Mass Shooting

Most risk management activity in the healthcare sector is retrospective, based on learning from experience. This is feasible where the risks are routine, but emergency operations plans (EOP) guide the response to events that are both high risk and rare. Under these circumstances, it is important to get the response right the first time, but learning from experience is usually not an option. This case study presents the rationale for taking a proactive approach to improving healthcare organizations' EOP. It demonstrates how the Prospective Hazard Analysis (PHA) Toolkit can drive organizational learning and argues that this toolkit may lead to more efficient improvement than drills and exercises.

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Wiley's copyright policies do not allow me to post the published version of the paper, but they do allow me to send out individual copies. So if you don't have access to the Journal of Healthcare Risk Management and would like a copy of this article, please email me at:
alan [dot] j [dot] card [at] gmail [dot] com

L’exercice de l’art infirmier répond à des règles réglementaires qui sont d’ordre public. Ceci implique qu’elles sont directement opposables à l’infirmier et ne souffrent pas d’exception. Néanmoins, en situation d’exception, ces règles répondent clairement à la problématique de l’infirmier placé en situation de catastrophe, attentat ou face à de nombreuses victimes.

Der vorliegende Beitrag beschäftigt sich aus prozesssoziologischer Sicht mit der Frage, wie Gewalt in sozialen Situationen möglich wird und aufrechterhalten werden kann. Er schließt an die von Randall Collins entwickelte Mikrosoziologie der Gewalt an, die emotionale Hindernisse gewalttätigen Handelns in sozialen Interaktionen betont. In einer Reinterpretation der Massenerschießungen von Józefów (1942) wird untersucht, wie sich eine Situationsdynamik entfalten konnte, im Zuge derer die Täter in der Lage waren, ihren Tötungsauftrag in unmittelbarer Interaktion mit ihren Opfern zu erfüllen. Das Erklärungsangebot für diese aus mikrosoziologischer Sicht unwahrscheinliche Dynamik eines über Stunden andauernden Tötens liegt in der Identifikation eines besonderen Prozessmusters: der organisierten Plötzlichkeit dieses Geschehens. Diese stellt eine Dominanztechnik dar, um die Ausübung von Gewalt trotz emotionaler Widerstände sicherzustellen, und lässt Gewalt unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen als organisierbar erscheinen. / This article develops a process-sociological perspective on how violence is brought about and maintained in social situations. This approach accommodates the core argument of Randall Collins’ microsociology of violence, which stresses the existence of emotional obstacles to violent action in face-to-face encounters. In a re-examination of the mass shootings of Józefów in 1942, the article investigates the unfolding of a situation in which perpetrators were able to comply over hours with the order to kill victims at close distance. The explanation offered for the dynamics of mass shootings despite their microsociological improbability refers to a special pattern of social process: the organized suddenness of unfolding events. This pattern indicates a specific technique of domination inducing violence despite the existence of emotional obstacles and demonstrates that violence under certain conditions can be organized.

The current study used structural topic modeling to investigate the ways in which news of the 2017 Quebec mosque shooting mobilized global public discourse on Twitter. The resulting globally generated Twitter conversations were divided into 9 relevant topics, the prevalence of which were examined based on geographic and informational proximity to the location of the incident. Tweets posted from locations geographically closer to the shooting location prevalently incorporated individual-oriented and conflict-focused storytelling. Conversely, tweets geographically farther from the incident prevalently featured macro-narratives that pointed to societal implications. This study also explored informational distance, which defines the ability to access to in-depth news sources. Results showed that there were topical differences between journalist/institutional tweets and laymen tweets. This study concludes that proximity influences global conversations related to hate crime news.

Friday, January 3, 2020.
The dramatic contrast between our surgical bombings around the globe and those blind mass shootings at home calls for the mobilization of parents and teachers alike: we are citizens, after all. We must set aside our political or religious differences; we can’t wait for the Washington smarties to find a solution.
Update May 24, 2021.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, at least 117 people were killed and 303 wounded in shootings across the country over 72 hours.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/10/us/us-weekend-mass-shootings/index.html
Keep up the good work, folks.

