A spate of school killings in Western Europe has raised pressure on authorities to tackle a problem long seen as a largely U.S. phenomenon, increasing momentum for tougher gun and security laws and more policing of social media.
While mass shootings remain far more common in the United States, four of the worst school shootings in Western Europe this century have occurred since 2023 and two - a massacre of 11 people in Austria and another in Sweden - were this year.
This week’s killings in the Austrian city of Graz sparked calls for tighter gun laws by political leaders, mirroring the response of the Swedish government after the 11 deaths at the Campus Risbergska school in Orebro in February.
American hegemony is probably the worst example of enshitification in history. Our cultural exports used to be Hollywood movies and McDonalds. Now it’s our alienation, right wing ideology, and ultra-violence that crosses boarders and ignores local social policy.
And yet media is responsible for both and we still don’t talk about it. In schools, like.
Well, social media…
All media. Television and movies and magazines and radio and records and newspapers and more - are media.
🤣 I’m typically on the side of the EU on stuff like this, but damn. The US is catching strays. How in the hell is it our(US) fault that EU kids are reflecting their surroundings? Right-wing fascism and violence have been trending upward for a while, the US is far from the only country dealing with it.
American companies and institutions are a mayor vector in spreading fascism , so there’s that.
Oh those poor EU countries so helpless to defend themselves from media and ideas. Children are products of their environment. They weren’t raised in the US. If it’s American media that’s “poisoned” the youth, maybe those kid’s parents should pay more attention to their media diets?
It it were only that. Your country has launched a frontal assault on democracy in Europe trying to prop up fascists everywhere. Imagine how you’d fell if Von der Leyen went to rallies, campaigned and economically supported every MAGA candidate in your country. That is currently happening in Europe.
Oh please, don’t give me that crap. EU countries have been dabbling in fascism at least as much as America. Viktor Orbán, Karol Nawrocki, the rise of the AfD party in Germany, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party in France. These folks didn’t come into power because of American voters, y’all voted for them. These folks aren’t American they’re your own homegrown fascists. The polls are from your own people not Americans. So don’t scapegoat us because you can’t accept the EU has a hard-on for fascism ATM.
It is bit of both. Like I said in another post, some parents are lazy and place responsibility of teaching to someone or something else (in this case, the tablet, phone or computer). Parents don’t realise the kind of content their kids are consuming (I know some parents both work at the same time and couldn’t look after their children).
On the one hand, social media companies are already aware of the deleterious effects their algorithms have on society, but don’t give a shit because that’s how they make money.
Everyone is involved raising children. As they say, it takes a village to raise a child.
As often, we’re simply behind the curve. This one is for mental illness among the youth. Hopefully we’re better equipped to improve the situation.
It’s ridiculous to try to pin this on the US. Is it US citizens going to Europe to shoot up schools? Perhaps the US and Europe share some common problems.
And the hegemony comment has a lot of upvotes, too.
I’d say our shared common problem is Russian infiltration of our social spaces
That’s a factor. They add fuel to the fire, but they didn’t light the match. Bullying has been a problem in schools for decades if not centuries.
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I don’t feel like your comment added anything to the conversation.
American culture is our only export.
Almost as if hate is the root cause, not easy access to guns.
If it were, why are there so few school shootings in the EU as compared to the US? I guarantee you europeans are no less hateful, there are just better gun controls
Sarcastic answer:
Europe has always been 10-15 years behind the curve culturally speaking, so it makes sense that these would start becoming more common now.
/S
Yet school shootings are increasing while guns are not, so there’s clearly another factor at play here. To address your question, however, Europeans have fewer targets to hate compared to America, are less individualistic, have better safety nets and mental healthcare, are behind on the progression towards fascism, etc etc. Of course some/most US states desperately need better gun control, but that’s ultimately a side-issue compared to the fact that US society is also deeply broken in many ways most/all European societies just aren’t. Kids regularly trying to shoot up their classrooms is not normal; it’s a symptom of a much deeper problem within society that needs to be identified and addressed. Focusing on gun control simply gives the government and its rich patrons something to point to so they don’t need to unfuck society.
Nope. It’s the guns. People have a hard time hate-killing dozens of other people with their bare hands
It’s the hate that’s the problem! You don’t fix a problem without addressing the ROOT cause. Hate is the root cause!
Terrorist attack last week in Boulder. The guy tried to buy a gun and was denied. Dude prepped molotov cocktails, threw two of them, realized hurting random civilians is wrong and started putting out the fires. None dead.
Would’ve been totally different if he had a gun
Stop trying to sanewash this lunatic. Agreed it would have been much worse with a gun, but let’s not pretend he had a change of heart and wanted to help.
Officials say Soliman planned the attack for a year, wanted to “kill all Zionist people” and told investigators he would do it again.
I guess I’m wrong? Would it have been better if he had a gun?
European countries already have absurdly tight gun control; more of that would simply be barking up the wrong tree. Also, as France found out recently, when there are no guns other lethal weapons—like knives—are used instead, and don’t even get me started on pipe bombs.
So you’re advocating that EU nations should import the 2nd Amendment because (checks notes) knives and pipe bombs??
Jayzuz buddy. You got some issues.
To be fair he didn’t specifically advocate for that. He has some valid points in regards to better social systems leading to more tolerance and therefore less brutality. I just think that systemic issues take an increadibly long to solve, even with enough supporters. Weapon control is a valid counter measure which seems to work for the most part in the mean time.
Weapon control is a valid counter measure which seems to work for the most part in the mean time.
According to the article, we’re currently seeing it not work. And European governments’ first instinct was/is to pass harsher gun control, and in France’s case even knife control. There’s a point where reasonable controls and vetting processes do non-superficially reduce gun violence, but this is very much a diminishing returns affair, so frankly there’s no way this upcoming set of laws is going to do much good. You also say “in the meantime,” but how long is “the meantime” supposed to be? A decade? Two decades? Half a century? When do we accept that it’s unacceptable for society to bring up kids to want to commit mass civilian violence and actually do something about it?
PS: Tighter gun control also alienates people who want guns for perfectly legal reasons; I’m not sure how prevalent this is in Europe, but for instance this is a major unforced error Canada’s Liberals are making. This is a very real concern with fascism knocking on most of Europe’s front door.
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Keep fighting the good fight. We must change the way the left looks at guns or we’re a doomed ideology. Guns are not the problem, mental health is.
