Timeline: US school shootings | ||
| The BBC News website charts the history of gun violence in US schools. October 2007: A teenage gunman reportedly shoots and wounds five people at a high school in Cleveland, Ohio, before killing himself. April 2007: At least 32 people are killed in two shooting incidents in the campus of Virginia Tech university in Virginia. October 2006: A 32-year-old gunman shoots dead at least five girls at an Amish school in Pennsylvania, before killing himself September 2006: Gunman in Colorado shoots and fatally wounds a teenage schoolgirl, then kills himself; two days later a teenager kills the headteacher of a school in Cazenovia, Wisconsin November 2005: Student in Tennessee shoots dead an assistant principal and wounds two other administrators March 2005: Minnesota schoolboy kills nine, then shoots himself May 2004: Four people injured in shooting at a school in Maryland April 2003: Teenager shoots dead head-teacher at a Pennsylvania school, then kills himself March 2001: Pupil opens fire at a school in California, killing two students February 2000: Six-year-old girl shot dead by classmate in Michigan November 1999: Thirteen-year-old girl shot dead by a classmate in New Mexico May 1999: Student injures six pupils in shoot-out in Georgia April 1999: Two teenagers shoot dead 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves at Columbine School in Colorado June 1998: Two adults hurt in shooting by teenage student at high school in Virginia May 1998: Fifteen-year-old boy shoots himself in the head after taking a girl hostage May 1998: Fifteen-year-old shoots dead two students in school cafeteria in Oregon April 1998: Fourteen-year-old shoots dead a teacher and wounds two students in Pennsylvania March 1998: Two boys, 11 and 13, kill four girls and a teacher in Arkansas December 1997: Fourteen-year-old boy kills three students in Kentucky October 1997: Sixteen-year-old boy stabs mother, then shoots dead two students at school in Mississippi, injuring several others | ||
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
US shootings in school
Thursday, February 28, 2008
What are Moral Panics
Moral panic is a sociological term, coined by Stanley Cohen, meaning a reaction by a group of people based on the false or exaggerated perception that some cultural behavior or group, frequently a minority group or a subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses a menace to society. It has also been more broadly defined as an "episode, condition, person or group of persons" that has in recent times been "defined as a threat to societal values and interests."[1] They are byproducts of controversies that produce arguments and social tension, or aren't easily discussed as some of these moral panics are taboo to many people.[2] Characterization of the group reaction as a moral panic requires a presumption that the group's perceptions are unfounded or exaggerated.
These reactions are often fueled by media coverage or propaganda around a social issue, although semi-spontaneous moral panics do occur. Mass hysteria can be an element in these movements, but moral panic is different from mass hysteria in that a moral panic is specifically framed in terms of morality and is usually expressed as outrage rather thanfear. Moral panics (as defined by Cohen) revolve around a perceived threat to a value or norm held by a society normally stimulated by glorification within the mass media or 'folk legend' within societies. Panics have a number of outcomes, with one being the certification to the players within the panic that what they are doing appears to warrant observation by mass media and therefore may push them further into the activities that led to the original feeling of moral panic