Stressing that the pronoun "I" picks out one and only one person in the world (i.e., me), I argue against Hunt (and other like-minded Rand commentators) that the supposed "hard case" of destructive people who do not care for their own lives poses no special difficulty for rational egoism. I conclude that the proper response to a terse objection like "What about suicide bombers?" is the equally terse assertion "But I don't want to get blown up."

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a disturbing but powerful story told from the perspective of Eva, a widowed mother whose 15-year-old son Kevin commits a fictional mass murder at his high school in Nyack, New York. The 2003 novel by Lionel Shriver was praised by critics, as was its 2011 film adaptation of the same name, written and directed by Lynne Ramsay and starring the talented Tilda Swinton as Kevin's mother. Much has been said about the novel and the film related to motherhood, gender, masculinity, school violence, and many other topics; however, one conspicuous aspect of We Need to Talk About Kevin that critics have left largely un-talked about, in both film and novel, is the defining role that Robin Hood plays for the young psychopath in these texts. In this presentation, I demonstrate that Ramsay's adaptation emphasizes Robin Hood far more than Shriver's novel does; Ramsay retains all of the Robin Hood material present in the novel, but she embellishes it, drawing upon iconographic elements of the Robin Hood tradition familiar to modern audiences to achieve a cinematic effect of essentially portraying a bad Robin Hood. We Need to Talk About Kevin certainly comments on the contemporary problem of massive school shootings as well as the ongoing issue of mass shootings in general. For the purposes of this conference, however, I am only concerned with the extent to which this story is a Robin Hood story; and if it is, what is achieved in depicting Robin Hood as a homicidal American teenager? In the novel, the narrative begins subsequent to Kevin's homicidal spree. In epistolary form, Eva (Kevin's mother) writes to her deceased husband, whom Kevin had also murdered on the day of the school shooting; Eva tells her account of the events leading up to her son's bloody actions, which includes a long personal history of contention between her and Kevin as she attempted to raise him. Even at his birth, Kevin shows aversion to his mother, and the two of them butt heads

This paper is an effort to locate blood magic in the age of psychopathy. Taking as a starting point Michael Eigen's observation that psychopathic tendencies can become cut off from balancing capacities and wreak havoc, we consider the ways in which practices of blood magic, including rituals surrounding menstruation have functioned variously across cultures to balance destructive tendencies and sustain relationship with the living surround. We argue that the lack of these practices and the attitudes fed by and feeding them has contributed to an upsurge in ultra-violent phenomena like mass shootings in our culture. Moreover, we consider the ways in which such phenomena are perverted expressions of a need for blood magic that, though twisted beyond recognition, nevertheless seek expression and wishes to be recognized in this age, which has as its backdrop an unrecognized, unfolding human-wrought ecological catastrophe.

The alt-right is an online subculture marked by its devotion to the execution of a racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic politics through trolling, pranking, meme-making, and mass murder. It is this devotion to far-right politics through the discordant conjunction of humor and suicidal violence this article seeks to explain by situating the movement for the first time within its constitutive online relationships. This article adds to the existing literature by viewing the online relationships of the alt-right through the genealogy of propaganda. Through situating the alt-right alongside the genealogy of propaganda, the article offers new insights into the social isolation, increasingly extreme social and political positions, nihilism, and violence that have emerged within the alt-right. The article concludes by applying the lessons of the alt-right for online organizing across the political spectrum and argues that a class-based politics of the left is an important part of countering the rise of the alt-right.

In recent years, major media organizations have wondered if their coverage of mass shooters actually increases the risk of future attacks, and have asked how their reporting could be improved. In response, 149 experts have called for media to stop publishing the names and photos of mass killers (except during ongoing searches for escaped suspects), but continue reporting the other details of these crimes as needed. Here, we review some of the most important scientific findings on (a) the nature of media coverage of mass killers, (b) its consequences, and (c) solutions that could help make this coverage safer, and summarize how new studies published in this special issue of American Behavioral Scientist add to this valuable knowledge base.

