Sheepdog Tip of the Day, Before Combat tip 186
Words have power. Don't call them "shooters", but "mass murderers". If the shooter is the bad guy, if the word shooter is a synonym for mass murderer then if you are the a shooter you are automatically the bad guy. Additionally, these are not shootings. They are massacres. The Boston Massacre left five dead, and it was one of the events that set off the American Revolution. The infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre left seven dead. These historical "massacres" were famous, but add up the Boston Massacre and the St. Valentine's Day Massacres, then double that number, and you still have more dead in Sandy Hook or Virginia Tech. These are massacres, and this is the term we should use. I believe our societys failure to call these events by their proper term as just another symptom of our deep denial as to the full magnitude of this problem. It is also a way to make the very act of "shooting" a vile and evil crime. Don't fall into that trap. Words have power. Don't use euphemisms, and don't debase the tools, skills and acts that you use to save lives.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, The Bullet Proof Mind seminar (paraphrased)
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Additional Resources
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