Why Did a Gunman Take Hostages at Discovery Channel Headquarters?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a hostage situation at the Discovery Channel headquarters, initiated by a gunman with potentially explosive devices. Participants explore various reactions to the incident, the motivations behind the gunman's actions, and broader societal implications regarding human behavior and environmental concerns.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express concern over the gunman's belief that the Discovery Channel could solve global problems.
  • One participant suggests that the channel should produce programs based on specific ideas from Daniel Quinn's "My Ishmael," focusing on environmental solutions and population control.
  • There are differing opinions on which channel holds the answers to the world's problems, with some advocating for the Science Channel and others for the Engineering Channel.
  • A participant reflects on the gunman's mental state, suggesting he may have exhibited traits of Antisocial Personality Disorder.
  • Another participant agrees with the gunman's message but disagrees with the violent approach taken.
  • Some participants engage in philosophical discussions about humanity's role in pollution and the value of human life compared to other life forms.
  • There are contrasting views on the significance of historical figures like Mozart, Einstein, and Gandhi, with some questioning their contributions and others defending their legacies.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the motivations behind the gunman's actions or the appropriateness of his message. Multiple competing views remain regarding the value of human existence and the effectiveness of various channels in addressing global issues.

Contextual Notes

The discussion includes speculative claims about mental health and societal behavior, with no definitive conclusions drawn. Participants express personal opinions and philosophical musings that reflect a range of beliefs about humanity and its impact on the planet.

NeoDevin
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/us/02discovery.html

A gunman who may have had explosive devices took a small number of hostages Wednesday at the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in Silver Spring, Md., and the police were negotiating with the man, the authorities said.

Apparently he thinks that if you threaten them, Discovery Channel can single-handedly solve all the world's problems.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
His website is disturbing and hiliarious

The Discovery Channel and it's affiliate channels MUST have daily television programs at prime time slots based on Daniel Quinn's "My Ishmael" pages 207-212 where solutions to save the planet would be done in the same way as the Industrial Revolution was done, by people building on each other's inventive ideas. Focus must be given on how people can live WITHOUT giving birth to more filthy human children since those new additions continue pollution and are pollution. A game show format contest would be in order.

They MUST have a show educating people on how to live without having children. And it should be a game show. Not for any practical purpose, I just love game shows.

Do all until something WORKS and the natural world starts improving and human civilization building STOPS and is reversed

and
You're also going to find solutions for unemployment and housing. All these unemployed people makes me think the US is headed toward more war.

Stop building stuff! Except... build stuff for homeless people. They don't really count as civilization I guess.

Overall he sounds pretty f***ed in the head. I hope everything works out OK for the people in that building
 
It'd be nice if they could solve all of the world's problems...
 
Everyone knows that answers to the worlds problems are on the science channel and not the discovery channel.
 
No, the answer to the world's problems is in the engineering channel.
 
This guy should just go read The Next 100 Years.
 
russ_watters said:
No, the answer to the world's problems is in the engineering channel.

If that were true, the problems would be fixed already. :wink:
 
Ivan Seeking said:
If that were true, the problems would be fixed already. :wink:

The answers are there, but somebody needs to watch the damn shows
 
  • #10
I feel about the same way as that guy. If you want to have a few children, that's fine, but what's the point of having 10? Seriously, that makes no sense. What if everyone did that?
 
  • #11
Why does this stuff always happen near my house. Anyways, I am glad no one was hurt and the MoCo PD put a bullet in this hippie crackpots head.
 
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  • #12
Cyrus said:
Why does this stuff always happen near my house. Anyways, I am glad no one was hurt and the MoCo PD put a bullet in this hippie crackpots head.

But how do you really feel? Don't hold back now.
 
  • #13
The problem is I see too much of the looney tunes channel.
 
  • #14
Ivan Seeking said:
But how do you really feel? Don't hold back now.

:cry: Well, you see... :cry: :cry: :cry: It all started when I wasn't loved enough as a child :cry: :cry::cry::cry: :biggrin:

Yay for not paying taxes to keep him in a jail cell, bullets only cost .39 cents!
 