Shadow projection, as the transference of personal inferiority, and the related concept of ‘sin transference’, lie at the heart of the mystery of evil. Socially corrosive projection neither stems from “misunderstandings” in the micro-social context nor from predatory instincts. It is an archaic method of ego emancipation by which the transgressor’s unconscious suffering is transferred to the victim. It aims at maintaining ego firmness. By reason of their capacity of free thought, intellectuals are often targets of shadow projection. It is really a projection of Promethean guilt, as the intellectual may call into question the established order. An answer to the machinations of evil has been formulated in Christian theology. The ego’s suffering is laid on the shoulders of Christ, who carries the sins of the world. The Christ figure is understood as the inner Self (“life-giver”). This helps to promote spiritual awareness (“Christ lives in me”, Galatians 2). A regress to pre-Christian cultural values implies a rebound of scapegoat psychology, as exemplified by the collective shadow psychology of the Third Reich. Western civilization today undergoes changes which undermine our awareness of the spiritual Self. If our sins aren’t carried by the inner Self anymore, then they must be carried by other human beings, with foreseeable consequences. The article discusses the notion of an instinctual foundation of evil.

Keywords: wickedness, the shadow, Self, sin transference, group narcissism, intellectuals, scapegoatism, Christian love, Orlando massacre.

Objectives: We examine how news media portrays the causes of mass shootings for shooters of different races. Specifically, we explore whether White men are disproportionately framed as mentally ill, and what narratives media tend to invoke when covering mass shootings through the lens of mental illness as opposed to other explanatory frames. Methods: The study examines a unique data set of 433 news documents covering 219 mass shootings between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2015. It analyzes the data using a mixed methods approach, combining logistic regression with content analysis. Results: Quantitative findings show that Whites and Latinos are more likely to have their crime attributed to mental illness than Blacks. Qualitative findings show that rhetoric within these discussions frame White men as sympathetic characters, while Black

Every year in Europe around 1,150 people are shot dead with firearms. These deaths occur in various contexts, including the relational and criminal spheres. The little available research into the weapons used during these fatal crimes suggests that different types of firearms are used in different contexts. In this report we focus on the weapons that were used for one specific form of deadly firearms incidents, namely “public mass shootings”. These are shooting incidents in the (semi-)public space in which the perpetrator(s) use one or more firearms and during which several
people are killed and injured. Under this umbrella term we find numerous types of shooting incidents, ranging from school shootings in which a frustrated pupil murders a number of classmates and/or teachers to terrorist attacks in which groups of perpetrators attempt to spread terror in coordinated attacks. A look at recent mass shootings shows that significant differences can be observed in terms of, for example, the locations where these shootings were carried out,
the number of perpetrators, the motives of the perpetrator(s), the selection of the victims and the firearms used. This report analyses one specific aspect of such shooting incidents, namely the firearms that were used.

Previous studies have demonstrated that public mass shootings are a global phenomenon, but a significant share of such shootings occur in the United States. Recent research comparing public mass shooting rates across 171 countries indicates that 31% of the global public mass shootings between 1966 and 2012 occurred in the United States. Such shootings are not very common in Europe, and mass shootings figures generally represent a limited proportion of the total homicide figures and deaths from firearms in any given country. However, the impact of these deadly shooting incidents is usually considerable. Whereas incidents of criminal score settling generally occur at a distance from everyday life (that is, within the criminal underworld), the violence of these mass shootings in the (semi-)public space occurs extremely close to home. It is also the effect of such incidents on the broad public that leads to societal debate on the role of firearms in society, and consequently these incidents are an important for changes to be made to legislative
frameworks or firearms policies. For example, we can observe that deadly shootings in the public sphere of several European countries have already led to amendments to the national legislative framework dealing with firearms or the development of new policy initiatives in this regard: we only have to consider the new legislation adopted in the immediate aftermath of deadly shooting incidents in, for example, the United Kingdom in 1996 (Dunblane), Belgium in 2006 (Antwerp) and Germany in 2009 (Winnenden). The European Union (EU) has also explicitly referred to such deadly shootings in recent years to motivate new policy initiatives. Moreover, the series of terror attacks
in Europe in which terrorists used firearms have recently led to sharply increased attention being
focused on this problem. For example, in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris
in November 2015 the European Commission proposed new measures to amend the EU’s
legislative framework around firearms possession to harmonize it further and significantly
strengthen it.

