History repeats, Human nature still going strong

[mythteller]

I remember after the Columbine shootings and then the shootings at Taber in Alberta, the public reaction went haywire. People were jumping out of their skins at the slightest abrupt move from the young people in their midst. The subsequent reactions were insane with students being suspended or severely punished for actions that had been previously mundane. No one wanted to be caught off-guard by the boogey-man again and for a change, geeks were feared.

I can already see this happening at people start the recovery and healing process. The gunman's website has been yanked, but not before the photos and the rhetoric were copy/pasted in every media canvas as possible.

On the radio and print media, people are reporting having read the gunman's journal and stating that the threat should've been recognized and dealt with before it became deadly. All the indications are there, they're saying. We should've been able to keep this guy from hurting anyone, apparently.

Even with inflation being what it is, hindsight is still trading at 20/20.

No one is saying exactly HOW this guy could've been stopped. Hoopla Harper wants to legislate the problem away, but illegal guns, by their very nature, exist outside the system. And last time I checked, as long as it was registered, it was still legal to own these semi-automatic rifles as long as you had a permit.

So what do we do? Lock up everybody who has stuff on the Internet that is deemed inappropriate, violent, too dark, or could lead to violence against others? Do all the Goth websites need to come down and their authors locked up just in case they act on their darker desires?

If that's the case, here's a list of people you should be looking at right now. These people celebrate violence, death, and destruction through their art, their work, and their published works.

Quentin Tarantino
Anne Rice
Anne Coulter
Clive Barker
Stephen King
James Wan (director/writer of Saw)
Wes Craven
Horror Writers Association
Ambrose Pierce
Edgar Alan Poe
Shirley Jackson
Bram Stoker
and others...

Of course, the main difference between these people and the Dawson gunman's website is that these people have a budget and are supported by their fans.

As always, the answer is neither black nor white, if there's an answer at all. The media folks are all wondering why this guy did what he did, but what's the big mystery? He was suicidal, but instead of just taking himself out, he decided to take out the people he viewed to be the reason he was so miserable.

And the worst of it is, there's a little bit of this gunman in all of us. Tell me that in high school, when you thought about the people who bullied you, beat you up, took your lunch money, and made your life difficult, you never thought about getting some kind of revenge.

Of course, you didn't act on your darker desires, but why didn't you? Why did he? What would have made the difference?

Tough questions, difficult answers, always searching.

Comments

[mousme.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't worry too much about some of the authors on your list. Unless you happen to have it on good authority that horror writers can come back from the dead. ;)

Do you know, I never did think about getting revenge on the bullies in school. For a long time I wondered what was wrong with me, that would make them hate me so much. I still haven't found an answer to that question, but I suspect that it wasn't really about me.

I did take a couple of self-defense classes, and that helped me to get away from them. Until the day I knocked down a very large bully (using his own momentum), then his buddies grabbed my arms and pinned me down so he could hit me properly.

It honestly never occurred to me that I could get "revenge" on any of these people. I just counted the days on my calendar until school was over, and then never looked back. *shrug* To each her own, I guess.

Alison says:

[(Anonymous)]

Bullying comes in so many forms. For girls its usually more of an invisible psychlogical warfare thing that destroys a persons self esteem and view of their place in the world. I have been bullied and have been a bully. Both actions leave their scars.
I never plotted revenge against those who wronged me. Not that I recall. i remember feeling like something was wrong with me to have someone want to hurt me. I went to my Dad to tell him that shortly after we moved back to my home town, some girls were stalking and threatening me. I was scared and didn't know what to do..fighting was wrong. I had no defense skills. All my dad could do was tell me "Don't throw the first punch but hit the hardest.." Part of me says "What the??" Eventually it passed as do most things. But the scars (emotional) linger for a lifetime. As will the scars from this guys actions. Having a reason for them would have helped many I think.
Media made mention of his desire to "Go out in a hail of bullets". So he orchestrated his own version of his demise. A selfish act in this case. Media also mentions that Goth sightings have gone down since the incident. He stole not only lives but the freedom to evidence a lifestyle.
Hobbes I find your writing on this very eloquent. You are a talent for sure, my dear.

Re: Alison says:

[jdhobbes.livejournal.com]

When I plotted my revenge, it was mostly being able to fight back in the way that they attacked me. I envisionned being a brilliant street fighter, blocking the blows and returning the punches that would make them back off.

But in reality, I wasn't a fighter. The one after-school fight I was in, I tried to talk the guy out of it, but when I realized that there was no hope, I took the first blow to the stomach and crumpled. Craig Keough was his name. What a jerk.

There were a few other times I was able to pull some kind of move that resulted in the bullies backing off, but most of the time I just took it and thought "next year will be better, next year."

[jdhobbes.livejournal.com]

Writers and books are being banned all the time (in the States) for being inappropriate or inciting violence from their readers.

Gill had said in he had been facinated by FPS games (first person shooter games), so already people are pointing fingers at the video game industry (the same thing happened after the Columbine shootings). What if Gill had said in his journals that he was inspired by Poe's dark poetry? Would there be book burnings? It's happened before.

I guess the difference is that you and I saw there would be an end to the difficult days. Maybe Gill saw no light at the end of his tunnel.