Acceptance

            “One is the loneliest number.” Three Dog Night states it best. We all want to be accepted. We want friends, and people who see eye to eye with us. However, some of us are not so fortunate.  Some of us take this to another level–seeking revenge, murder, and suicide. Of all the reasoning behind school shootings, social rejection was the most common similarity between cases. In effort to prove this, Wright State University created a chart comparing eight shootings from one another. Six of them had the similarities of social rejection as the motive (Kidd). Pearl, Heath, and Columbine are the three cases to take a closer look at.

            Luke Woodham was a student at Pearl High School in Mississippi. He was disturbed and socially unhealthy. He slit his mother’s throat before going to school and killing his ex-girlfriend, her friend, and injuring seven other randomly chosen students with a rifle (Shepard). Before hand, in a letter, Woodham wrote: “I am not insane…I kill because people like me are mistreated everyday.” Students even described him in various unpleasant ways.

When classmates described Woodham they said he was “chubby” and a “nerd.” In a desperate need for attention, he became a member of a satanic occult called “Kroth” (Mendoza). Through this cult, he and a few other boys joined together, calling themselves misfits. Regrettably, within this cult, his friends drove him over the edge; they convinced him to carry through with the shootings. Why? His friends knew about his bottled-up anger from the break-up with his girlfriend (who was one of his victims.) They knew they could push him. In addition, he carried thoughts that made him feel rejected from society. Beyond this, even Woodham’s mother would supposedly verbally abuse him. As a result, this pushed him to murder her with a baseball bat and a butcher knife. Which began his murder spree, as a social reject (Shepard).

 Of all of the excuses behind his motives, social rejection is the number one cause. Otherwise, he would not have been a part of a cult, murdered his mother and ex-girlfriend out of rejection, and wounded several students in determination to prove what he specified as: “they push us, we push back” (Mendoza). With this theory, he was not alone.

            Michael Carneal stood at barely five feet and weighed only 110 lbs. He attended Heath High School and gunned down eight students, killing three during a prayer group. (Blank). His motive? Michael wanted respect. At that point, he was picked on far too often and could no longer take it. Sadly, even after the shooting he still said “people respect me now” (Blank).

Furthermore, he was also humiliated earlier in life. Accordingly, in a few cases, classmates pulled his pants down, and called him a “faggot” (Blank). In response, he rarely had the motivation to go to school because he felt as though no one cared for him. On the day he did have motivation, Michael gave his friends warnings but it was a boy who cried wolf, he always gave empty warnings on Mondays (Mendoza). No one noticed a difference in his final threat, which led him to draw action.

Michael brought the guns to school, and was not planning on shooting but when no one seemed to notice him flashing his guns, he began firing. He shot down eight people, killing three girls, one named Nicole who rejected him as a boyfriend. Nicole was a tall skinny brunette (opposing of his looks) who was well liked. She never actually rejected Michael as a friend, she often did homework with him, and they were in band together (Blank). This was not good enough for him.  Carneal was never able to grab her attention the way he wished he could; he had never kissed a girl before. Thus why people categorized him as  “gay.” The word stung him in ways no one had expected.

The need for social acceptance was an overwhelming power inside of Michael Corneal. With respect comes social acceptance, and this is one thing he felt he never had. His decision was a drastic reaction, although he believes he had gained respect, he gained fear, and lost respect from the families he hurt.  Just like Woodham he was a social outcast seeking attention, and sadly they are not the only two who took things to another level.

Two boys, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris plotted and killed 15 students, including themselves. This would become one of the largest school massacres of the United States and “Columbine” would never sound the same again. The motive of these two students was told straight from the horse’s mouth. Eric Harris created a website that authorities seemed to have ignored when it gave several clues to his intentions. One of his posts stated “DEAD PEOPLE DON’T ARGUE” (Shepard). Harris and Klebold were both known as those who didn’t fit in. They had very few friends and hated “the jocks.” Klebold had kept a journal of this hatred for an extended time as well.

In one of Klebold’s journal entries he made a list of the corrupt things in his life, in which he stated that he can’t do any sports right and no one wants to accept him even if he wants them to (Shepard). Continuing in his journal, he states, “I’ll go on my killing spree against anyone I want” (Dedman).  This journal entry was written two years prior to the event, giving evident clues he had been humiliated for quite some time, and began his plotting early. All in all, His journal showed clear signs of the want and need for friends and attention. Eric was his only friend. Page after page of his journal was filled with despair and pain from the non-existing attention of other students. Leaving him to dwell in his own thoughts.

            When someone is left alone to dwell on his or her thoughts this causes an explosive reaction once it all comes out. As we are all aware, humans can only handle so much before they cannot handle anything at all. Millions of kids are isolated at school, eating alone, and sitting alone. When no one is around to understand them, another person may never know the ideas, and warning signs may not be apparent, or are ignored due to the disrespect of peers.  Students who want to be taken seriously are not, so they lash out in violent ways for respect from peers. In any event, isolation can be a painful experience. No one wants to be left alone with his or her thoughts. Indeed, everyone needs someone.

