Since nearly no one is talking about it...

[lovelygamer]

Actually, I don't think our standard of living is high at all...not when compared to the UK or Scandinavia...countries with universal health care and much lower infant/maternal mortality. We have a helluvalot of people "living" below the poverty line, too. FAR more than a company with our resources should.

I agree with you. We like to advertise our standard of living is higher than it really is.

[salsabike]

I don't think not talking about it means that people don't care. And quite a lot of people choose to keep their FB posts off politics or other things that in their personal lives they take very seriously.

[Crankin]

Funny, I relate much more to this one. There have been several national or local incidents that have caused my synagogue to hire a police detail. Every year, when I walk in the door for the High Holidays and there are 2-3 Acton police officers standing there, I think of this.
I didn't talk about the Colorado thing with anyone, except DH.

[PamNY]

Funny, I relate much more to this one. There have been several national or local incidents that have caused my synagogue to hire a police detail.

I had a similar reaction, since I have often seen police stationed at houses of worship.

[zoom-zoom]

I'm not the only one who is seeing drastically less outpouring of support and sorrow directed to the community in WI vs. previous mass shootings. Even 24+ hours later I'm seeing no prayers, poems, or memorial graphics, unlike the days immediately following the CO theater massacre of just 2 weeks ago. The mainstream media is covering this non-stop, but on FB I'm seeing the same emphasis on the Mars Rover and Olympics that that writer is.

[PamNY]

I'm not the only one who is seeing drastically less outpouring of support and sorrow directed to the community in WI vs. previous mass shootings. Even 24+ hours later I'm seeing no prayers, poems, or memorial graphics, unlike the days immediately following the CO theater massacre of just 2 weeks ago. The mainstream media is covering this non-stop, but on FB I'm seeing the same emphasis on the Mars Rover and Olympics that that writer is.

Does Facebook actually provide news? Where would the prayers, poems or memorial graphics come from?

[OakLeaf]

It's a (nonscientific) measure of the importance of the issue among sites and persons that you subscribe to. Sure, some individual or some news outlet creates the graphics to begin with, but then they get shared to a greater or lesser extent ("going viral").

I understand the OP's concerns, but I don't know if there's a general answer - the question is specific to her group of subscriptions and FB friends, and I think she was asking whether the rest of us were seeing the same thing in our groups.

I personally am seeing plenty of attention to Oak Creek in my FB news feed. But I do find it distressing that the Joplin mosque arson is getting so little attention in the so-called MSM - and that this very thread is being used to attempt to spread false rumors about Muslims.

[Crankin]

Thank you.

[Anyabeth]

I haven't posted about this on Facebook because I cannot stand to get into the political, religious and racial issues on this shooting. It doesn't mean that I don't care, I DO, but I also cannot handle knowing which of the wackos on my feed thinks this is ok (political season is when I hide and unfriend with abandon but still it is shocking). I don't think that this is a good barometer of who cares about the event.

[malkin]

I'm not a heavy Facebook user, so I can't speak to that; my media consumption is mostly radio and internet and I've heard and read quite a bit about who Sikhs are, what they believe, how to pronounce the name of their faith, local security, and some touching victim stories that sound quite similar to what I heard after Colorado.

*exercising restraint re. a few other issues that have been raised on this thread*
Think of this as 'biting my tongue!

[Crankin]

I don't post political stuff on FB and I also tried to restrain
myself above. I am sure my views are clear, but I don't even like to talk about them here. This is timely because I have a young friend from grad school who posts lots old political blog stuff on FB. I agree with it 99% of the time, but recently, he had some stuff that was offensive to me as a military mom. I am not conservative at ALL, but don't use offensive terms for military people as a generalization.

[Koronin]

Since the Olympics have been on, I haven't watched much regular news or really much of anything else at all. However I did watch Rachel Maddow's show tonight and she did a segment on the Wisconsin shootings. So there are some out there trying to cover it.

Would this latest one have been prevented by better mental health care, most likely no. However the VA Tech shooting most likely would have been, Gabriel Gifford's shooting most likely would have been. The Colorado one may or may not have been.

[Bethany1]

Mental illness of any kind has been dropped from health care completely. It can be hard to diagnose and once diagnosed if you don't have access or refuse to take the medication terrible things happen. It's something the medical community ignores and is disgraceful. It's a silent epidemic that is showing it's ugly head more and more. Something like heart disease is easily detected. Not so much with any form of mental illness and most of us with a mental illness are not going to take a gun and start shooting in a public place.

What makes it hard it that most of those drugs have terrible side effects and just numb you so you don't feel anything. I'd rather feel something than nothing as i've been on several of them. Most people with mental illness end up in jail, get medication and once out can't afford it or refuse meds and repeat that cycle over and over until they are dropped completely from the system.

I was also surprised and very saddened that this story was basically ignored. I'm so sick of hearing about the Olympics. My heart goes out to this group of people and hope they get the help they need.

The only thing that truly has me upset over our obnoxious new health care is that the Muslim community doesn't have to have insurance due to some stupid cop-out religious law. Something about that insurance is a form of gambling. What about car insurance or house insurance? If we all are required in the US to have it, everyone is in the system and there are no exceptions. Do Muslims in Europe have health insurance or are they exempt?

Gun control will always be a hot topic when some pathetic loser uses one and those countries that have strict control still have crime rates, just not with guns.

I refuse to let these people win and have me cower in fear wherever I go. If we start putting metal detectors and other stuff around "soft targets" we let them win.

[shootingstar]

The only thing that truly has me upset over our obnoxious new health care is that the Muslim community doesn't have to have insurance due to some stupid cop-out religious law. Something about that insurance is a form of gambling. What about car insurance or house insurance? If we all are required in the US to have it, everyone is in the system and there are no exceptions. Do Muslims in Europe have health insurance or are they exempt?



Maybe someone can elaborate on this. Is this more about buying health care insurance from private insurers?

In Canada, a Canadian Muslim gets public health care, like everyone else, regardless of income because they are taxpayers...like everyone else.

[Crankin]

Mental health care is not ignored everywhere, Bethany. Massachusetts has a mental health parity law, which means people need to be able to access mental health care the same way they access physical health care. I'm sorry you have had such a negative experience in accessing care; as a provider, it makes me angry that there's such a difference in other places.
People in European countries have health care as a right; it's mostly run by the government and everyone is covered. Whether certain groups access the system is most likely up to them. There are religious exemptions for lots of things in this country.