> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-virus@lucifer.com
> [mailto:owner-virus@lucifer.com]On Behalf
> Of amir
> Sent: Sunday, May 02, 1999 8:50 PM
> To: virus@lucifer.com
> Subject: RE: virus: Looking for blame in all the wrong places
>
>
> to be different and strange and not to be put down...
> there is nothing wrong with wanting that...
> shooting up classmates: there is something wrong with doing that.
>
I agree amir, even though the nasty little shitz really seem to have
deserved it... But not nearly as much wrong with it as the media would like
to pretend.
> i am appalled, i can hardly express why, but i am:
> im appalled by the shooters because of their inability to
> control themselves.
It seems to me as if they were very controlled. It has been alleged that they planned their massacre for over a year - yet didn't speak to anyone else about it. Messed up on the implementation, but that was their inexperience coming through. Seems to me that they had decided that this was what they wanted to do, and nobody was going to stop them.
> im appalled by their parents for not noticing that something
> was wrong with
> their children.
It seems that they are pretty much "normal American parents" who used to have pretty much "normal American children" who went, as most Americans do, to pretty much a "normal American school". Why blame the parents for not noticing that their children were being trashed by a system which has societies general approbation, and which they had to suffer through too?
Quoting from a reply to my rant from another list:
<begin quote>
Unfortunately, Americans show little inclination to learn from the mistakes of the past. I attended public high schools from 1968 - 1972, and the atmosphere then was not much different than now. The jocks got all the privileges, the gangs carried on their parents race wars, the geeks and the hippies were vilified by all. Guess what, even back then I regularly carried a gun to school (necessary for self-protection), virtually all students had knives, razors, or lead pipes concealed on their person and gang violence bloodied after school events ( our record was 3 stabbings, 1 shooting and 1 rape during a fashion show fund-raiser ).
Our parents were convinced that the country was going to hell, all because of those pinko-commie-long-haired anti-war hippie-freaks, with their rock-n-roll music, free love and plentiful drugs.
By the way, the number of kids killed by fellow students is miniscule when compared to the number of kids killed by the abuse dished out by their oh-so-loving parents. America, however, is busy hiding her head in the sand, laying blame on the internet, on guns, on video games and black trench coats rather than look at themselves closely enough to realize that the real problems lie with our own narrow-minded, conformist, materialistic me-first culture.
<end quote>
> im appalled at their teachers for not noticing and addressing the
> social/emotional status of the shooters.
Yes well, it seems from all of the articles that these pretty much "normal American teachers" were a part of the problem, not a part of the solution. Is this unusual?
> im appalled by their classmates for mocking them because they
> were different.
Why blame their classmates? They just did what the system expected them to do? And by the way, if somebody called me a "Dirtbag" and "faggot" and threw things (including rocks at me, I might say or do a lot of things, but I would not call it "Mockery". I used the expression "little bastards" to describe the so called "victims" of Littleton. They chose their attitudes and actions too. I fail to see the innocent here.
> im appalled by the media for showing multiple one-sided
> arguments for all
> the different perspectives.
Don't be. Societies tend to end up with the government and media they deserve. Ask yourself if the pretty much "normal American public" deserve any better. Then try to think of ways of improving the situation. Please do not shoot or blow up anyone :-)
> im appalled by the government for responding with more gun-control and
> censorship bills.
Yeah, well... as "Rhonda Chapman" said, "Perhaps what we need is a "test" or "psych evaluation", for level of education and intelligence, to be administered to all potential Senators and Congressmen." They really do seem to almost deserve protection from themselves don't they. But then, as I said, societies tend to end up with the government and media they deserve.
> im appalled by the american people for playing a nationwide
> blame game in
> order to discover the best way to prevent this from happening again.
They are playing a blame game, but you flatter them if you imagine for a moment that they want to look into themselves or their society; or attempt to change themselves or their society. Yet, I think that many rational people will agree that it appears as if this is what it will take to prevent this from happening again. Anything else is addressing the symptoms, and ignoring the causes. And in this case, the society is so comfortable with itself and its feel-good, lassaiz faire life style that a few dead people are not really going to change anything. As the person I quoted commenting from the other list observed, "the number of kids killed by fellow students is miniscule when compared to the number of kids killed by the abuse dished out by their oh-so-loving parents." I'd add that the number of lives destroyed as "collateral damage" in the "war against drugs" dwarfs both of these. And I don't see any sign of society being troubled by, nevermind changing its mind about that.
>
> peace
> ~amir~
> ~the great tinkerer
> tinkerer@tinkerers-workshop.com
> http://www.tinkerers-workshop.com/
> http://www.tinkerers-workshop.com/order/form.shtml
> - order my cd!!!
>
peace to you too
Hermit