Throughout history there have been dozens of school shootings in the United States alone. Of all the reasoning behind the shooter, isolation, and social rejection is clearly the number one cause. In most cases the killer himself states he feels alone. Yet, media and family members try to blame it on movies, music, and videogames. These are all irrelevant excuses, when we try to search and find the answers to these tragedies. The truth is always hidden below the agony of the killers. Truly, all four boys were picked on and aggravated through out their lives. None of which were socially accepted at school.

To conclude, we know what causes these shootings, we know students aren’t treated right, that bullying does exist, and kids do get pushed around. Yet, it seems that no matter how many times there is a severe outcome, the problem is never resolved. Consequently, these outbreaks will continue from those who suffer from social rejection, and those left unaided with their thoughts. That is, unless, we can face the reality of what actually causes these shootings; the desperate want for love and acceptance, just like any human being needs.

Works Cited

Blank, Jonah. “The Kid No one Noticed.” U.S. News & World Reprt 4 Oct. 1998: n. pag. Web. 22 Feb 2011.

Dedman, Bill. “Deadly Lessons-School Shooters: Secret Service Findings.” Chicago Sun-Times 15 October 200: 1-17. Web. 22 Feb 2011.

Kidd, Scott. “Similarities of School Shootings in Rural and Small Town Communities.” Similarities of School Shootings in Rural and Small Town Communities. Wright State University, n.d. Web. 22 Feb 2011.

Mendoza, Antonio. “Intermittent Explosive Disorder.” Internet Crimes Archive. Antonio Mendoza, n.d. Web. 18 Feb 2011.

Shepard, Cyn. “4-20-1999 A Columbine Site.” All About Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Cyn Shepard, 21 March 1999. Web. 22 Feb 2011.

Three Dog Night. “One.” Lyrics. Three Dog Night. ABC-Dunhill/MCA Record,1969.

School already has students and faculty concerned enough about grades, extracurricular activities, social status, and other crap that doesn’t matter. Learning is what’s important, not all this baggage it’s picked up along the way. Now, ever since the time when school shootings were apparently becoming a popular activity amongst teenagers, schools have bestowed other concerns on everyone. I think the trend has faded a little, but it’s still something we have to worry about. It can happen anywhere. It happened in Bethel, Alaska of all places. I saw the bullet holes in the wall myself.

It’s unfortunate that kids and faculty at school have to worry about some crazy little tyke blasting the shit out of everyone with his daddy’s gun. The concern for safety is of course important. Staying alive is more important than passing Chemistry or learning about how much of a hero Christopher Columbus was when he slaughtered the Indians. It’s absolutely necessary to take safety precautions. However, they take it too far. They exaggerate the needs. It’s ridiculous.

Now trench coats are banned from some schools. In my opinion, this is absurd. Why someone would want to wear a trench coat at school anyway is not something I understand, but it should most definitely not be a banned item of clothing at a public facility. When someone starts blasting peoples’ brains out, I am pretty certain that what type of coat this person has on is not at fault. Coats don’t kill people. People kill people. Left-wing douchebags will tell you that guns are to blame and right-wing assholes want you to believe it’s black clothing, violent video games, and heavy metal. Well, maybe it’s rap these days getting blamed more than metal.

Because of different types of interests, and different cliques involved with school shootings, specific types of clothing are not permitted inside school buildings. This makes sense to ignorant people. They don’t know who will strike next. Is it those troubled kids listening to –gasp – Marilyn Manson or is it the ones listening to – gasp – Eminem? Maybe if everyone dresses the same, everyone will be the same, and there will be no more violence. We can’t all just be different and get along now can we? Why don’t we ask the Shiites and the Sunnis about this one?

School uniforms seem like a terrible idea. Now they all look alike. How do you catch the murderous sociopaths now? It could be any one of them. Fuck, if I had to wear a school uniform, I might have killed someone myself! Well, not really, but it would suck. I have a better idea. Instead of assuming that students, particularly teenagers, are stupid and evil, perhaps we could try to understand them by remembering what it was like at that age. Yes, there could very well possibly be a some psychopath stirring in the midst, planning a homicidal outburst to wreak havoc on the school body, but not everyone with a Marilyn Manson t-shirt is concealing a Glock .45 in an opaque backpack. Keeping these kinds of kids hidden and ignoring them is only going to make them worse.

Precautions can be taken without destroying individuality in ways such as the requirement to use transparent or translucent backpacks. Then any illegal items cannot be hidden in them. This doesn’t seem to severely hamper personal expression. Logical safety precautions are a good idea. There are things such as the installation of intercommunication systems and metal detectors that are helpful, but only if the school can afford it without cutting out educational needs. That is, after all, why a school exists. It is there for learning, not for instilling fear of each other through stereotyping.

