School Violence 1 School shootings are rare, but highly publicized. When they occur, panels of "experts" spend hours of airtime debating the causes of these shootings. Violence in the media? Inadequate parenting? Access to guns? Disinterested teachers? Why doesn't anyone ever suggest that maybe some kids are seriously fucked up? While their parents' permissiveness allows their behavior to flourish, does it cause violent behavior? CNN's Website poses the question: "Who or what is most responsible for school violence?" Parents are in the lead. Poor parents. We can blame parents for producing idiots and crackheads, but can parents really stop their children from turning into monsters? Without discipline, a child may resort to becoming the neighborhood ho, class dunce or marijuana supplier, but can a "normal" kid take his anger as far as knocking off his classmates? Isn't that a stretch? Barring a child being locked in a cage in the basement, used as a human ashtray or paraded around in Vegas showgirl outfits, a kid needs to be mentally disturbed to get up one morning, don fatigues and whack his algebra class. Can parents be blamed for producing a Kip Kinkle? Maybe their genes are inferior, but is their parenting style the root of the problem? Or does the kid have a propensity towards violence that no one can harness? Parents can pay attention to their kids. They can nip problems in the bud. But are they the direct cause of violent kids? Everyone has thought of committing murder. I have, but what stops me from crossing the line? What stops you? Is it respect for life? Is it fear of being placed in a cell with a buffed ex-Marine who wants you to be his bitch? Is it the thought of being forced to live side-by-side with thousands of other people? Regardless of your reasoning, you do not pick up a gun and take over Red Lobster. You think about your actions. Most of us have enough sense and sanity to fantasize about, but not act on, our homicidal impulses. What about those who do act out our murderous dreams? Can anything possibly stop them?
School Violence 2 Would better parenting deter the 90lb Macauley Caulkin-lookalike from entering his high school like a stormtrooper? Would the death penalty deter a steroid-abusing football player from killing his cheating girlfriend in front of her French class? People who murder are either pissed off or nuts. How do you stop a crazy, enraged or jealous person who is swept up in the moment? Is quality time with parents the solution? In CNN's poll, access to guns is in a close second. I have access to a gun. I know how to shoot a gun. I did not turn my high school graduation into a bloodbath. Having access to a gun is not an impetus for violence. It is not the means by which a student commits murder but the murder itself that is important. I am sure a high body count is important to these kids, but the fact they "got back" at "those people" is the true motive. Take away guns and students will use knives. Guns are rarely (if ever) used in New York City schools, but box cutters (despite a ban on selling them to minors) remain a popular weapon. Knives will lower the body count, but it doesn't diminish the urges these kids have. "Oh, Oregon banned all guns. That's okay. I'll bring in a machete and chop their heads off." These kids want to kill. They don't care how they do it. Another popular choice for CNN viewers is the media. You know, the media. They're kind of like the vast right-wing conspiracy. Right-wingers want to bring down Clinton and the media wants to bring down public schools. What is "the media"? Do they mean violent films? I grew up on a steady diet of horror films, and I yet to put on a hockey mask and murder teens engaging in premarital sex. Violent television? The TV event that traumatized me the most wasn't the controversial scene from "Brooklyn South" in which someone's head was blown off, but the "NYPD Blue" scene in which Dennis Franz exposed his ass. Violent music? I still listen to the Geto Boys because they were so damn funny. They did not encourage me to hack off some ho's arms with a chainsaw, though. The urge to kill is something that transcends the media. Watching "Natural Born Killers" might give potential mass murderer pointers, but thoughts of murder are not going to replace thoughts of the Spice Girls. Where does this leave us? We are frightened by the prospect that some people are simply fucked up.
School Violence 3 We like to put a face on evil -- the media, bad parents, the NRA. Kids don't kill kids; guns kill kids. Kids aren't nuts; parents don't discipline them. Kids don't have homicidal thoughts; the media puts them there. What if there are no good reasons why Kip Kinkles exist? What if this is the way these kids are? What if nothing could influence or change them? What then? (I don't know the answer, but if you figure it out, you can reach me in my underground bunker in Montana...far, far away from all of your mentally ill children.)