School shooting massacres have taken place all across the country. One of the most infamous of all is Columbine. I don't think anyone will be able to forget it.
What turns these kids into killers, though? Most likely, they already had some form of mental illness, whether anti-social personality disorder or depression, for example. But still, could media, in any form, have played any sort of role in helping these kids actualize their murder plans?
Columbine: April 20, 1999. Two seniors from Columbine High School in Colorado, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, killed 12 students, left 21 injured, and then turned the guns on themselves. Both teens have been described as being depressed and victims of bullying. While some may believe that the Columbine massacre was a result of the boys' mental illnesses alone, psychiatrist Jerald Block disagrees. He believes that the teens' actions are not well explained by the diagnosis of psychopathology and depression. He instead suggests that their intense immersion in the "virtual world" of video games had a greater influence than most think. Both boys were supposedly obssessed with violent video games such as Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. And the popular movie Natural Born Killers even inspired the pair to use the initials "NBK" as some sort of code in their home-made videos and journals. To illustrate exactly how important the video games were to the boys, Eric Harris is quoted as saying that his "mod", called Tier, for the game Doom was his "life's work." The mod was uploaded to the school computer and to AOL, but was soon lost. Many believe that the mod included a simulation of Columbine High School. The two teens soon after had their computer privelages restricted. Psychiatrist Jerald Block believes that it was now that the teens' anger that was always being expressed in the video games was now able be "unleashed" on the real world since they had more free time on there hands. Then, after displaying more defiant behavior, the pair was arrested and had computer privelages completely taken away. Around that time is when the teens became homicidal and started planning the high school attack.
Another reference to the media was made regarding the "costumes" that the two boys chose to wear to school on that frightful day. Dressed in black trenchcoats, they seemed to be re-enacting a scene from the movie The Basketball Diaries. In The Basketball Diaries, Leonardo DiCaprio, the main character, imagines walking into his school sporting a black trenchcoat and machine gun. He then proceeds to shoot six students.
(It's worthy to note that two years prior to the Columbine massacre, The Basketball Diaries, Natural Born Killers, and various computer games were all brought into a $33 million lawsuit after being blamed for inspiring the 1997 Heath High School shooting in Kentucky.)
"Jeremy" by Pearl Jam:
"Jeremy," written by lead singer of Pearl jam, Eddie Veder is based around two true stories. One story is of a boy named Jeremy Wade Delle who, after being a victim of bullying, came to school one day and shot himself in front of his whole class. The other story is one that is more personal for Eddie Veder. He told the story in a 1991 interview:
"I actually knew somebody in junior high school, in San Diego, California, that did the same thing, just about, didn't take his life but ended up shooting up an oceanography room. I remember being in the halls and hearing it and I had actually had altercations with this kid in the past. I was kind of a rebellious fifth-grader and I think we got in fights and stuff. So it's a bit about this kid named Jeremy and it's also a bit about a kid named Brian that I knew and I don't know...the song, I think it says a lot. I think it goes somewhere...and a lot of people interpret it different ways and it's just been recently that I've been talking about the true meaning behind it and I hope no one's offended and believe me, I think of Jeremy when I sing it.”
Sources:
AP (April 13, 1999), Media Companies Are Sued in Kentucky Shooting, The New York Times
Jerald Block. Lessons From Columbine: Virtual and Real Rage PDF American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry. July 2007.
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ReplyDeleteInteresting topic, but the link between violent thoughts/actions and the media one consumes is not really clear, because no one knows conclusively that consuming violent media causes violent thoughts.
ReplyDeleteCorrelation =/= Causation
Yes, I wouldn't say that media violence is the ultimate CAUSE of real-life acts of violence and murder. However, combined with other factors, such as mental illness or abuse, it perhaps becomes part of an equation that can lead someone to kill. Violence in the media can serve as a trigger and exacerbate an existing problem.
DeleteJust because something is a correlation and not a cause, does not mean that there is no connection at all.
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