Bowling For Columbine

Initiation

“Bowling for Columbine” is Michael Moore’s movie about why The United States of America has got the worlds highest number of people killed by firearms in the world. This is called a documentary, but he actually tries to manipulate the people who are watching the movie. He wants us to hate the people he’s angry at and love the people he feel sorry for. And the way he makes us do this is by making a movie where we meet some of the victims, their friends, their family, and people with firearms as a part of their life are included. As he explore this, he gets some answers to why this might happen in the USA. He is told that it is because of the violent past of the USA, the violent entertainment, the mixed cultures in the USA and finally the easy availability of guns. This makes him wonder. Because the USA is one out of a lot other countries who shares these factors. As Moore said himself, both Germany and the United Kingdom has had a bloody past, yet still they do not come close to the number that the USA has got.

Why I Picked Up a Gun

I’ve chosen this text because I find it rather disturbing. I do not like the way this woman talks about how she wants every woman in the USA to have a gun when they walk around. Unfortunately, this person has once been a victim of a rapist. As this person has always known how to use firearms, she decided to train and learn about guns and gun safety. She wants people to use the gun for self defense. And she’s even got a motto too. “it is better to have a gun and never need it, than to need a gun and not have it.” page 1. Lines 27-28. To me, this looks like the ideal that most of the USA is based on. If everyone thought like this woman, everyone would be carrying guns on the street. This is a great threat to everybody, even though it might be for self-defense. Because it is not good to walk around with weapons. They represent great danger and should not even be in the home. People killed by firearms is a big problem in the USA. Yet some people still want to engage other people to carry a weapon. My opinion here, is that firearms should be illegal as it is in Denmark. You would then need to get a permission to own a firearm. If it really is for self-defense, there must be another solution. A conversation about self-defense should not contain words like “weapons” or “guns”.

 A W H

On Tuesday April 20,1999, Harris and Klebold arrived at school as normal only this time
parking outside the cafeteria area at 11:10 a.m.  The boys had set up a fire bomb in a field
1/2 a mile from school as a diversion for emergency personel.  But the fire bomb only
partially detonated.

The boys then met near Harris car and armed two 20 pd propane bombs into duffel bags
before entering the cafeteria. The boys left the duffel bags full of explosives in the
cafeteria and walked back out the their vehicles and loaded there weapons of choice.  The boys
had all intentions of shooting fellow classmates that ran out of the cafeteria as the bombs
exploded.  When the boys realized that the bombs didnt explode as planned, they armed themselves
and walked to the top of the West Entrance.  At 11:19 Eric Harris yelled “go go” and at that
point the boys started shooting anyone and everyone they came in contact with.  The two then
moved into the library constantly shooting and killing as many as they could.  After leaving the
library, the two walked around the school and back into the cafeteria.  The boys planned massacre
actually didnt go anything like they had planned.  The two were planning on taking down the whole
school, the emergency personel, media, and law enforcement, but when the main bombs didnt detonate
it blew there plans out the window.  So they then decided to take this route, only to end it by
walking back to the library, where at 12:08 p.m., the boys then turned the guns on themselves
committing suicide.

Eric Harris, 18, a senior, was carrying a 12 guage Savage Springfield 67H pump action shotgun
and a Hi-Point 995 Carbine 9mm semi-automatic rifle.  The 9mm was shot a total of 96 times and
the 12 guage shotgun was shot 25 times.  At the end of the massacre, Harris used the 12 guage shot
gun to end his life by shooting himself in the mouth.

Dylan Klebold, 17, also a senior, was carrying a 9mm Intratec TEC-9 Semi-Automatic handgun and
a H Stevens 311 D double barreled sawed off shotgun.  He fired the TEC-9 a total of 55 times and
then ended his own life by turning the TEC-9 on himself and shooting himself in the left temple.

Both boys had a past of undergoing problems and has left many of us to believe if the boys were
paid more attention to, that this massacre could’ve been prevented.  It all started with them
writing about there plans on a game site called Doom.  Once the two were busted for stolen tools
and equipment they erased all from the site and started writing in journals.  The two seniors also
kept videos of themselves doing target practice as they were planning on taking down the whole
school and whoever got in there way.  The final thing found of both Harris and Klebold was video
tapes of themselves telling there apologies and goodbyes to there families and friends.

Just to think two boys of this age was willing to take all the time to plan out a big massacre
and to take down anyone they came into contact with and then commit suicide, leads us all to
believe that there was more to the story.  Someone should of saw some kind of warning signs.  Its
ashame that so many people suffered from this tragedy.  There are so many things left unspoken
and the one question we all have can’t and will never be answered is why?  This was really a sad
day for many of us.  The following is a listing of the people who lost there lives due to this
deadly day in the U.S. History.  They will each be remembered and loved always!