A lack of basic information and thorough analyses of the European firearms issue is a considerable
stumbling block in the development of effective firearms legislation and policy. The bulk of the
research into the relationship between firearms and violence relates to the situation in the United
States.5 This is also the case for research into public mass shootings: the United States has a long
tradition of researching these violent incidents. In Europe, however, significantly less research has
historically been available on the weapons used in mass shootings. For example, very few studies provide an in-depth examination of the types of firearms used in these deadly shootings, the legal status of these weapons and the ways in which the perpetrators got hold of them. Yet these are important focal points in the societal debate surrounding the role of firearms in general in European society, and the various aspects of firearms legislation and policy in particular. A more
substantial understanding of the problem is crucial, with the aim of developing legislation and policy to prevent these tragic shooting incidents as much as possible.

The aim of this report, therefore, through an analysis of the weapons used in public mass shootings in Europe, is to stimulate the societal and policy-oriented debate around violent shooting incidents in Europe. Specifically, we have approached this issue by analysing the firearms used in a selection of eight recent public mass shootings in Europe. After a brief explanation in the first chapter of the methodological framework used, we analyse the selected shooting incidents in the second chapter. Each case study begins with a concise description of the shooting incident itself, followed by an analysis of which types of firearms were used, and especially how the perpetrator(s) was/were able to obtain these weapons. In the final chapter we will analyse and discuss the findings from the case studies. Using this qualitative approach, we intend to go in search of the stories behind the statistics. By analysing in detail the ways in which the perpetrators of these shooting incidents acquired their firearms we intend to draw lessons for current and future European initiatives to
improve firearms legislation and policy. To this end we should emphasize that, as a result of the observed gaps in European research into weapons use in public mass shootings, this report is intended as an exploratory analysis that, it is hoped, will foster the current European debate around firearms legislation and policy, lead to more research into this issue, and ultimately result in concrete steps being taken to deal with the issues that the report raises.

In recent years, homicide scholarship has been the beneficiary of an increasingly interdisciplinary framework that has come to include a leisure science perspective in attempting to explain murder as a pleasure-seeking avocation for offenders. In this article, the authors employ a leisure-based approach to the Las Vegas Massacre as a foundational case study on multiple murder as project-based deviant leisure. Homicidal leisure-based projects, as suggested here, may also amount to intuitive extensions of other higher-risk hobbies known as edgework. A leisure approach to understanding some forms of multiple murder provides valuable new insights while also integrating important tradition.

Les vagues d’attentats en France depuis les années 1980 ont apporté à la pratique civile l’expérience du polymorphisme des mécanismes vulnérants physiques et psychiques du terrorisme. Les enseignements tirés des confl its militaires de la prise en charge de nombreuses victimes dans les premières minutes sont à diffuser à tous les professionnels de santé et largement à la population. Les objectifs des “gestes qui sauvent” sont simples, clairs, et leurs applications permettent de limiter le nombre de morts évitables (sauver) et les conséquences des blessures (mieux sauver). Dans ces situations, l’hémorragie est la première cause de mortalité, à stopper idéalement dans les dix premières minutes dites de “platine” ou dans la “demi-heure hémorragique” faisant le pronostic vital.

Rhetoric, Race, Religion, and the Charleston Shootings: Was Blind but Now I See is a collection focusing on the Charleston shootings written by leading scholars in the field who consider the rhetoric surrounding the shootings. This book offers an appraisal of the discourses – speeches, editorials, social media posts, visual images, prayers, songs, silence, demonstrations, and protests – that constituted, contested, and reconstituted the shootings in American civic life and cultural memory. It answers recent calls for local and regional studies and opens new fields of inquiry in the rhetoric, sociology, and history of mass killings, gun violence, and race relations—and it does so while forging new connections between and among on-going scholarly conversations about rhetoric, race, and religion. Contributors argue that Charleston was different from other mass shootings in America, and that this difference was made manifest through what was spoken and unspoken in its rhetorical aftermath. Scholars of race, religion, rhetoric, communication, and sociology will find this book particularly useful.

