It is not about Supers doing Super things. It is about human being and what happen in their lives, what hard decision they have to make.
But with supers ^^
Last edited 1 day ago by Tim
leduk
1 day ago
No, ethan, killing ppl selling videogames has NOTHING to do with school shootings. Every western country have videogames and none have school shootings beside the us. Which let me think videogames are NOT the problem.
Elijah definitely has the wrong targets. But the right idea? At best he would be another Deathblood. If he was “unaliving” politicians who get in the way of gun control legislation being passed to free up the seats for new people who want to get something done, it would be a lot closer to being justifiable than killing game store owners (which I will once again point out doesn’t stop kids from ordering physical games online or getting them digitally, so Elijah was truly not accomplishing anything). But it would still be murder. And I know a large portion of… Read more »
No thank you. I don’t want to live in a world where we kill politicians instead of voting them out. What you are suggesting is the same sort of reasoning the extreme anti-abortion folks take after all. “Which politicians do we kill” would depend on your side and now we just live in some banana republic where only might makes “right.”
The difference is that people who protest abortions are a bunch of religious dimwits who don’t understand medicine, surgery, or pretty much anything else involving the topic that’s actually relevant, so as far as I’m concerned, their entire argument isn’t even valid or worth considering
What you’re saying implies that the people who support gun control have an understanding of the relevant topics regarding guns and their use. They definitely don’t.
More than the people who oppose it, the second amendment was written more than two centuries ago, guns have come a long way since then, values have changed, people need to stop pretending that things written long ago have the same meaning or purpose that they did when it was written
It’s not about validity, it’s about principle. If one side thinks it is acceptable to harm those who disagree with them, BECAUSE they disagree with them, then civility becomes impossible.
I’m going to play Devil’s advocate here, because it is violence that leads to new governments, when the government stops working for the people. “Remember taxation without representation”? The war cry of American revolutionaries that led to the revolutionary war? Voting would have not helped them. The only reason Canada became an independent country is because we patiently waited until a time when both our countries were democratic, and we simply asked permission, they said yes, and here we are. 😅 But regardless, Elijah as a representation of many Americans who are frustrated with the system and the status quo.… Read more »
Honestly if there was better social awareness (mostly about bullying and mental health), support for it, and a better social safety net, they would never have suffered enough to go berserk.
He’s definitely wrong that video games are the cause. But I think he’s dancing around, if an extreme method works to stop the shootings is it worth it?
Not the way Elijah does it. It’s never a good idea to balance decisions around unknowable ‘if’s like that. All it does is reduce the situation to ‘who can imagine the biggest good’ and everything is justifiable. It’s not worth committing certain atrocities to maybe help solve a problem. Because what if it doesn’t work?
Deathblood is better example of extreme methods that could be worth it.
The US is not the only western country to suffer from school shootings. Sweden experienced a school shooting just this year, according to CNN, as did Germany according to AJC.com.
From 2009-2018, the US had 288 school shootings. Mexico came in 2nd with 8. Only 16 other countries had ANY. So yeah, we aren’t the only ones. But insinuating that the US’s problem with school shootings isn’t unique to the US is disingenuous.
Also, when a shooting happens in other countries, they DO SOMETHING to try to prevent the next one. They don’t even make the news here anymore unless they are particularly bad.
AJC is lying then. The last school shooting in Germany was 2022 with one death and three injuries. The one before that was 2009 in a school, in a closeby city to where I live.
There were non-gun rampages with knifes, one time a crossbow and another time a molotov cocktail. But shootings aka gun rampages are extremely rare in Germany.
The shooter in the case of Örebro school shooting, was a 35 year old man. He had years earlier been an adult pupil at that school. This might be the second school shooting in Sweden.
Not really. Guns as ‘the target’ makes no more sense than video games. They’re all the wrong targets. The correct targets are the hearts and minds of the mentally disturbed and/or the easily radicalized. Anything that isn’t focused on those targets is fiddling at the margins of the problem.
Every country has “mentally disturbed and/or the easily radicalized.” But only the US has mass shootings every day and two school shootings every three weeks.
No need to exaggerate. The actual number of mass shootings, one every 23 days or so since 2000 is bad enough, and (if you define a school shooting as Education Week does, counting any instance of gunfire on school grounds regardless of intent or outcome) that’s still too many guns brought onto school grounds.
Seems that the only way to even start on the path to actually effecting gun control is to repeal the 2nd amendment, and good luck with that.
At the rate the US government is going, I think it and EVERY constitutional amendment (not to mention the Constitution itself) is going to end up being “repelled”. Whether it will be by state action or by Civil War could be anyone’s guess. Time will tell. 🫣
This kind of rationale by Ethan makes it feel like the author is too cowardly to make what is effectively a political statement (the problem is obviously gun laws, first and foremost), because not even Ethan is stupid enough to think video games might actually be the problem.
I don’t think that’s the intent at all. My read on it is he’s sympathizing with the reasons behind Elijah’s motives, not necessarily the motives themselves. He sees there’s a problem, but he doesn’t know where or how to address it. Keep in mind how this comic started, where his partner was shot dead in front of him, and Scott was paralyzed trying to protect her. Both are tragic characters, but Elijah lost the plot in his grief and fury.
