University of VA cancels 21 gun salute

Olivia said:
I have no problem at all with a 21 gun salute, especially compared to the war zone it is here on New Year's Eve. I mean, really, how stupid is it to suddenly be affronted by gun fire when those little twits don't have to worry about the draft? Instead of crying about gun fire to honor those who served, how about doing more about preventing war to begin with????
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You have a point about the amateur fireworks on the 4th of July and New Years being far worse than a 21 gun salute. But I don't like any of it.
 

Packerjohn:
and the rest of you ancients:
This is what it feels like to become fossilized.

I've never seen a kid that was not crazy about fireworks.
Loud bangs intrigue kids.-trauma, don't think so.
(Please don't bring up the startle reflex in infants-infants aren't kids. )
 
Camper6 said:
They were nice in the good old days (the gun salutes) but now in this day and age of mass murders. It's scary when you hear explosions and I'm guessing anyone wanting to cover up a shooting would do it when there is a gun salute or fireworks.
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Yes, It's sad when the lowest common denominator of society changes how we live from the normal to the abnormal. Maybe one day when there is no war that a 21-gun salute will become a thing of the past.

Just remember, our men and women in the military still face gun fire. Let us not pretend it doesn't happen, just because we don't want to hear it. They do.
 

gennie said:
At one time in this country, the first thought of the average person upon hearing a sharp loud noise was "fire crackers, vehicle backfire or hunters." Now it is "look for a place to hide and ask questions later." Unfortunately, times have changed. The time loud sharp noises was first thought to be normal is gone and will probably never come back.
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Thankfully, it's still normal to hear guns around here and think nothing sinister about it. I'm rural so there are lots of hunters and lots of people enjoy setting up target practice ranges in their multi-acreage backyards.

On the other hand, when I lived in the city, I attended a church in the inner city that was dedicated to serving the immediate neighborhood through addiction programs, Habitat for Humanity etc. I would sometimes hear gunshots after night services and knew it wasn't hunters or range practice ...but I felt so strongly that attending and serving there was where I was supposed to be at that time in my life that I wasn't fearful. And that wasn't some badass or clueless thing on my part. A lot of people do jobs and humanitarian work in far more dangerous places.

As for the OP, the gun salutes are way too loud for me, but I understand the significance. Agree with @Aunt Bea that teaching about what the salute means is more important than avoidance. Life is hard, and these kids are not going to be protected down the line from things much more difficult than a couple of minutes of noise. It used to be that we prepared kids for the realities of life; now they get safe spaces and cry closets on campuses. Can't imagine how much more difficult the first few hardships they face will be because of the PC coddling nonsense.
 
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Packerjohn said:
You want to hear about totally gutless, politically correct wimpy people, well here is a bunch. This bunch says that we should change the name Christmas to "Mid-Winter Festival" and we should change Easter to "Spring Festival". Why, you ask? Well, it seems that not everyone around here is a Christian so we better not offend all those non-Christians. If that don't take the cake, then I don't know what does? I could go on but that would just raise my blood pressure pretty high so I better stop.
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They tried to change the name of Christmas here several years ago
in Birmingham, the council decided that they didn't want to upset
any non-christians, they didn't think that any christians would mind
and were greatly surprised when there was a demonstration against
the idea, there are lots of other nationalities in the city and the council
was probably staffed by many of them.

The flash photography warning at the beginning of many programmes
on the TV here Marie is because they think/know that it causes epileptic
fits in people who suffer from it.

Mike.
 
Thanks for the tip about the flash photography. I worked once with a guy who had epileptic fits but I never knew that flash photography caused it. Sometimes you see on the news about 50 of these newspaper reporters flashing at the same time. Must be tough being a celebrity or some important BIG SHOT guy. Guess, I'll never, me being one of those "invisible" people.
 
I never had to "duck & cover". But I don't think fear of the "bomb", and the fear of a school shooter, are equivalent. Schools weren't being bombed on an average of one a week. And none of our classmates ever died because of an atom bomb. When you think about it, a wooden desk is no protection from a direct blast. Unfortunately, what first graders are taught about a shooter may save their lives. What some consider as "PC" may be just a bit of respect for the humanity in all of us. I don't believe that is a bad thing.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I never had to "duck & cover". But I don't think fear of the "bomb", and the fear of a school shooter, are equivalent. Schools weren't being bombed on an average of one a week. And none of our classmates ever died because of an atom bomb. When you think about it, a wooden desk is no protection from a direct blast. Unfortunately, what first graders are taught about a shooter may save their lives. What some consider as "PC" may be just a bit of respect for the humanity in all of us. I don't believe that is a bad thing.
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I was not ridiculing active shooter training.
 
Butterfly, I meant that "duck & cover" was not really a threat to kids. I doubt most thought it through what a nuclear blast would do. But, today, kids face a real threat to their lives. They see it every week on TV. It's on the phones in their hands. They are actively demonstrating against gun violence. When we were growing up, we didn't have that kind of access to news. That 'shooter' is in the classroom much more than any bomb was for us. We grew up thinking nothing like a shooter could ever happen.
 

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