Semblant ne jamais quitter la une des médias depuis quelques années, le phénomène des tueries de masse paraît se nourrir à même cette médiatisation pour croître, jour après jour, et devenir de plus en plus viral1. Lorsque la Covid-19 s'est installée dans nos vies en mars 2020, mettant à l'arrêt de larges pans de notre société et même de notre sociabilité, on aurait pu croire qu'il aurait suivi et que lui aussi aurait été placé en quarantaine forcée! Malheureusement, c'est un peu plus complexe que cela. Certes, certaines formes ont été atténuées et, parmi celles-ci, les fusillades en milieu scolaire qui représentent traditionnellement le quart des tueries de masse (pour 50% dans les commerces). Lorsque les écoles et campus ferment et sont désertés, cette violence n'a plus d'espace d'expression. En outre, certains indicateurs laissent entrevoir une baisse du nombre global de tueries qui pourrait trouver des explications finalement logiques. Le repli sur soi, la gestion égocentrée du quotidien en pandémie a affecté sans discrimination.

Au cours de leur carrière, les soignants peuvent être confrontés à des situations d’exception particulièrement éprouvantes. Des difficultés transitoires ou durables et notamment des symptômes caractéristiques d’un état de stress post-traumatique, sont susceptibles de faire leur apparition. Le repérage de critères qui confèrent à une situation son caractère exceptionnel et l’attention portée aux ressentis des soignants sont autant d’éléments à considérer afin d’initier des actions de prévention et de soins ajustées.

Production of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is often limited by the low availability of soil phosphorus (P). Identification of common bean genotypes adapted to low phosphorus (P) availability may be a feasible strategy to overcome the poor plant growth and production in P-deficient soils. Genetic variation for P response of thirteen common bean genotypes was studied under screen house controlled conditions using triple super phosphate as P source. The common bean genotypes varied in leaf area, shoot mass, root mass, total root length, basal and lateral roots production, shoot P concentration and P uptake under phosphorous deficiency and high phosphorous. All the measured variables were significantly correlated with each other, which in turn were correlated to P uptake. Generally the large-seeded genotypes RWR 1946 and RWR 2075 appeared to have the best growth, hence superior P efficiency under low P availability, while at the same time they were more responsive to added P. These results complement the earlier field based observed tolerance to low soil phosphorous of the selected genotypes under the BILFA strategy.

Prior research has shown that many mass shooters have explicitly admitted they want fame and have directly reached out to media organizations to get it. These fame-seeking offenders are particularly dangerous because they kill and wound significantly more victims than other active shooters, they often compete for attention by attempting to maximize victim fatalities, and they can inspire contagion and copycat effects. However, if the media changes how they cover mass shooters, they may be able to deny many offenders the attention they seek and deter some future perpetrators from attacking. We propose that media organizations should no longer publish the names or photos of mass shooters (except during ongoing searches for escaped suspects), but report everything else about these crimes in as much detail as desired. In this article, we (1) review the consequences of media coverage of mass shooters, (2) outline our proposal, (3) show that its implementation is realistic and has precedent, (4) discuss anticipated challenges, and (5) recommend future steps for consensus building and implementation.

Mass shootings have one thing in common: failed
masculinity. Where does it come from and what
can be done to stop it?
In this essay, Stephen Asma explores the way otherwise adaptive masculine traits can become maladaptive, causing dangerous levels of aggression.

This paper analyses the impact of a series of mass shootings committed in 2018-2019 by right-wing extremists on 8chan/pol, a prominent far-right online forum. Using computational methods, it offers a detailed examination of how attacks trigger shifts in both forum activity and content. We find that while each shooting is discussed by forum participants, their respective impact varies considerably. We highlight, in particular, a 'Tarrant effect': the considerable effect Brenton Tarrant's attack of two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, had on the forum. Considering the rise in far-right terrorism and the growing and diversifying online far-right ecosystem, such interactive offline-online effects warrant the attention of scholars and security professionals.

Радикально-исламистский проект в формате т.н. «Исламского государства» (запрещенная в РФ террористическая организация) полностью провалился. Куда теперь будет направлена деструктивная энергия, копящаяся у молодого поколения? Откуда в наши школы пришли «колумбайны» и сколько их еще предстоит пережить? Каким образом следует противостоять относительно старым и сравнительно новым экстремистским практикам, с которыми сталкивается современное общество? Задача данного сборника - ответить на эти вопросы применительно к России.

