Tuesday, February 28, 2012

School Shootings-Killer Chose Victims At Random

I came across this article about yet another another school shooter that happened in Ohio and I decided to post about it. I can clearly remember the day that the Columbine shooting occurred. The whole day the news showed videos of bloody teenagers running away from the crime scene. As young as I was I knew the magnitude of what had happened and that it would change the world. My first thoughts were what would make a person do something like this? The first things that were coming out were that these two boys, Eric Harris and Dylan Keblod, had been bullied. They had devised a plan to get back at that their tormentors which resulted in thirteen deaths not including their own self inflicted mortal wounds. They had the images that these boys were tormented young men who had been harassed into retaliation.
However a news article from ,USA Today, several of these claims. Twelve years after this shooting there are claims that these shooters were not bullied; in fact they bragged about teasing homosexuals and freshmen. Now reports are arguing that the intended to commit a terrorist bombing that would kill everyone in the school including their friends. "Contrary to early reports, Harris and Klebold weren't on antidepressant medication and didn't target jocks, blacks or Christians, police now say, citing the killers' journals and witness accounts. That story about a student being shot in the head after she said she believed in God? Never happened, the FBI says now,"(Topp,2010). The real question is what was there logic then? We have learned about utilitarian theories including ideals that idolize making decisions for the greater good. We have heard deontological theories that involve moral obligation. Perhaps these gunmen had only reasoned that their only worry was to worry about the act they committed not the outcome, a Kantian idea. They will forever be immortalized because of this heinous act, two deeply emotionally disturbed young men that were obviously suicidal. "These are not ordinary kids who played too many video games. These are not ordinary kids who just wanted to be famous. These are simply not ordinary kids. These are kids with serious psychological problems," (Topp,2010).
Columbine changed everything with school and security. It also made people realize that they cant ignore the signs that they see in these individuals. It seems now that school officials take rumors extremely serious now. It seems as though school shooters almost always tell someone of their plans. Schools have created anonymous avenues for students to report such things. Interactions between students and teachers is another crucial element. They might be able to spot something that some students might not see. There are even more anti-bullying programs now. It is a trend that has seemed to have gotten worse since this tragedy. I know as a nine year old girl this is one of the events that you will never forget where you were when the news broke.
Works Cited
Toppo, Greg, and USA TODAY. "10 years later, the real story behind Columbine - USATODAY.com." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. N.p., 22 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2012
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6 comments:

  1. Jared FischerFebruary 28, 2012 at 7:25 PM

    It truly is sad to consider the number of school shootings that have occurred over the last fifteen years or so. I think that a major issue with such shootings is that they are so incredibly hard to prevent. Sure schools can increase security and use metal detectors upon entrance, but I feel those are simply measures that are used to make people feel safer and are not effective by any means. If someone is determined to head into a school and start shooting do you really think a metal detector is going to stop them, or the presence of extra security guards? Absolutely not. These preventative measures also call for extra resources, a privilege that very few schools have available to them right now. It is a good sign that schools are taking the rumors of such shootings so seriously now. I remember reading a news article about my high school a year after I graduated from it where a student had brought a gun into the building in his backpack and carried it with him all day until it accidentally went off in the middle of a class. No one was injured and the kid was caught after he tried to run and dump the gun in a dumpster behind K-Mart, but the situation could have been incredibly worse. Being a gun owner myself I have to say though that I think Texas politicians have it right with their idea of "The best defense against campus shootings are students who can shoot back".

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  2. Justin SobusFebruary 28, 2012 at 8:33 PM

    Ive heard alot about the Columbine shootings and found it interesting that they later reported the two boys were not bullied. Also, I thought they targeted the people who teased them at school. After hearing this it is very difficult to study these school shooters with others. The typical school shooter stereotype is a loner who was bullied and targets the people who bullied him.

    This school shooting did change the way security works in school systems. Everything is more closely watched and studied. I would argue that the troubled kids in school aren't being spotted enough. If these two boys in Columbine had more interaction with the school and counselors they could have been avoided.

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  3. Derick KalecFebruary 28, 2012 at 10:05 PM

    Regardless of being bullied or not,it is a serious problem that can infect a persons life and make them choose very bad choices that can result in the taking of a life. My brother was bullied for several years and finally one day he just snapped and started swinging at them. I am glad to say he never carried on any violence after the punches he threw, but people can only take so much emotional, mental and psychological damage before they reach the edge.

    Now as for the Columbine students, I feel remorse for what they did because they are the ones that will have to meet their makers, and I hope the students of that class will one day be able to pick up and create a much better environment then they had in the class that day. Now the two students according to your article were beyond problematic. All three of the schools of philosophical thought would have to explain this as wrong, maybe without the idea of a hedonistic value from shooting them. First they never created the greatest good for the greatest amount of people, never met between the two extremes of virtue and vice, and never really worried about the outcome because they took themselves.

    This is terrible to read in the sense, that everyone though they were just bullied to the point of no return, to find out they were the sadistic bullies we all grow to hate...

    good article

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  4. Ryan GanserFebruary 29, 2012 at 1:19 PM

    Thats really interesting about the Columbine shooting. It makes it a little scarier to think that these two boys didn't even have a motive. Not that wanting to get back at someone justifies at all what they did, but the fact that they may have just chosen people at random is a truly frightening thought. I also find it sickening to look back over the last 20 years at how school shootings have increased. It seems like there are at least a few shootings per year now. Its messed up to think that kids who are going to school to get an education could be in danger of people like this coming out of the woodwork to meaninglessly take their classmates lives. I think schools are going to need to start looking into efficient ways to increase security.

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  5. Frank AfableMarch 5, 2012 at 11:48 AM

    Really goes to show how much damage and problems can arise from bullying and treating people badly. People should really think about cruel and mean they are actually being to a person. No one want's to be treated like that and no one has the right to do that to another person. This leads to these school shootings and suicides from bullied students all over the world. However, I don;t think these kids did this for no reason. They might have been making fun of homosexuals or freshman just because they felt like they had to for all that the have gone through. Not that it makes it ok, but that's how people deal with pain is by taking it out on other people. Even if they know it causes great harm like it has caused them. I believe these boys were defiantly bullied and treated awful. This is what caused them to to be mean to others and eventually cause the school shootings. Just goes to show how much bullying can cause, and how we need to do all we can to stop it, and stop ruining young people's self esteems.

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  6. Misty ParkerApril 21, 2012 at 4:56 PM

    I really dont see the point in the FBI now coming out and saying it wasn't racially motivated. I think the damage is done and to continue to blame the to dead killers isn't doing much for other kids safety. What the FBI and other law enforcement shoould be focused on is keeping all school grounds safe and making sure nothing like this happens again.
    I think this is part of the problem America always needs someone to blame, instead of just picking up the pieces and moving on to a way of making society better.

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