Darkhorse
1 day ago
And that is why it would be good to listen to the arguments. If you understand Elijah ‘s view, you can see better if he’s right or wrong.
If he is you can start an appropriate action. Killing gun store owners and game store owners is an action unlikely to be taken, but they can probably find a less drastic solution. They can go at it without Elijah until he’s atoned for his atrocities.
Because saving lives is what they do. Maybe they can solve that one without a super suit, like campaigning for better health care for example.
If this world is anything like ours a lot of this could be avoided by making sure that when people start becoming a risk you remove the privilege of owning a firearm. Just like if someone is a dangerous driver we take away their license to drive.
While that may solve premeditative or potentially unstable persons from taking such actions, there is no way to stop them all short of full gun removal from societal hands. There will always be those who fly under the radar until it happens, whether it’s a slow descent into mental instability or a sudden rage that comes from seemingly nowhere.
Not to mention that people can generally “fake” mental stability for the duration of any evaluation. Only the very worst cases, or those that want help get picked up. Nearly full removal of guns from society is the right approach. Many other countries have proven safety records from not allowing random joes to own guns. Some countries have 1 year military service as a requirement, and manage to have similar levels of gun ownership to the US but a lot better respect for the fact that guns are for killing, not just looking cool or “defence” somehow. Along with assessing… Read more »
We do that to an extent: felons cannot legally own guns. And a multiple DUI offender usually cannot drive a vehicle (which, as we see in Europe, can kill and injure just as many people as a mass shooting). But it doesn’t always stop them from getting their hands on something they should not be using. DUI has an easy objective measurement: BAC content while driving (yes, the level is debatable). Guns are trickier, as there is no real objective, unbiased measurement of whether someone would murder in the future. Even something like an assault charge could be trumped up… Read more »
Daniel
1 day ago
“Well, I know that the master’s approach was bit drastic too, but maybe if we would let him to get rid of all technology and reconstruct our whole society, maybe less people would die from dangerous selfies (taken hundreds of lives already). I mean, who can tell?”
Even a spear is technology, who determines arbitrarily how far back he wipes it? Also how do you trust him not to rebuild in a way that is self serving to him and the thousands of years of humans scraping by and slowing developing tech and the horrible suffering humans went through, millions if not billions dying from disease, famine, war, etc. Our modern day tech is not the problem, its always been humans with competing ideals and desires. No one person can ever be the solution to us getting better. *I know there’s a chance your being sarcastic but… Read more »
I need that Lucas/Ben relationship to work out as long as possible.
Jedi
1 day ago
Aint that quite out of character for Ethan ? I mean i get the way the comic goes, but Ethan doubting Videogames or thinks they might make people go kill someone ? Whats next, Ethan switching to Linux ? 😉
I think more likely he is just reeling from having to hurt someone he thought he got through to peacefully who was, at least in Elijah’s mind, the fault of his career and passion. It can make you question yourself even if some of the doubt isn’t rational.
Ethan always had his moral compass working, and had some serious thoughts before, think about the latest iteration of Zeke. This isn’t out of character, as long as there isn’t too much of it. He doubts the status quo here, more than anything else.
Completely agree with this. It makes no sense for Ethan to say something like this would have worked unless he agrees with the premise (that video games are a cause of school shootings).
jonathan corbett
1 day ago
Was trying to think of a villain name for Elijah.. Speedrunner, maybe?
It’s an unpopular opinion but I think teachers should be given training and required to have a firearm in a locked safe in their classroom. Most teachers are willing to lay down their life to protect their students and the government will never budget to add more security to schools. The mere threat that a school is no longer an easy target would discourage most school shooters. (Though I do understand that most teachers wouldn’t want to partake in such a program. There is no easy answer, otherwise it would have been solved already.)
if you consider the mental state of most school shooters and the fact that most of them end up dead by the time their spree is over. I’m not sure how much of a difference armed teachers would make.
On a more practical level many of these events begin without warning, so how many children would die before the teacher got their weapon out and ready to use. I’d also add that having curious children and firearms in close proximity is never going to end well.
I think any deterrence from having firearms locked up in classrooms would be more than offset by would-be school shooters no longer needing to find a way to acquire their own firearm. Now all they have to do is snag a key and wait for the teacher of that room to be on lunch or something. Free firearm that they didn’t even need to sneak into the school!
Or maybe we could solve the actual problem that results in school shootings (the incredibly easy access to incredibly lethal firearms) instead of expecting all teachers who are already underpaid and overworked to also be security guards.
There is only one country where these shootings regularly happen, there is an entire planet of other countries to get ideas from on how to successfully solve the problem. None of those other countries solved it by arming teachers.
I think it is less about access to guns but rather mentality about guns. And as any city/state in USA with tight gun controll, why do they have such dispropitenaly high gun violence rate? oh that’s right, criminals don’t care about laws. Case in piint UK and knife(or any sharp metal object) bans.
Just let law abiding citizens arm and defend thenselves instead of protecting criminals, who at the end of theday deserve as many rights as they respect, which is none.
