Really breathtaking example of spiteful misogyny. (Refers to Sandy Hook, possibly upsetting)

[SolidGoldFrankensteinandmurgh]

IE if you were badly upset by the school shootings, you may not want to click this link.
However, it is a glimpse into a particularly hateful mindset, of the sort which makes me awfully glad I'm not am American as it is one that seems to be on the increase.

[Thisisaeuphemism]

"Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza."

-Erm, they would have been shot?

What a bizarre article. I wouldn't give it the time of day. - beyond that I just have, I mean.

[tribpot]

I think Thisisaeuphemism's given enough of a flavour for me to not want to click on the link. I assume the premise is that only wimmin are not strong enough to overcome automatic weapons fire, a fact somewhat disproved by the hundreds of thousands of men killed in wars over the last century.

[Nuttyprofessor]

What a load of cods wallop.

I once found my self in the position of walking into a store and being behind a man with a gun, I picked up the fire extinguisher and smashed him on the head with it. I am not even a man. It was quick thinking and a split second opportunity, nothing to do with what sex I am.

[judefawley]

Really bonkers.

Yes, that male janitor hurling his bucket would have helped massively.

The staff at the school acted sensibly and bravely asaik. I think many lives were saved by the teachers that hid the children. Had they all been big burley males who'd chosen to lunge at the killer, I suspect the death toll would be higher.

[BOFingSanta]

I'm not going to bother with the link. But come on, NuttyProf, tell us your intrepid tale!

[judefawley]

Yes, I'd like to hear the rest of that tale nuttyprofessor!

[Nuttyprofessor]

Thats it really, I was a store manager, popped out to the cash machine came back in to find a gun man pointing a gun at the staff. There was a large fire extinguisher just by the door, I picked it up and wrapped it around his head. he was unconscious, I could have killed him. I didn't even stop to think, I just did it.

[Thisisaeuphemism]

Cor!

[BOFingSanta]

[grimbletart]

When a woman can write such a load of illogical, irrational misogynistic crap, we don't need men for misogyny.

I have never read such a load of unmitigated shit in my life.

It is an insult to the brave teachers who tried to save their children and it is a slur to all the courageous women in the world - never mind the ones that have won George Crosses, Military Crosses, Distinguished Service Medals etc.

If a loony enters your school with a gun and faces unarmed people it wouldn't matter what set of genitals you had, your chances of taking him out would be very low.

Perhaps someone should show this stupid woman this example of female action in the US as recently as 17 December.

pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/12/17/armed-woman-stops-gunman-at-san-antonio-theater/

[grimbletart]

Well done nutty - presumably you didn't have time to realise that you need a penis to be brave.....

[SolidGoldFrankensteinandmurgh]

Well done nutty. One of the infuriating things about that article is that the writer ignores the women at that school who did tackle the gunman and were killed, and the fact that several women saved the lives of the children in their care, sometimes at the expense of their own.

[KRITIQ]

The article's already been blasted elsewhere as a pile of cack and full of inaccuracies that should have never got past the cut. The school, for example, only went up to 4th grade, so the very oldest of the male students there would have been 10 and not 12. There was a male teacher on site, who managed to protect several children in his charge from being harmed. Oh, and there was also a male caretaker/custodian on site as well. Thankfully he wasn't stupid enough to do anything rash either.

The other obvious wtf about it is well, I don't know how old the writer is, but I don't recall any time in American history when there were a plethora of male teachers or other staff in grade schools / primary schools. One couldn't attribute the current preponderance of women staff in teaching at K - 8 (that's aged about 5 to 13) down to feminism, to economic austerity, to being "soft on guns" or any other factor than it's something that has always been a pretty common thing.

[LordLurkin]

That article is some of the worst crap I have had the misfortune to read in a good while.

Apparently all that is needed in a situation like that is one or two big burly men? Well I hate to burst that bubble but even my huge frame wont stop bullets from killing me just as dead as the smaller female next to me. All an aggressive response would achieve in a situation like that is more dead people.