Cassie Bernall Born November 6, 1981 17 years old at time of death

Steve Curnow Born August 28, 1984 14 years old at time of death

Corey Depooter Born March 3, 1982 17 years old at time of death

Kelly Fleming Born January 6, 1983 16 years old at time of death

Matt Ketcher Born Febuary 19, 1983 15 years odl at time of death

Daniel Mauser Born June 25, 1983 15 years old at time of death

Daniel Rohrbough Born March 2, 1984 15 years old at time of death

Rachel Scott Born August 5, 1981 15 years old at time of death

Isaiah Shoels Born August 4, 1980 18 yeards old at time of death

John Tomlin Born September 1, 1982 16 years old at time of death

Lauren Townsend Born January 17, 1981 18 years old at time of death

Kyle Velasquez Born May 5, 1982 16 years old at time of death

Coach Dave Sanders Born October 22, 1951 47 years old at time of death

Land of the free, Bowling and Gun Nuts

Gun laws and restrictions are a big problem for the modern day United States. The movie Bowling for Columbine, by Michael Moore, displays an exciting, humorous but biased perspective of these issues. Moore has warped an often boring movie genre into a fun and enjoyable film. This new Genre manages to make Moore’s opponents look like rambling Neanderthals. Moore’s attitude, the way he conducts his interviews and the way he edits the footage only allows you to hear one side of the story; Moore’s side. However that is what makes this fantastic movie so enjoyable.

Bowling for Columbine seeks answers to questions of why, how and who. Why is America such a gun violent culture? How do Americans have deadly weapons so readily available? And who is to blame? The movie explores the massacre that took place at Columbine High School in 1999.  You feel as if you are standing next to Moore as he goes on a journey of discovery while getting to know and respect him; sometimes you almost feel as though he is your friend.

To reinforce his point Moore examines TV, video games, the media, music, poverty, racism, the government, parental pressure, and more. While the majority of people would blame violent video games, TV, hard rock and heavy metal for influencing youth to become violent and sometimes deadly, Moore investigates a variety of other possibilities.

Moore interviews people who have taken the blame; taken the bullet, literally; and others that had a huge influence on how guns and bullets are treated and sold. These interviews include: Matt Stone and Marilyn Manson, who are blamed for influencing violent youth behavior; two Columbine students who have Kmart bullets lodged in their bodies; and Charlton Heston, head of the National Rifle Association (NRA), and a CEO of the Kmart Corporation, two organisations that Michael Moore blames for the deaths caused by guns.  However, all of the interviews are edited to make you believe and take sides with the people Moore wants you to.

Editing is likely the most effectively used technique. It allows Moore to restrict what you see and hear from the other side of the story. Editing can make someone appear stupid, intelligent or make slow events happen immediately. In the first scene of the movie Moore goes to a bank that offers a free gun if you open a certain type of bank account. As ridiculous as this is, the bank does carry out a two week background check. Moore edits the footage to make it appear that you get the gun minutes after opening the account. Therefore this movie can’t be entirely trusted.

The scene at the bank may seem perfectly viable to the naïve or incurious viewer. But the fact is that this lie by omission is just the beginning of many in this movie. Moore fails to get any proper defense from pro gun lobbyists. They are over represented as right-wing, red neck conservatives. Such an omission is inexcusable and it indicates that Moore has no serious intentions to find any real answers. Instead he uses pop cultural cartoons that further humiliate and mock those that support gun ownership.

Moore uses clips from Matt Stone’s South Park that mock pro gun lobbyists and American colonists. The clips show pilgrims (white men) running away from the homeland and colonizing America. They use their ‘superior technology’ (guns) to wipe out the Indians. Toward the end of the clips Americans have embraced slavery. When the slaves revolt Americans once again have to use guns to fend the slaves off, and even then they lose. In this way the clips illustrate why the ‘rights to arms’ was written into the American Constitution. However it’s not really the storyline that is being mocking, rather how the pilgrims are portrayed. The cartoons share a brief history on how American gun laws were born, but do so in a way that shows non-indigenous Americans as being scared, gun cradling, and over-zealous evangelists.

ver of South Park – Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Gun laws in America are a big problem. Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbineexplores this issue. However, by use of selective editing, omission and mocking using pop cultural cartoons, the film presents a one sided view of the issue. Although the film lacks balance, it is highly effective in presenting Moore’s ethical perspective and opinion in an entertaining way.

Gun laws in America are a big problem. Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine explores this issue. However, by use of selective editing, omission and mocking using pop cultural cartoons, the film presents a one sided view of the issue. Although the film lacks balance, it is highly effective in presenting Moore’s ethical perspective and opinion in an entertaining way.

Co

     According to Hanna, the students, Clayton Smith and John Schwertz Jr. took her to court.  Hadley and her colleagues were unable to demonstrate to a judge any proof that gun violence would erupt due to the protest.  Hanna wrote that the District Court judge, Terry Means, told her that free speech can not be restricted on the basis of “undifferentiated fear”. 

     Though the university lost, the case illustrates the tendency of anti-gun proponents to use fear as the excuse for either violating free speech or our second amendment right.  This fear enables them to falsely connect lawful gun-related activity with criminal gun violence.  Hadley fearfully felt that one would “cause” the other. 