You make the idiotic argument that people just conveniently are able to find illegal things just laying around like items in a rpg, or that the price of something is going to stay the same if it’s illegal
It is a tired old argument that criminals get guns. Yes they can get it, but that is because the USA has basically no guj control at all. In Europe they can still get it, but as it is more difficult the price goes up and the lethality goes down, as they generally aren’t AR-15’s. A criminal is about risk and reward. Owning a gun in Europe is more heavily scrutinized, and anything above a pistol is flat out forbidden but for specialised companies or a select few collectors or the like. That means you’re at a higher risk of… Read more »
Governments can pass infinite numbers of laws and its not going to address the real issue … the hearts and minds of the mentally disturbed and radicalized. Take away the gun and they just find some other excuse. It’d be nice if there was a simple solution but it’s not as easy as the lazy and somewhat silly path many follow of “we should ban “X” and THAT’LL fix it!”
Schools all around the world don’t have guns. And yet America, land of thousand guns, is where the shootings constantly happen. The presence of (other) guns does nothing to prevent, or stop, people unhinged enough to go on a shooting spree. It only makes it easier for them do so.
I’m always surprised about the opinion to arm teachers. You’re asking people to arm themselves and potentially use lethal force, while they do it to teach. Suddenly they need to be trained in the difficult subject of killing another human being? Do not forget that they might know this person. Someone they teach, or know is conflicted and try to help. Someone more likely to be a minor or young adult that they need to snuff out. They might ise lethal force to protect their children if push comes to shove, but it isn’t anything light. Something you shouldn’t ask… Read more »
Jesus christ. Thats literally a terrible terrible terrible idea. Like “hey let’s put a gun with a teacher. They’ll totally be willing to kill a child in thier care!” Not even in my wildest dreams could I ever imagine a teacher pulling out a gun and killing one of thier students, then continuing to teach. It would be a career ender. Hell depending on how the media swings it it might be a “never works again” because you’re in jail. A teachers job during ana active shooter is to protect themselves and thier kids. Arming teachers just invites them to… Read more »
No, Ethan. Elijah’s approach couldn’t have stopped it. As Elijah himself admitted to you, the problem is politicians unwilling to pass gun control laws and a lack of available and affordable mental health care.
Elijah killing gun store and video game store owners was never going to solve either of those problems. If all you get from politicians is thoughts and prayers when children are killed over and over and over and over and over, a few adults dying sure wasn’t going to move the needle.
Figgly
1 day ago
i mean to be fair Ethan, His targeting Video Games was doing absolutely fuckall to stop it.
Like that’s getting mad at the sea levels rising, so you decide to try and fix it by blowing up a mountain. You’re just doing nothing there.
Steve
1 day ago
Seems like a time skip. I expected a follow up to Monday’s strip. Was there bonus Patreon content?
Crestlinger
1 day ago
For a comparison of the Current us regulations etc. google up on ‘Gun Law in the united states’ via Wikipedia Reading through it seems the fastest ways in reality is to unify state, senate, legislature, local, federal and supreme court on One policy incorporating: -Permits necessary for citizens to have concealed carry and renewing licenses at firing range to determine competency, vision, and mental integrity. -Full Background check on owners and sellers before licensing and renewing for both at the same interval. -Immediate on-site full destruction of all expired items for violators, barring being evidence. -Significant tax, and insurance deductions… Read more »
Good ideas in principle, and I’m pretty sure most countries follow some form of this. But that will never pass until the 2nd is repelled. And I doubt it will ever be repelled. It’s way better to start from an educational approach in the school system in the US, because that’s the most effective way to change the culture of a country in the long term.
Last edited 1 hour ago by The Legacy
Karrde
1 day ago
The Solution to school shootings is probably not telling Kids to be nihilists.
relemen
23 hours ago
I like that it’s always Ethan coming up with this lame virtue signaling hypocrisy. Compare this to his reaction to Deathblood. He always lands on the side of wanting to defend the criminals who are killing innocent people. All life is precious, until it’s innocent life. Then he cries about the poor murderer instead of the poor victims. His position is entirely hypocritical. He makes me mad because there really are people who think this way. I guess that makes this good writing. I’m glad the other character at least don’t support this deranged way of thinking. It’s like… no… Read more »
Yeah, this is nothing like the prior Ethan at all. This Ethan is much dumber on a real level instead of a comical level.
Banjo
23 hours ago
My forecast: Ethan won’t be the only one wondering that. Far from it. In fact, there will so many people wondering if Elijah had a point that an injured and even-more-radicalized Elijah will launch a successful career in politics, campaigning on an end to the sale of violent video games.
He’ll have to use his real name, though; Tack Jumpson
Brendan
23 hours ago
I’m legitimately and pleasantly surprised this wasn’t the page Ethan’s mortality probability bubble resolved
Giggity Goo
20 hours ago
I feel like Ethan’s forgetting the point he made to Eugene initially – there’s a lot of good that video games actually do as well. Or music, or movies, or books, or tv shows, or table top games, or parents, or friends, or… – the number of different things which have been singled out as having been the ’cause’ for terror events in the past is astonishing. Placing the blame on one of them and trying to wipe it out solves nothing. This is not a ‘video game’ problem. It is a HUMAN problem. The only way to solve it… Read more »
You Americans are so unbelievably brain washed if there are those among you who don’t even think gun laws are related to why your country is so massively #1 in shootings.
