we are largely how we think, and how we think is determined by the language we use to think, then the problem is built-in, as it were.

But, as you seem to say, it's not really worth devoting a lot of time to worrying about it.

 

[luiz]

Oh joy, murder rate down but manslaughter rate up! At least you can die knowing that your killer didn't mean it personal.

The rate of violent deaths has been falling, and this is what matters. People are now far less likely to die a violent death than in the early 90's.

The murder rate has nothing to do with mass shootings. The two are about as related as the prevalence of air bags and deaths from drunk driving - they both happen to perhaps involve cars, but that's about it.

People who get killed during mass shootings add up to the murder rate. If mass shooting were so common the rate would be going up, not down.

My point is precisely that the hype around mass shootings is obfuscating the larger story of declining violence (and crime in general) in the USA.

 

[Aroddo]

My point is precisely that the hype around mass shootings is obfuscating the larger story of declining violence (and crime in general) in the USA.

Michael Moore made about the same point in his Columbine-shooting documentary "Bowling for Columbine". He interviewed a police official (i think) and he stated that violent death has been on a decline for years while media coverage shot through the roof.

 

[King Kalmah]

Oh joy, murder rate down but manslaughter rate up! At least you can die knowing that your killer didn't mean it personal.

Btw, this barely made the news: Another mass shooting in Wisconsin. Just 4 dead, though.

Didn't you get the memo it has to be ten or more to be considered "mass" by the media...

There were a few more police officer involved shootings recently in Los Angeles and OC,but it obviously must have been the badguys fault....

I'm reminded of the 50 year old bicyclist who was riding his bike/fleeing from a squad car.The officer claimed he had to pit the cyclist to stop him from getting away...(suspect died of brain swelling/injury from the crash)

in other words he hit the guy and made up a false police report to save his own ass...

 

[Rashiminos]

You could also try gunner.