     However, shooting sprees such as those at Columbine high school and Virginia Tech occurred without there being any gun-related protests.  Conversely, law-abiding citizens in general have held gun-related protests without criminal gun violence occurring.  Therefore, there is no causal relationship between empty holster protests and criminal gun violence.  Criminal gun violence will happen independently of the presence or absence of gun-related protests.

     When Judge Means enabled two students to have their gun-related protests on, according to Hanna’s article, the “…Northeast Campus in Hurst and South Campus in Fort Worth…,” both occurred peacefully without any gun violence.   

     Hadley and her staff falsely associated gun protests with criminal gun violence merely because the protest was indirectly related to guns.  We have seen this superficial thinking when anti-gun lunatics opposed the legalization of concealed carry permits.  They argued that the permits would create a blood-bath with many law-abiding citizens acting like criminals.  In this case, it was a gun-related law that was illogically associated with criminal misuse of guns. 

     Such an unfounded fear overlooked the realistic distinction between law-abiding citizens using guns for self-defense and criminals using guns for victimizing innocent people.  Overlooking this distinction enables the false associations already mentioned. 

     The irrational, fear-based association also compelled the leftwing lawsuits against gun manufacturers  when church shootings started appearing in the news.  The aim was to make the gun manufacturers go bankrupt due to fighting many frivolous lawsuits.  The leftists’ method was to falsely associate the crimes of gun-toting thugs with lawful gun manufacturers, in effect misplacing the blame for the crimes.

     Whether based on fear or dishonesty, the illogic of false associationis what motivates anti-gun legislation and, in the TCC’s case, motivates violations of a student’s free-speech.  So one way to oppose anti-gun proposals is to identify and expose the underlying mis-association of lawful gun-use with its antipodes.

     Then we must emphasize the principle of self-defense in protecting our second amendment.   In the end, the difference between gun-owners and anti-gun fools is that the former are guided by Reason and the latter by fear.    

Smells like Teen Violence

            Following the Columbine High School Massacre, the fourth largest school shooting in history, the violent video game industry came under question. The two shooters, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, played violent video games frequently. This caused psychologists and parents to wonder if video games could have caused this deadly crime. Even today, whenever a new violent video game such as Grand Theft Auto comes out, parents and the media become worried of the effects that the game may have on today’s youth. The only real connection between violent video games and violent crimes is the word violent in their titles. Many factors, not video games, actually cause children to commit violent crimes.

            First, we need to look at why children even play violent video games in the first place. Some people believe that video games socially isolate children, even though studies have shown that almost 60% of people who play video games play them with their friends on a regular basis. Eight of the top ten games played on Xbox Live, an online gaming network, were rated mature because of graphic violence. This demonstrates that some of the most social games available, in fact, contain violent content.

            Secondly, we need to decide whether today’s youth has become more violent than in years past. According to federal crime statistics, the rate of violent youth crimes has decreased to a 30 year low. This directly contradicts the assumption that our children commit more violent crimes. If anything, it simply demonstrates the advances today’s media has made. The overwhelming amount of information on the internet, television, and radio has made news stories about violent crimes more accessible to the general public. Another staggering statistic shows that violent crimes as a whole, not simply in youths, have been measured at their lowest total ever recorded.

            Once again, I will refer to the Columbine Massacre. While both of the shooters played violent video games, many more factors played a role in the troubled minds of Klebold and Harris. The shooters both had many underlying issues in their lives. They were picked on by other students and called harsh names such as “fags”. Despite the fact that the teachers knew the bullying happened, they chose to take no action. The psychiatrist that Harris was seeing prescribed him the antidepressant Luvox. Not only did Harris suffer from depression, but the drug he took had side effects including increased aggression and social disconnection.

            Of the top four school shootings of all time, Columbine was the only shooting in which video games may have played a role. As a matter of fact, the largest school shooting of all time, the Bath School disaster, happened in 1927. 45 people died during this shooting, which happened 45 years before Pong was released, let alone Grand Theft Auto IV. The third largest school shooting of all time took place at the University of Texas in 1966, once again before video games even existed. Both of the ruthless killers that committed the shootings suffered from depression. Depression links all of the top four school shootings together, not violent TV shows, and certainly not violent video games.

Even with the increasing amount of violence in today’s media, including video games or television, we cannot attribute violent crimes to them. The real reason that children are violent is because of the environment they live in. Columbine served as a wake up call for Americans to take action in stopping violent crimes. The only problem is that it may have made us too easy to point fingers at violence in the media. Americans need to focus on recognizing when children are at their weakest and being able to offer support instead of turning our backs on them. Imagine if somebody you knew needed support in their hour of need, and their whole support simply gave that person the cold shoulder. Marilyn Manson, a famous rock singer, was asked what he would say to Harris and Klebold if given the chance. He simply replied, “I wouldn’t say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say, and that’s what no one did.”

Bowling for death

Based on Bowling For Columbine

Who is to blame?

