Wednesday, April 25, 2007
I think back to Columbine almost eight years ago. I remember the shock that gripped me immediately afterwards. I literally had no idea how such a thing could happen outside of the “Well the guy was just crazy” stock response. The vicious shooting occurred in the spring in Littleton, Colo., a quiet middle-class suburban town. Of all places, why did it happen there? Fast-forward to the spring of 2007, and here we are again asking the same question after the Virginia Tech shootings.
I have noticed one recurring theme with these school shootings. In an Associated Press article about the Virginia Tech shooter what most stood out to me was that he was described as a “loner.” This is the same way the Columbine shooters were described in 1999. Coincidence? I think not.
nutgraf
What both the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres illustrate is the problem of silencing people’s voices either through insistence that what they have to say doesn’t matter, or by complacence without an opportunity to get ideas out in the form of a public forum.
It’s isolation that is the driving force behind school shootings. In this specific case, like Columbine, the specific culprit was again suburbia.
According to the AP article the shooter grew up in suburbia. This repressive environment is the one I was subjected to for almost fifteen years. This was the place where anything thoughtful or controversial often received a “you can’t talk about that here” or “moving on” from both students and teachers.
What both the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres illustrate is the problem of silencing people’s voices either through insistence that what they have to say doesn’t matter, or by complacence without an opportunity to get ideas out in the form of a public forum. My high school was considered one of the best in the country, and the school only sanctioned a literary magazine that came out once a year and a newspaper that was not receptive to controversial issues. Likewise, this alienated many people. The Virginia Tech shooter too, grew up in suburbia and became a creative writer, probably because he felt he had no voice at school.
The persistent message of “We really don’t care who you are,” was one that dominated my high school and angered others. Perhaps this is what the shooter was thinking when he opened fire on that crowded classroom. Whatever the case, he no longer viewed these people as people, which justified this behavior to him. No pattern to the killing emerged following the shooting, though according to a note he left he cited “rich kids,” “debauchery” and “deceitful charlatans” as people he rallied against.
In conclusion, what I take from the Virginia Tech shootings is the story of a 23-year-old man fighting for an identity in an environment that repeatedly told him his identity doesn’t matter. What we can learn from this is that if we do not provide students with a public forum to stretch their creative wills they will turn to violence expressing all of their pain in greater and greater tragedies.
Nick Mangiaracina, Lenexa junior
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