Yes and no. Yes, gun laws is a big part of it, but culture is also a big part of it. There are a number of countries that have large numbers of gun owners that don’t have the same problems the US has. Part of it is cultural, part of it is educational, and (and some cases like in Sweden and Switzerland) part of it is mandatory military service, where you are taught gun safety at a relatively young age. There’s a number of factors at play here, and it’s not just gun laws. Gun laws only work if there’s… Read more »
wysskers4
18 hours ago
Oh, Ethan, we do what we can, with what we have, when we have it. Elijah could have used that super speed to go in and stop active shooters. Maybe he’ll get actual therapy and become the best EMT that Omnitropolis has ever seen. Or the blur that simply goes in and ties up the active threat before anyone is harmed. If he wanted to screw with gamers, he could run through gaming conventions and steal power cables or remove all the lightbulbs from the area. People CAN and DO change, but it takes time and kindness. Hopefully this world… Read more »
Greevar
18 hours ago
Anyone who thinks that violence in media has any impact on actual violence doesn’t have a clue. Two words: Dialectical materialism. Violence is a response to material conditions that impose inequality so dire, it sparks a violent reaction as a means to reconcile that inequality. Violence is also contagious. Witnessing or being a victim of violence spreads that violence to more people, because they too have reached that tipping point of inequality. This kind of stress puts people in an emotional state where they surrender their intellect to authority and take shortcuts to comforting answers, failing to take the time… Read more »
Last edited 18 hours ago by Greevar
william
18 hours ago
i like ethan is self aware to look at both sides of debate.
I don’t agree that we need to try and see the side of the debate that involves murdering innocent people. That isn’t a whole lot different than trying to see the side of Nazis. Some people’s viewpoints are just flat out wrong.
Phire
18 hours ago
Sorry, but no. His approach was naïve at best, actively detrimental at worst. Elijah was a lunatic nutjob who justified his actions despite supposedly understanding why they would NOT work.
Del Cox
17 hours ago
The crap thing is when there’s a tiny bit of truth in a scapegoat idea. Just that little toe in the door is all that’s needed to make it nearly impossible to argue with people looking for easy blame. Do video games encourage school shootings? On some level, sure they do. They inspire a lethal means of dealing with people you hate that’s as simple as pulling a trigger, they desensitize the concept (even if reality would set in later), and modern tactical shooters teach about vital areas and ammo conservation. But given the wider scope of video games and… Read more »
Sir Guestalot
16 hours ago
To bluntly answer Ethan’s question: it wouldn’t have. Because Elijah has no idea what the right target is. Like so many people, he’s just latching onto a popular scapegoat to give his emotions a target. It’s true that many people who commit violent crimes also play video games—but that’s because video games are a near-ubiquitous form of entertainment. It’s like going “gasp! You will never believe it! They watched television! They used YouTube! They read fiction!” That’s not a testament to any of these things as causal factors. That’s a testament to the popularity of the medium. In all these… Read more »
Scarsdale
15 hours ago
It’s been going on for decades, just the media is making it “sound cool” to depressed kids. The whole “going out with a bang” thing. I should also say there’s been far more school stabbings than shootings, even back in my day in the 70s. If anything is going to stop school shootings, they need to stop making a media circus out of them. Every time it happens, every news service talks about for days afterwards. That makes suicidal kids seeing it as a way to die and still make it on the news, etc.
thats one reason its nice there are some news reporters taking up the dont show the perp motto. keeps any spotlight they may have hoped for from coming at least from those reporting.
Pulse
15 hours ago
the hardest part about taking the high road is not dropping low just because it makes it easier.
Jay Lebo
11 hours ago
This is the kind of scenario where I wish I could enter the comic and shake some sense into the characters. What Elijah was doing wasn’t a “drastic approach”, it was random ideologically motivated murder and destruction. If I was there, I would have asked him “What’s next? We take out anyone who sells cigarettes? How about car salesmen? Automobile accidents account for many innocent deaths annually. How about we off anyone who works at a fast food restaurant to save people from the obesity epidemic?” Elijah’s victims were engaged in an entirely legal job with the purpose of supporting… Read more »
jjX___
7 hours ago
Zealots are sure of mind. So while I am unsure of mind, I am losing and they are winning.
It really is that simple.
Last edited 7 hours ago by jjX___
John H
1 hour ago
A lot of thoughts around here on this topic, which it would. Violence, guns or otherwise, is a complex issue and does not have a one size fits all answer. Gun Control will not stop violence; it will just reappear in another form because the source of the violence has not been addressed. In England they have a stabbing problem and now have knife control laws, seriously they do. This is a cultural and socioeconomic problem. Culturally we have become too permissive and as a society no longer have a common moral compass, specifically around the respect for life. No… Read more »
24
Hey ! I like this ending !
It is not about Supers doing Super things. It is about human being and what happen in their lives, what hard decision they have to make.