In 1999 a horrific event occurred in America, Columbine. A high school massacre occurred involving 12 deaths of students and a death of a teacher, the killers a group of teens. The question is how did they get the guns, and who is to blame?

It probably is not a surprise to many that a group of teens could even get a hand on a firearm. A country with 200 million guns that is just saying that in every household there is a firearm.

In bowling for Columbine a documentary Michael Moore produced and starred in, he goes to Columbine and tries to find the truth behind the shooting. He comes across a bank “open a bank account get a free gun”. He opens an account and fills out a form. He later says jokingly “don’t you think its dangerous handing out guns in a bank”.

It is agitating how after the shooting, the NRA did not care one bit for what happened, at a NRA convention a quote from Charlton Heston saying “in my cold dead hands” as he said that he raised his hand with a gun in it.

The fear that has struck people, is that so many people who watch T.V get these crazy ideas that they can go and kill people, either get away with it or get caught. Then people either turn the gun on themselves or face the sentence. When they turn the gun on them selves it’s not just suicide that they have committed, most of them do it because they either don’t want to face the problems from there actions or don’t want to face the time in prison. So they go suicidal after committing mass murder.

This is a great question to ask because not many people really know who/what is to blame. Many people have there own opinions about this. Different groups of people say it’s about the media, The Gun Laws that are in America the young stupid people, many different peoples opinions lead to different stories.

The fear that has struck people, is that so many people who watch T.V get these crazy ideas that they can go and kill people, either get away with it or get caught. Then people either turn the gun on themselves or face the sentence. Today in Americas society more and more people are being killed by the gun violence taking place all over the Country. People are killed from “accidental” shooting, homicide and suicide, not only that but they even hand out guns at gun shows. People also get mass influence by the media, the media controls so many minds in the huge world that it isn’t even near being funny. The media influence gun violence all around the world.

The Gun Laws in America are quite different to ours in Australia yet, the same things happen but less rapidly. In America you can hold a gun on your, in your house and carry it pretty much anywhere without gun bans. (not to many places).Michael Moore exaggerated a lot of his work like how easy it was to get the gun from the bank. Some people are really fearful of things, so they arm themselves with weapons. Other have gun for fun like hunting.

Whatever the excuse guns don’t bring peace.

As I read all this tripe, it dawned on me that these people, all of them, including Dick Cheney, are people I have met before. They are the grownup version of the high-school bully.

Image via Wikipedia

I can remember how these types of people would terrorize people using their strength, their size. If anyone disagreed with their views, their stance, their clothes, they were made fun of and publicly humiliated. They were sometimes even tortured (though, of course, they would not consider themselves torturers, even then). How many of you reading this remember titty twisters, kids put into lockers, those “funny funny” wedgies, or a ton of other intimidation tactics? I remember the popular girl in high school who teased me unmercifully, making my life a living hell at times. Their abuse, and setting themselves up as superior to others, was how they caught and held their supposed power. The people abused by them often just cowered, or hoped that the bullies would be caught in the act. (At the time, none of us had ever heard of Columbine, except as being our state flower).

For my part, I remember finding two such boys picking on the smallest kid in the school. He was afraid of everything, typically nerdy. He had glasses, looked funny, wore very conservative clothes, and jumped if someone looked at him. His folks had told him not to take anything, like candy, from anyone because it might contain LSD (they were, obviously, not very helpful to the poor young man). The day the bullying happened, the two bullies had put the young boy’s books (which he carried with him, so no one could hurt them) in the trash and had just picked him up to do the same. I came around the corner and laced into them, both of them towered over me, but I didn’t back down. In the face of my anger, they gave him his books back and let him go. I was so angry at them that there was no fear in me. These bullies were laughable to me, and I had righteous hot anger. Wrong was wrong. I wonder why we, in general, don’t remember this.

I use this as an example of what happens when bullies get power over others. All these bullies know is fear because down deep they are truly afraid, usually of everything. Both the boys I stopped that day, as I found out later, had horrible home lives. Their anger and fear was the reason they wanted to make this young man’s life awful. This is what, I believe, we have had happen here in America with torture. It was fear that made our government’s representatives reach out and break the law, putting in place policy designed to hurt the people who represented to them all that happened on 911, and, in this way, resolve their own guilt of inaction. It didn’t matter whether or not the people were guilty. I don’t think it mattered to them whether or not they got correct information. To them, these were not people anymore, they were objects to take out their anger on. It is this same fear that makes the people defending the torturers not stand up and call them into account. They truly buy into the fear that if we take away these advanced interrogation methods, we will be in danger. They also want the ability to watch all their fellow Americans, just in case we might do something they fear. It’s why all we hear from the Right Wing is fear mongering. If they can keep people afraid of whatever (Russians, Terrorists, or whatever other booga-boo), they can do whatever they want to.