Mass casualty incidents, particularly mass shootings, are a serious issue in the United States. These incidents have increased over the past 2 decades, and more than 32 public mass shootings have occurred since 2016, with approximately 12.8 incidents occurring each year. Since 1966, there have been more than 1,202 fatalities and countless injuries due to public mass shooting incidents. Therefore, it is essential that professional counselors are equipped to treat primary, secondary, and tertiary victims of these incidents. The purpose of this article is to examine the current literature on public mass shootings, including psychological consequences, treatment considerations, ethical and legal issues, and cultural factors. Vicarious traumatization and self-care are also explored. Recommendations for training and resources are offered, and implications for professional counselors and counselor trainees are discussed.

Please cite from: https://quillette.com/2019/08/07/the-deadly-boredom-of-a-meaningless-life/

Remember when the scariest kid in your neighborhood was the football jock who terrorized the high school with his minions in tow, and got bailed out by his rich parents when he went too far? Or it was the gothic malcontent with the switchblade and the swagger. Either way, what made these high-status alphas so terrifying was that they came at you in numbers. They travelled in packs. This has been our narrative, in the stories we tell—from Henry Bowers in Stephen King’s It, to Biff Tannen in Back to the Future, to Billy Hargrove in Stranger Things, central-casting bullies attracted followers. They belonged.

As any grade eight schoolgirl who’s been bullied off Instagram can attest, this stereotype still holds. But when it comes to the most dangerous and sociopathic actors, the opposite is true. All three of the young mass shooters who terrorized the United States in recent nationally reported scenes of carnage—Connor Betts in Dayton, Ohio; Patrick Crusius in El Paso, Texas; and Santino William Legan in Gilroy, California—acted alone. The old image of the bully as locker-room alpha or goth leader now seems passé. Often, it is the kid who used to be the fictional protagonist, the social outcast, the member of the Losers Club from It, whose face now appears on our screens with a nightmarish empty stare.

These recent shooters fit a similar profile. They were outsiders, all seemingly socially awkward, who became emboldened through fringe online communities that act as mutual-support societies for violent malcontents. This phenomenon is fuelled by hate, guns, mental illness and ideological extremism. But there is another factor at play here, too. Before a youth makes the decision to murder, before the gun is stashed in his backpack, before his state of mental health is so deteriorated that he commits the unthinkable, what has happened to him? It’s important to remember that these murders are also, in most cases, suicides...

Plongé soudainement au coeur d’une crise impliquant de nombreuses victimes, le soignant professionnel ou d’un soir est en mesure d’y répondre de façon efficiente. Son comportement raisonnable et raisonné lui permet d’assurer sa propre sécurité pour apporter rapidement assistance aux victimes, après avoir déclenché la chaîne des secours. Il met ainsi à distance l’impression d’être impuissant, de savoir faire sans pouvoir mettre en oeuvre. S’extraire du danger est donc le premier impératif, à défaut se cacher, afin de pouvoir mener, ensuite, l’action soignante efficiente et fondamentale des premières minutes.