[TiggyD]

I've often thought about situations like that. I worked in Hungerford for many years. Walked past the memorials. Travelled the same roads as the killer. Went to school with his cousin. Worked with the niece of one of the murdered. I've often thought about what I would do If I was ever around that situation.
Fight or flight. A bit hard to fight against somebody who can hit you at several hundred yards away. An 18 stone bloke can be killed by an 8 year old with a gun.
Th article is crap of course. An armed guard for every school has been suggested, but a killer would just make sure they shoot the guard first. Maybe the shooter would go somewhere else like a mall. Everybody armed? Very few people would get killed by unstable people with guns but accidental killings would rocket.
I'm glad I live in England. I feel like guns aren't really a big problem, despite living 8 miles from the scene of a major incident.

[Walkingcups]

So basically she's saying that male aggression is the solution to the problem of, um, male aggression.

[namechangeguy]

Well, according to the head of the NRA, all it takes to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, so nobody should be surprised at this mindset being prevalent in the USA.

I think that we in the UK often make the mistake that we are just like the USA in terms of our values and beliefs, due to the shared language. As much as I love the USA and nearly everybody I have met there, they really are quite different to us culturally and politically. Their attachment to their constitution means that incidents like this Sandy Hook are, in many people's eyes, an unfortunate but nevertheless acceptable price for their 'freedom'.

[NeverQuiteSure]

I got as far as a "feminized setting is a setting in which helpless passivity is the norm" and could read no further.

I would make comment, but sadly I'm far too passive and helpless to form an opinion. If only there was an aggressive alpha male here to shout or throw something. I shall go and lay on my driveway now and wait to be shot or raped.

[catgirl1976geesealaying]

Good god that takes fuck-witted to an all new level doesn't it?

Appalling.

[AnnieLobeseder]

To trail in on NuttyProf's coat-tails, I once drove my car into a gang of muggers who were robbing a woman at an ATM. As others have said, your gender has nothing to do with how you respond to any given situation. I have training both as a skydiver and in karate which have given me very quick reflexes and I feel confident I could think my way very quickly through any situation life should happen to throw at me, and would absolutely respond with force if the situation warranted it. Again, nothing to do with my lack of a penis.

[FivesGoldNorks]

I'm guessin the author of that also feels that the answer is arming the men who they'd employ in the school.

I was impressed that the head teacher died trying to attack Lanza. very little mention has been made of that.

[GunsAndRoses]

I'm not going to bother with the link. Just wanted to applaud Nutty and Annie.

[SaskiaRembrandtVampireHunter]

More applause for Nutty and Annie here too!

But the article is the oddest thing I've ever read. The writer seems to be mistaking men and 12 year old boys for Batfink - bullets can not harm them for their maleness is like a shield of steel Of course, out here in the real world, men and 12 boys are not bullet proof and janitors are not super heroes, and anyone trying to tackle the gunman would have ended up dead.

[AmandaPayne]

I've read another article somewhere that was disturbingly similar to this. The penis, that well known bullet repeller.

Those women saved dozens of children by hiding them and keeping quiet rather than charging bull headed at a man with a gun, getting themselves and many more of their children killed. And yet this seems to be what the writer is suggesting a man would have done.

I do actually agree that I prefer schools not to be female only places. But not because of stupid bullshit reasons like that. Because I think it is helpful for children to see role models and teachers of both genders. Especially children who may not have those through family because of personal circumstance. Because I think we need a society which is less hysterical that any man who wants to work with children is obviously a 'paedo'.

Mrs Lanza had a cache of weapons at her home. A cache of weapons no person needs for even reasons of self defence, even if you buy the argument that guns are the best way to defend yourself (which I don't, and statistically I believe I read that the person most likely to die from a privately owned gun in the US is a teenage chid of the family). The fact that a troubled teen was able to walk in and pick up a cache of weapons of that nature is horrifying. I keep thinking about that mad men who went on the rampage in China shortly before Sandy Hook. 22 children were attacked, some lost fingers. But as far as I can find out, none lost their lives. That is the difference when a nutter has easy access to a weapon. But of course the solution is men with guns in schools!