However, I believe we must stand up to the bullies, if we want to remain the free country we have been until now. If we don’t stand up to the Cheneys, Rumsfelds, and Bushes of this world, we become part of the problem. The boys in the hall each had me by over one foot in height and one of them, a football player, by at least 75 pounds, but I stood them down. Why did it work? Because in their heart they knew what they were doing was wrong. When I hear Vice President Cheney talking about how with this torture policy they kept us safe, I see his fear, and so far, he is keeping all the other children in the political playground buffaloed, because there are people who are still afraid of everything. 

Now, I come to the historical part of this. The first example I chose was the Spanish Inquisition.

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Oh, the image here says, “Exurge Domine et Judicia Causam Tuam (Psalm 73), or Rise up, Lord and Judge Your Cause. (”They that are far from thee shall perish…”–Motto of the Inquisition, Psalm 73)

How many of you remember that from history? The bully (or bullies) in the playground at that time was the church. They sought out heresy and witchcraft with great zeal. Their confessors tortured people, and their proof the accused were guilty was the fact they were accused. They were tortured until they confessed or they died. The whole thing was about moving the church into new territories (make your own comparisons here–you know–oil fields, spreading democracy the hard way, and so on, and so on) and about the removal of women from power. It was not about truth or proof. The accused were killed. Right or wrong, they were killed. There was a huge change of power and property during that time, all in the name of God.

What did we learn from this time in history? We learned that an individual will confess to anything if you hurt them enough. They will say things that aren’t true, just to keep from being injured, just as they were trying to get today’s accused terrorists to say what the people in power wanted them to say. Everything I have heard indicates the “enhanced interrogation techniques” resulted in wrong information, and I still can’t believe there isn’t an absolute outcry for the past administration’s heads on a proverbial platter. After all, remember this, all of you, it was false information that got us into Iraq, false WMD. They were false leads who put our children in harm’s way, who got our sons and daughters killed, not to mention the Iraqi dead or dead from our allied countries. (I say our children because my children also served in the military during this time, and my nieces and nephews, as well. So far we have been lucky in our family). 

By the way, the wisdom about what was known about witches in those days dictated that they be thrown in water to see if they were witches. If they drowned, they were not. If they floated, then they were and were put to death. There were also marks to look for, a second nipple, for instance, for “the devil to suckle on.” I have a relative who has one of these, by the way. It does happen. They can look like a mole and often occur under the arm. Under these guidelines, they would have put my relative to death (she happens to be a devout Christian). In some cases, people were stretched on the rack until they confessed. On confession, they were put to death (the pain stopped too). If they didn’t confess, they died under torture or languished in prison until they died. This is why many confessed, even though burning was often how they were executed (burning purged the soul).

In this country, we also had our witch madness. The most famous was in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. I recently visited the “Witch Museum” there. I knew the story because in our tiny town in Colorado when I was growing up, my sister was in the play, “The Crucible.”

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For those of you unaware of this story, some young women (teenagers) in the town proclaimed they were cursed by witches in the town, having fits to prove it whenever the ones accused of witchcraft were near. Anyone thus accused was put to the “question.” Many languished in prison (we saw the prison, horrible ugly thing).

Upon confession, they went to the hanging tree.

The one man put to death had made the mistake of thinking it was all hysteria and said so. He thought it would “pass.” He was pressed to death because he would not answer the “question” either yay or nay (he was not accused of witchcraft, just of “consorting” with them). He simply said, “More Rocks” and met his death bravely. I met a descendant of his here in our town. She explained that he did what he did to protect them. No matter how he answered, if he answered their “question” either way, his heirs would lose their inheritance. Amazing isn’t it? Once again, there were no real choices here, and people often confessed to whatever they were accused of simply to stop the pain.

When we move forward to more present-day torture examples, we have to go no further than the Vietnam War. During that one, our soldiers were tortured by the Vietcong to get them to say the Vietcong were good guys and we Americans were the bad guys.

Under torture, some of them broke and said that–though they recanted later. If you look just a bit further back, you find out why we agreed to the Geneva Convention agreement on torture–including water-boarding. Our own fathers and grandfathers were tortured by the Japanese, using (you guessed it) water-boarding and other tactics. We called the Japanese and Nazis war criminals and put them on trial for crimes against humanity.

My whole point here is that whether it is the bully on the playground, the bully in Vietnam, the bully in Salem, during the Spanish Inquisition, or the ones in Washington, they are bullies–just bullies. There is a very old saying, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” This is something I agree with totally. The people I have met from the Middle East, way back when I was in college, were kind and friendly. They cooked for me, we ate together, and I learned some of their music. We were all just young college students trying to get a degree. I treated them like humans; they did the same. I came away with a good feeling about them and their country. I hope they felt the same. I feel the same way about other people I have met from many other countries–Africa, Japan, Germany, France, and Russia–just to name a few.

