How Children Become Violent
I want to thank Dr. Kathy Seifert (www.drkathyseifert.com) for joining me today. Dr. Seifert is the author of How Children Become Violent - a terrific book that helps us understand how we got to this point with so many angry young adults, and what we can -and need - to do about it.
Although it is hard to understand Monday’s tragic shootings and deaths at Virginia Tech, listening to Dr. Seifert starts us on the path. Yet if you are the parent of one of these students or a family member of anyone who lost their life, it may never make sense. As Dr. Seifert explained, we need to make sure that the young children get the help they need to work on any obvious problems so that it doesn’t escalate to this massive disaster.
-I believe strongly that we should not publish the names of the shooters or talk extensively about them in the media. Dissecting the crime and their intentions is fine - talking about what we can do and how this happened and why this young man got this way - fine, but without giving out the name and talking about his life. Just call him the shooter.
One of the things that Dr. Seifert and other psychologists have told us is that fame and recognition - even in death - is a motivating factor for these troubled killers. They feel they are not being heard and they know that a mass killing will get them the fame and attention they have sought. It is a “you are going to hear from me” factor. Let’s not reward this horrific behaviour. It will only cause others who are equally disturbed to “outdo” his shootings to get the attention that our society gives to these mentally unstable, attention seeking men (yes men, did you ever hear of a woman or girl doing anything like this?)
Thanks again to Dr. Seifert for joining me and Don’t Forget to Make Good Choices ~