Things Aren't Always What They SeemPlacing the BlameIn today's North American culture people are constantly trying to place the blame on anybody or everybody else so they can sleep better at night, comfortable that they weren't responsible for any travesties. This was the case with the school shootings in Colorado, where Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 13 innocent human beings before killing themselves. The two killers walked into their school with an astounding array of weapons and a disastrous plan. Dressed in black- black jeans, black boots, black shirts, black trench coats, the pair looked as if they had just stepped out of a Western flick--except this was real and their plan was real. Immediately, the media looked to the gothic culture, mainly pointing fingers at rock star Marilyn Manson. In the media's view, wearing black clothes and listening to or playing dark music helped explain the murders. Unfortunately, this is a stereotype that doesn't look like it's going to be fading away any time soon. People even blamed the movies-- The Matrix--with its characters wearing black trench coats and shooting massive amounts of bullets. They blamed the movie The Basketball Diaries, where Leonardo Dicaprio's character dreams of walking into his classroom wearing a black trench coat and blowing away his classmates. If Klebold and Harris had been wearing white, would we have blamed the tennis players? I doubt it. From that day on, a lot of people associated trench coats, no matter what color with the Columbine tragedy. Had the killers being wearing a red sweater with white stripes it would have had the same effect. We probably would have blamed the skateboarders or something. People also blamed videogames afterwards. Violent videogames to be more specific. Both Dylan and Eric played Doom, a game where the goal is to kill people in first person reality. The characters of the game stalk calmly through dark corridors looking for any sign of movement. When they see movement, they quickly aim and shoot. Sound familiar? This was essentially what the killers did. The pair played the game constantly, and perfected their aims. Did it cause them to wish to blow up their school? Maybe. Did it improve their percentage rate of killing? Maybe. Did these videogames make Dylan and Eric more violent? Again, maybe, but if you look at what those two did to people and the hearsay from the witnesses, I think it's pretty clear that these monsters had many issues of their own way before they even started playing videogames. Eric's father used to take him hunting with his rifles; that's probably where Eric learned to shoot. He didn't become a marksman by playing a computerized game. The media and other people, including me, who don't know videogames that well tend to group all videogames together and see them as nothing more than senseless violence and destruction. Others who actually play them defend them, saying that videogames are an outlet for aggression and tension that builds up in everyday life. Videogames are a safe and contained environment. The one videogame that I have played is Sonic and Knuckles, a relatively gentle game where this little hedgehog zips around collecting coins and extra lives in a fun little rollercoaster universe. The only threats are little monkeys and fish that are easily killed by bonking them on the head. And you get points for killing them. Gamers are what we call the people who play videogames a lot. Gamers argue that videogames allow the player to become much more alert, that the games assist in improving hand/eye coordination, problem solving skills and also help in devising quick solutions. I believe this, sure. But when I play games, I also zone out. There could be a wild stampede outside and I wouldn't notice because I'm living the life of a hedgehog in Sonic. Once gamers have played a game or two, they remember the tricks of the game and that sense of on-your-toes anticipation is gone. The game doesn't require any hard thinking. I also believe that videogames promote isolation and degenerate community within the family. Some families have resorted to schedules that state how long children can play and when they can or cannot play the game. Does this mean they have to schedule in playing a friendly family game of catch too? Adults who play say that it is a great way to reduce stress after a hard day at work. Okay. But have they forgotten about all those other wonderful stress reducers that exist outside of the television? Take a walk outside, exercise, read a book, or smoke a joint! There is still a little thing called Mother Nature that we tend to neglect and abuse all at the same time. It's fairly obvious that violence in videogames had some sort of effect on Dylan and Eric-- Dylan called his favorite gun Arlene, after a character in Doom. But these boys (I use the term loosely) had some unresolved issues besides violence. They clearly just hated the human race. Maybe they were picked on too much in high school and they were insecure. But it's high school; it's basically torture. High school is a place where you learn not to care what other people think about you and maybe Klebold and Harris hadn't realized that yet. They were too preoccupied with other people's views. They wanted to take charge and be the famous ones for a bit. They wanted the attention and we gave it to them. We really didn't have a choice; it's kind of hard to ignore something like that when every single channel and paper had it as top stories. If Dylan and Eric hadn't killed themselves they would have been put on trial. Or would they? Who knows, but the point is that it would have sky-rocketed the ratings on whatever channel showed it because whoever was interested would watch it and I'm pretty sure a lot of people wanted to find out exactly what was going on in their little screwed up heads. But I'm glad there wasn't a trial because those two would have laughed it up. I don't think they would have showed any remorse. I think we would have lost the true tragedy of it all and forgotten about the deceased and the injured. We would have been too preoccupied with our fascinations of the killers. Is the media a mirror than we are all stuck in, in one of those houses that they have at the circus-- the House of Mirrors--where all the images are distorted and we can never really know the whole truth? I think it's a pretty good analogy. There are people out there who feel terribly out of the loop if they haven't seen the latest developments in the news. We can deal with missing the latest bombing in Kosovo but we can't deal without seeing the latest car crash. Face it, there are morbid people out there who would love to see Princess Diana's car crash, or watch JFK Jr.'s plane take a nose dive. I know it sounds really mean and really sick but it's true. I'm talking about the people who have lost all touch with reality and don't have a sense of what's important to them anymore. They only care about what happens to other people, which is really quite sad. Maybe it's something to do with the unknown. We don't really know what happened with JFK Jr., or Diana, and we're not totally aware of what went on in the Columbine library. We have a morbid sense to want to see everything possible, including the sad stuff, in order that we can properly communicate and talk amongst ourselves. We want to put our two cents in; we need to. Meanwhile, we have lost the actuality of it all. We just want the facts, man, so that we can maybe pinpoint the placing of blame or responsibility a little better. I am not under any orders to make the world a better place. But check out my site anyhow: |