But with supers ^^
No, ethan, killing ppl selling videogames has NOTHING to do with school shootings. Every western country have videogames and none have school shootings beside the us. Which let me think videogames are NOT the problem.
This! Videogames are just an easy scapegoat for people, who want an easy answer, that doesn’t infringe on their “rights”.
Elijah has the right idea, just the wrong targets, should be going after the politicians and other people who enable this
Elijah definitely has the wrong targets. But the right idea? At best he would be another Deathblood. If he was “unaliving” politicians who get in the way of gun control legislation being passed to free up the seats for new people who want to get something done, it would be a lot closer to being justifiable than killing game store owners (which I will once again point out doesn’t stop kids from ordering physical games online or getting them digitally, so Elijah was truly not accomplishing anything). But it would still be murder. And I know a large portion of… Read more »
No thank you. I don’t want to live in a world where we kill politicians instead of voting them out. What you are suggesting is the same sort of reasoning the extreme anti-abortion folks take after all. “Which politicians do we kill” would depend on your side and now we just live in some banana republic where only might makes “right.”
The difference is that people who protest abortions are a bunch of religious dimwits who don’t understand medicine, surgery, or pretty much anything else involving the topic that’s actually relevant, so as far as I’m concerned, their entire argument isn’t even valid or worth considering
What you’re saying implies that the people who support gun control have an understanding of the relevant topics regarding guns and their use. They definitely don’t.
More than the people who oppose it, the second amendment was written more than two centuries ago, guns have come a long way since then, values have changed, people need to stop pretending that things written long ago have the same meaning or purpose that they did when it was written
you dont need to understand guns to know gun control is good, you just have to watch oustide of the usa
It’s not about validity, it’s about principle. If one side thinks it is acceptable to harm those who disagree with them, BECAUSE they disagree with them, then civility becomes impossible.
I’m going to play Devil’s advocate here, because it is violence that leads to new governments, when the government stops working for the people. “Remember taxation without representation”? The war cry of American revolutionaries that led to the revolutionary war? Voting would have not helped them. The only reason Canada became an independent country is because we patiently waited until a time when both our countries were democratic, and we simply asked permission, they said yes, and here we are. 😅 But regardless, Elijah as a representation of many Americans who are frustrated with the system and the status quo.… Read more »
Honestly if there was better social awareness (mostly about bullying and mental health), support for it, and a better social safety net, they would never have suffered enough to go berserk.
Lots of truth in this, but the vast majority of people would rather “pick a side” than actually address the true issue.
Because politicians make sure people WANT to pick sides, and not solve problems.
He’s definitely wrong that video games are the cause. But I think he’s dancing around, if an extreme method works to stop the shootings is it worth it?
Not the way Elijah does it. It’s never a good idea to balance decisions around unknowable ‘if’s like that. All it does is reduce the situation to ‘who can imagine the biggest good’ and everything is justifiable. It’s not worth committing certain atrocities to maybe help solve a problem. Because what if it doesn’t work?
Deathblood is better example of extreme methods that could be worth it.
The US is not the only western country to suffer from school shootings. Sweden experienced a school shooting just this year, according to CNN, as did Germany according to AJC.com.
From 2009-2018, the US had 288 school shootings. Mexico came in 2nd with 8. Only 16 other countries had ANY. So yeah, we aren’t the only ones. But insinuating that the US’s problem with school shootings isn’t unique to the US is disingenuous.
Also, when a shooting happens in other countries, they DO SOMETHING to try to prevent the next one. They don’t even make the news here anymore unless they are particularly bad.
True. Other countries do have school shooting, but the US is the only country that has a school shooting on a montlhy basis
AJC is lying then. The last school shooting in Germany was 2022 with one death and three injuries. The one before that was 2009 in a school, in a closeby city to where I live.
There were non-gun rampages with knifes, one time a crossbow and another time a molotov cocktail. But shootings aka gun rampages are extremely rare in Germany.
The shooter in the case of Örebro school shooting, was a 35 year old man. He had years earlier been an adult pupil at that school. This might be the second school shooting in Sweden.
how many school shootings per year in sweden compared to the us?
It was mentioned that he was also targeting gun stores. Murdering people still isn’t the solution, but at least that target makes more sense.
Not really. Guns as ‘the target’ makes no more sense than video games. They’re all the wrong targets. The correct targets are the hearts and minds of the mentally disturbed and/or the easily radicalized. Anything that isn’t focused on those targets is fiddling at the margins of the problem.
Every country has “mentally disturbed and/or the easily radicalized.” But only the US has mass shootings every day and two school shootings every three weeks.
Other countries have UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE so that mentally disturbed people have a greater chance of getting help.
Sadly, there are those that can fly under the radar.
that isnt how it works tho
in other countries you mostly cant carry a firearm, unless you’re hunting, and rules a stricts
No need to exaggerate. The actual number of mass shootings, one every 23 days or so since 2000 is bad enough, and (if you define a school shooting as Education Week does, counting any instance of gunfire on school grounds regardless of intent or outcome) that’s still too many guns brought onto school grounds.
Seems that the only way to even start on the path to actually effecting gun control is to repeal the 2nd amendment, and good luck with that.
