Re: EMOTIONAL IQ and GUNS

Harvey Newstrom (newstrom@newstaffinc.com)
Mon, 7 Jun 1999 13:53:23 -0400

> Anyone half trained in logic can see that:
> Our human race learning to deal with it's own anger and rage could have
saved
> more lives than banning guns. The Emotional IQ of people who shoot each
other
> is far more intersting to me than how many of them do it, or which ones
were
> "right". Emotions here on the list in fact are of great interest to me.
The
> anger and aggresion mounts daily!

Try to keep the gun debate in those topics labelled such, or change the subject line when it shifts to guns.

> I read news reports that "Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold passed an anger
> management course with glowing comments from their teachers".

This is true. It is extremely trivial and commonplace for criminals to exhibit the proper "reformed" behavior when required. Harris and Klebold were required to go through anger management courses as part of their probation on previous offenses. They passed with flying colors. They may have even been sincerely good at manging their anger, in class. Most people fail to grasp the concept that criminals are not stupid or aggressive all the time. Most are productive, normal members of society, with lots of additional problems. Most people would not conceive that reform can be faked, because they underestimate the cunning of the average criminal. Underestimating the enemy/subgroup/whatever is the number one reason that social programs or social theories fail. They fail to truly predict or understand the people about which the theories are made. Instead, theories are based on someone's own ideals of what reality is or should be, but have little real basis in reality.