This dissertation explores the ways in which the thematic content and performance practices of country music have historically implied notions of protection and safety, while paradoxically enabling instances of violence on both individual and cultural levels. I specifically focus on the sociocultural effects of country music in the U.S. and beyond during the two decades since the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001, employing the argument that both 9/11 and other major sociopolitical events of that period have resulted in a fundamental transformation of the ways in which “safe” individuals, communities, and even musical groupings are and have been represented and perceived. A survey of the history of country music yields numerous instances of both violence and safety encoded in the lyrical content of the music and the identity representations of country musicians and their fans. For decades, the protagonists of country music—whether the artists themselves or the characters they portray through their songs, sounds, imagery, and ideological stances—have occupied a peculiar and paradoxical space, straddling the line between the drifter and the provider while balancing images of safety and protection with rough living and aggression. Recent developments in U.S. politics, however, have raised significant questions regarding historically safe identities. An ongoing outbreak of mass shootings, a new cultural outspokenness regarding gender issues and sexual assault, growing tensions around matters of nationalism and race, and other political and cultural factors continue to change the nation’s idea of what is and is not safe, as well as what types and conditions of safety individuals should expect or deserve. Both country musicians and fans are now responding to a complex political era in which Americans (i.e., United States-ians) have had to look inward, confronting systems of violence spearheaded by their own citizens. The exponential rise in mass shootings—most frequently committed by white, American men—is just one example of how certain demographic groups, so often displayed as the “protectors” and “providers” in country music, are now, with increasing cultural intensity, being recognized as potential perpetrators of violent action. A central argument of this dissertation is that these changes reflect a particular upending of the “All-American Man” figure—not just within country music, but within American society—and a reconsideration of the fact that this figure, formerly recognized as a marker of protection and security, is now increasingly questioned as a potential perpetrator of violence. Discussions of safety, place, identity, gender, community, and popular music culture all play into this complicated conversation. How does country music respond to these changing dynamics of what constitutes safety (or lack thereof) in American society? To address this question, I begin by overviewing the identity systems created by a century of country music and its culture in the 20th century, noting specific identity formations relational to concepts of violence and safety. Following this, I zero in on the specific events and conditions related to these concepts of violence and safety during the first two decades of the 21st century, examining a tumultuous and transformational set of years within country music and its surrounding culture. Specifically, sociopolitical events such as the 9/11 terror attacks, the presidential elections in 2008 and 2016, and increased national awareness of issues such as gun violence, gender equality, and sexual assault provide a critical cultural context to changes in country music, including the rise of “bro country” and “arena country” in the early 21st century, an increasingly prevalent narrative of gender issues in country music lyrics, and a mobilization of identity themes relating both to the validation and questioning of traditionally powerful identity tropes.

In the United States (U.S.) there has been increased attention on the phenomenon of mass shootings.  What model of social factors could predict mass shootings?  As is known various changes in social complexities can aggravate uncertainty in a population.  My hypothesis is based on Gray and Watts (2017) work studying ritualized social killing in reaction to strong changes to social stratification.  Variables identified as areas of significant, and rapid, increases in social complexity during the rise of mass shootings were ran in regression on SPSS to reflect aspects of social complexity.  Two consistently stood out as significant.  From, 1982-2017, Number of Articles in Newspapers about (Climate) Sustainability and Net Profits from Apple Computer.

Prior research has shown that many mass shooters have explicitly admitted they want fame and have directly reached out to media organizations to get it. These fame-seeking offenders are particularly dangerous because they kill and wound significantly more victims than other active shooters, they often compete for attention by attempting to maximize victim fatalities, and they can inspire contagion and copycat effects. However, if the media changes how they cover mass shooters, they may be able to deny many offenders the attention they seek and deter some future perpetrators from attacking. We propose that media organizations should no longer publish the names or photos of mass shooters (except during ongoing searches for escaped suspects), but report everything else about these crimes in as much detail as desired. In this article, we (1) review the consequences of media coverage of mass shooters, (2) outline our proposal, (3) show that its implementation is realistic and has precede...

Digital Pulse: Acercamiento al memorial colectivo-cultural de las víctimas puertorriqueñas en el ataque terrorista en Orlando
This article reflects on the configuration of digital memories among Puerto Ricans in social media platforms at times of crisis, represented by the way victims were memorialized in the wake of the terrorist attack at the Pulse club in the city of Orlando, Florida, 2016. The attack was covered by both traditional news media and social media outlets. The narratives produced by the news media coverage produced a collective memory narrative of the event that articulated the victims within four frames: 1) as victims of terrorism ―news discourse employed to connect the attack with the terrorist group known as ISIS―; 2) as U.S. citizens ―narrative recourse used to separate the " them, " uncivilized killers, from the " us, " civilized victims and responders―; 3) as night-time club patrons ―entertainment and leisure spaces for the young―, and finally, 4) as gay club patrons attracted by Latina/o night. While all of these narratives sacrificed some portion of the individual histories of the victims to some preferred collective picture (depending on the framing), in social networking sites with their stronger penchant for a grassroots up approach, the particulars, the individuals, were the primary focus, with users illustrating some singularity of the victims' life-stories while articulating cultural-individual memories digitally. My argument in this essay is that a digital cultural-memory approach challenged the collective memory framework that tended to produce a memory trace in which personal narratives were made to conform to the larger framing, thus neutralizing the particular engagement of the victims in their race, gender, class, and national identity.