At the rate the US government is going, I think it and EVERY constitutional amendment (not to mention the Constitution itself) is going to end up being “repelled”. Whether it will be by state action or by Civil War could be anyone’s guess. Time will tell. 🫣
This kind of rationale by Ethan makes it feel like the author is too cowardly to make what is effectively a political statement (the problem is obviously gun laws, first and foremost), because not even Ethan is stupid enough to think video games might actually be the problem.
I don’t think that’s the intent at all. My read on it is he’s sympathizing with the reasons behind Elijah’s motives, not necessarily the motives themselves. He sees there’s a problem, but he doesn’t know where or how to address it. Keep in mind how this comic started, where his partner was shot dead in front of him, and Scott was paralyzed trying to protect her. Both are tragic characters, but Elijah lost the plot in his grief and fury.
And that is why it would be good to listen to the arguments. If you understand Elijah ‘s view, you can see better if he’s right or wrong.
If he is you can start an appropriate action. Killing gun store owners and game store owners is an action unlikely to be taken, but they can probably find a less drastic solution. They can go at it without Elijah until he’s atoned for his atrocities.
Because saving lives is what they do. Maybe they can solve that one without a super suit, like campaigning for better health care for example.
Or maybe campaigning for gun control.
If this world is anything like ours a lot of this could be avoided by making sure that when people start becoming a risk you remove the privilege of owning a firearm. Just like if someone is a dangerous driver we take away their license to drive.
While that may solve premeditative or potentially unstable persons from taking such actions, there is no way to stop them all short of full gun removal from societal hands. There will always be those who fly under the radar until it happens, whether it’s a slow descent into mental instability or a sudden rage that comes from seemingly nowhere.
Not to mention that people can generally “fake” mental stability for the duration of any evaluation. Only the very worst cases, or those that want help get picked up. Nearly full removal of guns from society is the right approach. Many other countries have proven safety records from not allowing random joes to own guns. Some countries have 1 year military service as a requirement, and manage to have similar levels of gun ownership to the US but a lot better respect for the fact that guns are for killing, not just looking cool or “defence” somehow. Along with assessing… Read more »
We do that to an extent: felons cannot legally own guns. And a multiple DUI offender usually cannot drive a vehicle (which, as we see in Europe, can kill and injure just as many people as a mass shooting). But it doesn’t always stop them from getting their hands on something they should not be using. DUI has an easy objective measurement: BAC content while driving (yes, the level is debatable). Guns are trickier, as there is no real objective, unbiased measurement of whether someone would murder in the future. Even something like an assault charge could be trumped up… Read more »
“Well, I know that the master’s approach was bit drastic too, but maybe if we would let him to get rid of all technology and reconstruct our whole society, maybe less people would die from dangerous selfies (taken hundreds of lives already). I mean, who can tell?”
Even a spear is technology, who determines arbitrarily how far back he wipes it? Also how do you trust him not to rebuild in a way that is self serving to him and the thousands of years of humans scraping by and slowing developing tech and the horrible suffering humans went through, millions if not billions dying from disease, famine, war, etc. Our modern day tech is not the problem, its always been humans with competing ideals and desires. No one person can ever be the solution to us getting better. *I know there’s a chance your being sarcastic but… Read more »
Very sarcastic, but your explanation is very clear
That’s more Darwin award territory.
I need that Lucas/Ben relationship to work out as long as possible.
Aint that quite out of character for Ethan ? I mean i get the way the comic goes, but Ethan doubting Videogames or thinks they might make people go kill someone ? Whats next, Ethan switching to Linux ? 😉
I think more likely he is just reeling from having to hurt someone he thought he got through to peacefully who was, at least in Elijah’s mind, the fault of his career and passion. It can make you question yourself even if some of the doubt isn’t rational.
Ethan always had his moral compass working, and had some serious thoughts before, think about the latest iteration of Zeke. This isn’t out of character, as long as there isn’t too much of it. He doubts the status quo here, more than anything else.
Completely agree with this. It makes no sense for Ethan to say something like this would have worked unless he agrees with the premise (that video games are a cause of school shootings).
Was trying to think of a villain name for Elijah.. Speedrunner, maybe?
Tas
It’s an unpopular opinion but I think teachers should be given training and required to have a firearm in a locked safe in their classroom. Most teachers are willing to lay down their life to protect their students and the government will never budget to add more security to schools. The mere threat that a school is no longer an easy target would discourage most school shooters. (Though I do understand that most teachers wouldn’t want to partake in such a program. There is no easy answer, otherwise it would have been solved already.)
if you consider the mental state of most school shooters and the fact that most of them end up dead by the time their spree is over. I’m not sure how much of a difference armed teachers would make.
On a more practical level many of these events begin without warning, so how many children would die before the teacher got their weapon out and ready to use. I’d also add that having curious children and firearms in close proximity is never going to end well.
I think any deterrence from having firearms locked up in classrooms would be more than offset by would-be school shooters no longer needing to find a way to acquire their own firearm. Now all they have to do is snag a key and wait for the teacher of that room to be on lunch or something. Free firearm that they didn’t even need to sneak into the school!
