In our country today, shootings are unfortunately common and it is getting harder to tell dangerous threats from hoaxes. Tragically, it’s also easy to go from harmless to harmful when it regards issues of school safety.
Last week, nine school districts in N.H. were the subjects of an active shooter hoax. An unidentified person had called police stations and said there was a shooter in a school, putting multiple schools in secure campuses and lockdowns.
In the moment, no one knew it was a hoax, but it was handled as if it was a real threat. However, with students so desensitized to school shootings, these situations are being seen as jokes and further popularized by social media posts.
It is becoming harder to tell the truth from lies with each post made. How long until we are so used to hoaxes that we don’t react to a real legitimate threat, costing innocent lives?
There are plenty of things to joke about, but serious situations that cost human lives shouldn’t be the punchline of a joke.