  • #15
This guy was no doubt a psychopath, or what's now called Antisocial Personality Disorder. And thankfully no one else was hurt. However, before too many cheers go up on the death of the assailant, consider:
F60.2 Dissocial (Antisocial) Personality Disorder

Personality disorder, usually coming to attention because of a gross disparity between behaviour and the prevailing social norms, and characterized by at least 3 of the following:

(a) callous unconcern for the feelings of others;
(b) gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social norms, rules and obligations;
(c) incapacity to maintain enduring relationships, though having no difficulty in establishing them;
(d) very low tolerance to frustration and a low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence;
(e) incapacity to experience guilt and to profit from experience, particularly punishment;
(f) marked proneness to blame others, or to offer plausible rationalizations, for the behaviour that has brought the patient into conflict with society.
http://www.mentalhealth.com/icd/p22-pe04.html
 
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  • #16
mheslep said:
This guy was no doubt a psychopath, or what's now called Antisocial Personality Disorder. And thankfully no one else was hurt. However, before too many cheers go up on the death of the assailant, consider:

http://www.mentalhealth.com/icd/p22-pe04.html
The first 3 describe me. :rolleyes:
 
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  • #17
I agree with his message, disagree with the execution.

Frankly I won't have used violence.
 
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  • #18
mheslep said:
This guy was no doubt a psychopath, or what's now called Antisocial Personality Disorder. And thankfully no one else was hurt. However, before too many cheers go up on the death of the assailant, consider:

http://www.mentalhealth.com/icd/p22-pe04.html

...??
 
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  • #19
cronxeh said:
In the grand scheme of emergence, this man is right. And all of you are but a dust in the wind. Get over yourself, you are not better than the other lifeforms populating this planet.

We are superior thus better than other lifeforms. :biggrin:
 
  • #20
cronxeh said:
Get over yourself, you are not better than the other lifeforms populating this planet.

I don't claim to be. For one I'm getting old and tough, so I'm not nearly as tasty.

He got one thing right - we are polluting this planet with humans.

Seriously though, do you think "polluting" is the right word? Do you really consider yourself to be no better than a toxin released into the biosphere? If so, then why should anyone care about your opinion?

Dont worry, the poles should shift soon and we are finally all going to die, naturally.

We are all going to die whether the poles shift of not.

You may wonder, what emergence? This guy is high. Nay, dear sir. I say ants are far better creatures than humans. On an area 50ft x 50ft these ants are far more productive, elegant, and hard working and useful to the biodiversity and this planet as a whole, than any human being out there.

Show me an ant Mozart, Einstein, or Gandhi. You really need to get a grip. Ants may be interesting, but you are far more interesting; in spite of and because of your silly ideas.

Btw, if you want to see something truly ugly and cruel, you should see what my cats do to the poor whatevers that they catch.
 
  • #21
Perhaps Mozart is just a bland harpsichord player, and Einstein is just a guy responsible for 100,000 lives being vaporized instantly, and Gandhi is just a lazy beatnik. Our perception of them is relative, and our own existence is relatively boring. We spend our lives pretending to be higher organisms, yet we routinely act like the animals subservient to us. Hypocrisy is the name of our game. We invent religion to fabricate a better world for ourselves, yet failing miserably in the process.

Yeah, humanity sucks. And I am no better than anyone out there, frankly there are times I regret being conceived, but like all humans, I am too selfish to stop this oxygen sucking habit
 
  • #22
cronxeh said:
Perhaps Mozart is just a bland harpsichord player, and Einstein is just a guy responsible for 100,000 lives being vaporized instantly, and Gandhi is just a lazy beatnik. Our perception of them is relative, and our own existence is relatively boring. We spend our lives pretending to be higher organisms, yet we routinely act like the animals subservient to us. Hypocrisy is the name of our game. We invent religion to fabricate a better world for ourselves, yet failing miserably in the process.

Yeah, humanity sucks. And I am no better than anyone out there, frankly there are times I regret being conceived, but like all humans, I am too selfish to stop this oxygen sucking habit


Everything you've said is such a fallacy. If everything you said is true, then you wouldn't actually be aware enough to make that statement.
 
  • #23
encorp said:
Everything you've said is such a fallacy. If everything you said is true, then you wouldn't actually be aware enough to make that statement.

You are precluding the possibility that our understanding of the pointlessness of life is an emergent property of evolution.
 
  • #24
Office_Shredder said:
In the grand scheme of things the universe will undergo heat death and it doesn't matter what anyone does. So who cares if we pollute the planet?
Heat death?!

You just need to get the heat back, with a big wimp...


Anyway, I don't see how there will be a heat death, as I feel a heat of 30 celsius right now, perhaps the heat will kill me though.
 
  • #25
Being destructive in a possibly infinite universe, or MWI, would seem to be a nearly meaningless thing. It's an activity like any other.
 
  • #26
Evo said:
The first 3 describe me. :rolleyes:
Me too (except for the "no difficulty establishing relationships" part :biggrin:). I don't think those three are so bad - at least, better them than violent tendencies.
 

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