Or maybe we could solve the actual problem that results in school shootings (the incredibly easy access to incredibly lethal firearms) instead of expecting all teachers who are already underpaid and overworked to also be security guards.
There is only one country where these shootings regularly happen, there is an entire planet of other countries to get ideas from on how to successfully solve the problem. None of those other countries solved it by arming teachers.
I think it is less about access to guns but rather mentality about guns. And as any city/state in USA with tight gun controll, why do they have such dispropitenaly high gun violence rate? oh that’s right, criminals don’t care about laws. Case in piint UK and knife(or any sharp metal object) bans.
Just let law abiding citizens arm and defend thenselves instead of protecting criminals, who at the end of theday deserve as many rights as they respect, which is none.
You make the idiotic argument that people just conveniently are able to find illegal things just laying around like items in a rpg, or that the price of something is going to stay the same if it’s illegal
It is a tired old argument that criminals get guns. Yes they can get it, but that is because the USA has basically no guj control at all. In Europe they can still get it, but as it is more difficult the price goes up and the lethality goes down, as they generally aren’t AR-15’s. A criminal is about risk and reward. Owning a gun in Europe is more heavily scrutinized, and anything above a pistol is flat out forbidden but for specialised companies or a select few collectors or the like. That means you’re at a higher risk of… Read more »
Governments can pass infinite numbers of laws and its not going to address the real issue … the hearts and minds of the mentally disturbed and radicalized. Take away the gun and they just find some other excuse. It’d be nice if there was a simple solution but it’s not as easy as the lazy and somewhat silly path many follow of “we should ban “X” and THAT’LL fix it!”
Schools all around the world don’t have guns. And yet America, land of thousand guns, is where the shootings constantly happen. The presence of (other) guns does nothing to prevent, or stop, people unhinged enough to go on a shooting spree. It only makes it easier for them do so.
I’m always surprised about the opinion to arm teachers. You’re asking people to arm themselves and potentially use lethal force, while they do it to teach. Suddenly they need to be trained in the difficult subject of killing another human being? Do not forget that they might know this person. Someone they teach, or know is conflicted and try to help. Someone more likely to be a minor or young adult that they need to snuff out. They might ise lethal force to protect their children if push comes to shove, but it isn’t anything light. Something you shouldn’t ask… Read more »
Jesus christ. Thats literally a terrible terrible terrible idea. Like “hey let’s put a gun with a teacher. They’ll totally be willing to kill a child in thier care!” Not even in my wildest dreams could I ever imagine a teacher pulling out a gun and killing one of thier students, then continuing to teach. It would be a career ender. Hell depending on how the media swings it it might be a “never works again” because you’re in jail. A teachers job during ana active shooter is to protect themselves and thier kids. Arming teachers just invites them to… Read more »
I love Ethan, he is so human.
Right?! 🥹
No, Ethan. Elijah’s approach couldn’t have stopped it. As Elijah himself admitted to you, the problem is politicians unwilling to pass gun control laws and a lack of available and affordable mental health care.
Elijah killing gun store and video game store owners was never going to solve either of those problems. If all you get from politicians is thoughts and prayers when children are killed over and over and over and over and over, a few adults dying sure wasn’t going to move the needle.
i mean to be fair Ethan, His targeting Video Games was doing absolutely fuckall to stop it.
Like that’s getting mad at the sea levels rising, so you decide to try and fix it by blowing up a mountain. You’re just doing nothing there.
Seems like a time skip. I expected a follow up to Monday’s strip. Was there bonus Patreon content?
For a comparison of the Current us regulations etc. google up on ‘Gun Law in the united states’ via Wikipedia Reading through it seems the fastest ways in reality is to unify state, senate, legislature, local, federal and supreme court on One policy incorporating: -Permits necessary for citizens to have concealed carry and renewing licenses at firing range to determine competency, vision, and mental integrity. -Full Background check on owners and sellers before licensing and renewing for both at the same interval. -Immediate on-site full destruction of all expired items for violators, barring being evidence. -Significant tax, and insurance deductions… Read more »
Good ideas in principle, and I’m pretty sure most countries follow some form of this. But that will never pass until the 2nd is repelled. And I doubt it will ever be repelled. It’s way better to start from an educational approach in the school system in the US, because that’s the most effective way to change the culture of a country in the long term.
The Solution to school shootings is probably not telling Kids to be nihilists.
I like that it’s always Ethan coming up with this lame virtue signaling hypocrisy. Compare this to his reaction to Deathblood. He always lands on the side of wanting to defend the criminals who are killing innocent people. All life is precious, until it’s innocent life. Then he cries about the poor murderer instead of the poor victims. His position is entirely hypocritical. He makes me mad because there really are people who think this way. I guess that makes this good writing. I’m glad the other character at least don’t support this deranged way of thinking. It’s like… no… Read more »
Yeah, this is nothing like the prior Ethan at all. This Ethan is much dumber on a real level instead of a comical level.
My forecast: Ethan won’t be the only one wondering that. Far from it. In fact, there will so many people wondering if Elijah had a point that an injured and even-more-radicalized Elijah will launch a successful career in politics, campaigning on an end to the sale of violent video games.
