-- Placing of Blame in Wake of Littleton, CO --
Well, I suppose this is a bit late because I sorta got sidetracked and just
never got around to writing about the Columbine Shootings. But the country is
still in an uproar and pointing their grubby little fingers at anyone and
everything trying to lay the blame upon someone. The religious right has made a
martyr out of that girl who said she believed in Jesus when the gunmen asked
her. The Goth community is still looked upon with scorn, as is the pagan
community. Gun control measures are being tossed around legislative sessions
around the country and there is a national movement to get the 10 commandments
placed into every public school classroom in the country.
First off I guess I had better reiterate what is pretty much the common view held by Goths across the country. Our lifestyles did not make those kids flip out and wax their classmates. Millions of children and adults across the country enjoy active gothic lifestyles yet none of them flip out and blow away classrooms. Hell, kids across the country are flipping out. It is not just 2 Goth punks. There is a serious lack of parenting in this country. The inner cities have been dealing with shootings and weapons in schools for years yet it slips through the cracks. Why? I am willing to bet it is white media just glazing over the common troubles of minorities in inner cities. Kids today are under an entirely different sort of stress then their parents ever had to cope with. Sure our parents had to worry about getting shipped off to die in some god-forsaken jungle in South Asia and their parents before them volunteered to die all over the world. But we, the generation growing up and facing adolescence and early 20's now in this time. There is just more violence everywhere. We ARE desensitized. Maybe it is just me, But I know more people that have committed suicide than my parents. And they have been around 30 years longer than me. I am only 22 and I know 2 people who have killed themselves. And numerous others who have died. Is it media violence? Is it Video Games? Is it constant bombardment of violence in every iota of our lives? maybe that has some factor, but the vast majority of us are growing up and not turning into monsters. Violence in the Movies and TV? I know it is fake. I have a brain and it is not that difficult to distinguish reality from fantasy. Violence in video games? Stress outlet. If I have had a rough day I love to just sit and play half-life for a couple of hours and just blow some poor schmucks away. I have been labeled an outcast by the vast majority of people everywhere I go. But I remain true to myself and the people who are not concerned with appearances get to know me and know that I am a good person. With all of the constant bombardment in every second of their lives what makes some children lose it? What is the catalyst? I say parenting. Not even good parenting. Maybe you send your child to a rich school. Maybe you pressure him to get good grades. Maybe you give him stern lectures on the dangers of drugs. But are you there? DO you listen? With no one to turn to young adults will often turn their emotions inward. I know. I didn't cry for 6 years. Horrible things happened, but I refused to cry. All my rage and anger went back into me. Luckily I dispelled it thru the theater. It fueled my work. But what if someone can't dispel it. What if some places the blame for their self-anger upon cliques? What if the get a hold of weapons and try to avenge that anger? Columbine happens. Greenwood happens. It is not a lack of morals. It is not a lack of security. It is a lack of values. Unfortunately the religious right feels that it is their job to take the job of morally educating the children out of the parent’s hands and into theirs. Their intentions are high but sadly could destroy even more. For every non-Christian child the ostracism will grow. The feelings of being out-of-place will multiply. And the cycle will continue.