My rant for the day.
I have heard horrible storys of gun shootings in schools, Columbine, Flint, Virginia Tech, and those are just the ones shown on the news during my generation. School shooting is a topic of intense interest in the United States. School shootings have occured since 1966 (University of Texas) with the death toll of 17 and to the latest in October (University of Central Arkansas shooting) killing 2 and wounding one which seems minor compaired to Columbine. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold gained infamy for killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 23 others at Columbine High School and then themselves.
The shooting led to widespread panic across America, schools were fitted with metal detectors, guards were allowed to search students and their belongings and those deemed a threat were sent to psychologists and counselors. This has led to controversy and anger from both students and parents.A thorough study of all U.S. school shootings by the U.S. Secret Service warned against the belief that a certain "type" of student would be a perpetrator. Any "profile" would fit too many students to be useful and may not fit the potential perpetrators. Some lived with both parents in "an ideal, All-American family." Some were children of divorce, or lived in foster homes. A few were loners, but most had close friends.
Most of the blame for Columbine went to music, and one of the main threats they found to blaim was Marilyn Manson, in an interview between Moore and Marilyn Manson. Manson shares his ideas about America's climate with Moore, stating that he believes U.S. society is based on "fear and consumption", citing colgate commercials that promise "if you have bad breath, [people] are not going to talk to you" and other commercials containing fear-based messages When Moore asks Manson what he would say to the killers if he could have spoken to them on the day of the shooting, Manson replies, "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."
I find that most common ingrediant to these disaters are in fact peer pressure and bullying. The most commonly referred to school shooting is that at Columbine High School, in Columbine, Colorado, on Tuesday, April 20, 1999. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were the perpetrators. Like many instances of "school shootings," Harris and Klebold took their own lives before the end of the event. Also similar to many school killings, Harris and Klebold were found to be victims of bullying, and subject to abuse in their homes, after the fact. In the United States, one-on-one public-school violence, such as beatings and stabbings or violence related to gang activity, is more common in some densely populated areas.
Inner-city or urban schools were much more likely than other schools to report serious violent crimes, with 17 percent of city principals reporting at least one serious crime compared to 11 percent of urban schools, 10 percent of rural schools, and five percent of suburban town schools in the 1997 school year. Student-perpetrated school shootings in North America have mostly been in overwhelmingly white, middle-class, non-urban areas. In some cases, the victims of the shootings were involved in bullying or other acts of violence and intimidation against the perpetrators.The shootings seem as though an attempt to revenge agianst the perpetrators [bullies] who had plagued thiem over the years and others to adjust their social standing and image, from "loser" to "master of violence.", to gain imfamousy. In one report of a mall shooting (Omaha Westraods mall) the shooter, Rober Hawkins, had left a suicide letter to his mother stating, "I just want to take a few pieces of s**t with me... just think tho, I'm gonna be ******** famous."
