Dateline: Colorado
Well, well, well..... I suppose it would be stupid of me to assume that ANYONE out there doesn't know what happened last week (4/19/99) in Littleton, Colorado. But just in case, here's the skinny.
Two kids, whom were social outcasts, decided that they had enough of their peers treating them like shit and did something about it. They took a nice selection weaponry (including sawed off shotguns and a modified Glock9-turned-fully-automatic-pistol) and killed 13 people and injured 25 others. They, unfortunately for a society so desperate for a scapegoat, were not apprehended alive.
So........
These kids, loners and "dark" people, are now the center of a major orgy of finger pointing. As per usual, society cannot accept the inalienable truth. Instead, they try to explain and excuse these actions on the usual suspects: tv, movies, video games, music, and dress. Media does not dictate the society; society dictates the media. All the "atrocities" displayed therein are not CAUSING themselves. We, the people, are creating them. It wouldn't exist if it didn't sell. The violence in the media is not the cause; nor is the actions of a few individuals; they are merely the symptoms. Society is fuckedindahead.
You can blame Marilyn Manson. You can blame Nine Inch Nails. You can blame Johan Sebastian Bach. Doesn't make it true. When we look for the cause of our monsters, we need merely look inward. We all have the seed of evil inside us. We can see it in the eyes of the scapegoat, of the poor picked on kid in kindergarten. How many of us have been on the business end of a cutting remark? Almost all. We may be strong. Some may not be. But I don't care how strong you are; no one can handle every single attack that is thrown at us.
Society creates its own monsters. WE create our own dangers. I have seen my own darkness. I have seen the darkness of others. I have seen what heights we can soar to; I have seen what depths we can sink. When I say I am human, I am proud and ashamed at once. I just pray that I won't retravel down the paths of darkness that I have willingly partaken. It is a danger that we all face.
Life is what we make of it. What goes around comes around. It's called karma, and the idea is as old as the human mind. Those people tormented those two kids for years. It was only natural for them to strike back. Admittedly, generally there are better ways to strike back then to kill people, but there are few as effective.
We all pay for what we do. Sometimes innocents get killed. It's called life. Mourn, accept, move on. Don't blame someone else for your own failings.
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Written by Quazi 4/27/99