He’ll have to use his real name, though; Tack Jumpson
I’m legitimately and pleasantly surprised this wasn’t the page Ethan’s mortality probability bubble resolved
I feel like Ethan’s forgetting the point he made to Eugene initially – there’s a lot of good that video games actually do as well. Or music, or movies, or books, or tv shows, or table top games, or parents, or friends, or… – the number of different things which have been singled out as having been the ’cause’ for terror events in the past is astonishing. Placing the blame on one of them and trying to wipe it out solves nothing. This is not a ‘video game’ problem. It is a HUMAN problem. The only way to solve it… Read more »
You Americans are so unbelievably brain washed if there are those among you who don’t even think gun laws are related to why your country is so massively #1 in shootings.
Yes and no. Yes, gun laws is a big part of it, but culture is also a big part of it. There are a number of countries that have large numbers of gun owners that don’t have the same problems the US has. Part of it is cultural, part of it is educational, and (and some cases like in Sweden and Switzerland) part of it is mandatory military service, where you are taught gun safety at a relatively young age. There’s a number of factors at play here, and it’s not just gun laws. Gun laws only work if there’s… Read more »
Oh, Ethan, we do what we can, with what we have, when we have it. Elijah could have used that super speed to go in and stop active shooters. Maybe he’ll get actual therapy and become the best EMT that Omnitropolis has ever seen. Or the blur that simply goes in and ties up the active threat before anyone is harmed. If he wanted to screw with gamers, he could run through gaming conventions and steal power cables or remove all the lightbulbs from the area. People CAN and DO change, but it takes time and kindness. Hopefully this world… Read more »
Anyone who thinks that violence in media has any impact on actual violence doesn’t have a clue. Two words: Dialectical materialism. Violence is a response to material conditions that impose inequality so dire, it sparks a violent reaction as a means to reconcile that inequality. Violence is also contagious. Witnessing or being a victim of violence spreads that violence to more people, because they too have reached that tipping point of inequality. This kind of stress puts people in an emotional state where they surrender their intellect to authority and take shortcuts to comforting answers, failing to take the time… Read more »
i like ethan is self aware to look at both sides of debate.
not saying elijah is right in approach or who to blame but its good to see their view is all.
I don’t agree that we need to try and see the side of the debate that involves murdering innocent people. That isn’t a whole lot different than trying to see the side of Nazis. Some people’s viewpoints are just flat out wrong.
Sorry, but no. His approach was naïve at best, actively detrimental at worst. Elijah was a lunatic nutjob who justified his actions despite supposedly understanding why they would NOT work.
The crap thing is when there’s a tiny bit of truth in a scapegoat idea. Just that little toe in the door is all that’s needed to make it nearly impossible to argue with people looking for easy blame. Do video games encourage school shootings? On some level, sure they do. They inspire a lethal means of dealing with people you hate that’s as simple as pulling a trigger, they desensitize the concept (even if reality would set in later), and modern tactical shooters teach about vital areas and ammo conservation. But given the wider scope of video games and… Read more »
To bluntly answer Ethan’s question: it wouldn’t have. Because Elijah has no idea what the right target is. Like so many people, he’s just latching onto a popular scapegoat to give his emotions a target. It’s true that many people who commit violent crimes also play video games—but that’s because video games are a near-ubiquitous form of entertainment. It’s like going “gasp! You will never believe it! They watched television! They used YouTube! They read fiction!” That’s not a testament to any of these things as causal factors. That’s a testament to the popularity of the medium. In all these… Read more »
It’s been going on for decades, just the media is making it “sound cool” to depressed kids. The whole “going out with a bang” thing. I should also say there’s been far more school stabbings than shootings, even back in my day in the 70s. If anything is going to stop school shootings, they need to stop making a media circus out of them. Every time it happens, every news service talks about for days afterwards. That makes suicidal kids seeing it as a way to die and still make it on the news, etc.
thats one reason its nice there are some news reporters taking up the dont show the perp motto. keeps any spotlight they may have hoped for from coming at least from those reporting.
the hardest part about taking the high road is not dropping low just because it makes it easier.
This is the kind of scenario where I wish I could enter the comic and shake some sense into the characters. What Elijah was doing wasn’t a “drastic approach”, it was random ideologically motivated murder and destruction. If I was there, I would have asked him “What’s next? We take out anyone who sells cigarettes? How about car salesmen? Automobile accidents account for many innocent deaths annually. How about we off anyone who works at a fast food restaurant to save people from the obesity epidemic?” Elijah’s victims were engaged in an entirely legal job with the purpose of supporting… Read more »
Zealots are sure of mind. So while I am unsure of mind, I am losing and they are winning.
It really is that simple.
A lot of thoughts around here on this topic, which it would. Violence, guns or otherwise, is a complex issue and does not have a one size fits all answer. Gun Control will not stop violence; it will just reappear in another form because the source of the violence has not been addressed. In England they have a stabbing problem and now have knife control laws, seriously they do. This is a cultural and socioeconomic problem. Culturally we have become too permissive and as a society no longer have a common moral compass, specifically around the respect for life. No… Read more »