In this world, we have bad guys and bad guys, and not all of them are on the other side. However, what turns someone into a torturer is not seeing the tortured as a person who cries, hurts, sings, and loves. In the case of the schoolyard bully, the kid being tortured (according to the bully) deserves it because he is different, and inside, the bully fears him in some way. In the case of the government as a bully, their victims are usually from a group of people perceived as possible enemies. Please don’t take my word for it, research the concentration camps American Japanese were put into after World War II, simply because they were Japanese. The reasoning was that it was Japanese people who had attacked Hawaii. Therefore, we might be harboring evildoers among us. Remember, these were American Japanese. No matter how we okay it, it still boils down to the bully on the playground. One of the biggest “bullies on the playground,” at least politically, was Joseph McCarthy, who had a righteous goal of seeking out communists in our midst. Many of the same scare tactics he employed then have been used quite freely over the last eight ears. To be accused, to be on a list of possible “Reds” was as good as a conviction. Many innocent people lost their jobs, their freedom, and sometimes their lives. Being a student of history, when I heard people bandying about the word “socialist” so freely and people calling other people un-American if they didn’t agree with Bush-Cheney, I saw the bullies had returned to our country and, for a time, were in charge.

Now they aren’t. It is simple. We voted them out of office, and now they need to pay for playing fast and loose with the law, and our freedom. After all, we are bringing the bullies on the playground to justice. We now have zero-tolerance policies in place in schools all over our country. Do you remember why that came about? I mentioned Columbine above. It was that act, that horrible act, which came about because bullied kids rose up against those they perceived had wronged them (it certainly didn’t make them think those bullies were the good guys), and a bureaucracy that allowed it. Sad to say, our school bureaucracies did allow it. I say this as a teacher, and a student, who became aware of many teachers who thought it was a normal “trial of childhood” and ignored incidents they could have stopped.

The bullies in the government need to be brought to at least as much justice as children, for our government representatives, and therefore we, have broken the law. We were within our rights after 911 when we went into Afghanistan. However, when our government at the time lied to us over and over, broke the law, and said, as Nixon did, that when the president does something it is not wrong, we were wrong. People in this country go to jail for breaking the law. People get fined for speeding, and kids, for torturing and bullying other kids, get expelled and even get jail time. I want to make it clear that I feel the people who have done this, who have taken the country’s good name and smeared it all over the place, need to be punished. They need to face justice. We run our country by the law and our president and his staff should not be protected from that law. Might does not make right, and nobody should be exempt from justice. These acts, these horrible grotesque acts, were wrong. These people, our representatives, who led our children into harm’s way and left them open to retaliation, which is (as I said above) what people want for injustice (perceived or real) were quite simply wrong, and no suspiciously-authored, drive-by e-mail can make it okay.

Most all teens have social issues and pressure from school, this puts great strain on the teens lives however some have it harder then others and some who have violent tendencies when you combine this with easy access to weapons you may have violent results. Just like with playing video games kids who have social issues or have access to guns don’t automatically go out and shoot up the school however this does contribute to the problem. For instance the shooters in the columbine massacre, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold where picked on and social outcasts with only a few friends to rely on. This bullying caused great anger and with there access to guns and using the internet were able to collected a fair amount of guns and make several bombs. This of course is an extreme case, however in a recent study 77% of all students say they have been bullied. This with a report that over 100,000 kids bring guns to school could lead to more shootings and school violence. Bullying and access to guns causes violence because the ones getting picked on feel trapped and having no other option result to a higher form of violence.

One major contributor to youth violence is the availability and experimentation with illegal drugs. With certain drugs like steroids the user can have sudden outbursts of rage and anger. Addictive drugs like methamphetamines cocaine and heroine the user can do things for money to buy drugs that would normally not do. On a recent episode of the PBS show frontline an Oregon police sheriff reported that over half of the crimes committed were committed by meth addicts.  However when drug dealing takes place at school it can have an effect on the participants that don’t necessarily relate to drugs. When we buy and sell things there is always an open window for anger and fights of somebody being ripped off or being cheated. This is especially true with drug dealing as both participants are already on the edge dealing with illicit substances so when money is exchanged there is there may be violent conflicts or crime.  One instance is discussed in Wilkerson’s “The Face of Violence” who discusses a fourteen year old drug dealer who in the process of robbing a women shoots her in the head, he needed money to pay the drug dealer king pins. Drugs can take a toll on people not only with there effects but with the risks people take when participating in drug related crimes.

With all of this teen pressure the access to guns in America also contributes to why so many youth violence occurs. For instances in Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine, Moore makes a point of how Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold bought all of there bullets from a local K-Mart. A large majority of gun violence by youth are caused by guns that came from their home.  We see an example of this in From Adolescent Angst to Shooting up Schools when Timothy Egan says: “He learned how to fire weapons from his father” (336). When discussing a fourteen year old boy who killed two of his classmates. This combination of teenage pressure and access to guns has proven to be a deadly recipe.

With youth violence escalading we must do something to prevent it. However we cannot decide what causes it, is it video games, music, movies, guns, bullying, poverty, family or drugs. However we need to address this issue and take some preventative measures.