Going Postal
How interesting. Columbine and all the other school rage incidents are actually failed revolutions? Interesting interview.
posted by CatsFive @ Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Owl-Stretching Time
Killing weekday productivity since... Tuesday.
Earlier...
- Entrances To Hell
- Thirteen Ugly Children Roll Gutterballs
- Nick Park is now... Everywhere
- Audio NSFW but in a really, really hilarious way.
- Vespa Ride to Canmore!
- Armed dolphins set free by Katrina
- The Nutsiest Sound Around
- New Pornographers Twin Cinema
- Turning the Page
- One word:
Free Hit Counters
04 October 2005
4 Comments:
Wow; this book sounds really interesting. I'm often interested in that sort of thing, and I have to admit seeing the similar thread of sympathy for Harris/Kliebold (and, well, I have to admit even feeling some of that too, at least when the initial reports came in making it sound like it was a Bully Hunt instead of just some idiots shooting up anyone that moved), and finding that interesting too. This looks like it might be cool.
Soft Skull is kind of a up-and-down publisher for me, though -- they do some really cool stuff (a book of John S. Hall lyrics and a cool book on Daniel Johnston), but sometimes some weird ones (like Fortunate Son which is pretty much a post and a half by itself on the ups-and-downs and crediting-and-discrediting and well, pretty much the whole shebang). I can't remember if they put out the re-issue of Mike Doughty's book of poetry too, but, well, it'd be up their alley probably if they did. Still, though!
ziten: little, blue, different. Should not be taken with other medicines.
Wow, this looks... very heavy, but interesting. I find this kind of events just unfathomable and seriously disturbing (which is why I haven't seen Gus van Sant's movie Elephant yet, even thugh I really want to).
Comics guru Warren Ellis did an installment of the comic book Hellblazer about this subject, which Marvel Comics then declined to publish. It's good, though extremely nihilistic... you can read it online here. (It may load kind of strangely- I had to locate it via archive.org)
Hmmm... getting to read the interview now. It's interesting, but I think this guy is reaching quite a bit, kind of coming up with a theory and then squeezing the facts to fit into it.
Trying to attribute all workplace/school violence to economic factors sounds almost like he's trying to use these acts to further his own economic beliefs. Most of these killings are either due to a grudge, or (as with Columbine) a grudge combined with a need for self-glorification.
I'm not sure where this guy sees so much "sympathy" for the killers, either. I never saw any of that, that I can recall.
I think with the sympathy, it was more in intrapersonal communication; I remember when it happened, there was a bit of that. (Although less so with my own personal circle of friends, as I actually have a friend who _knew_ them, and basically said they were pretty much Clueless Twits who were just Generally Jackasses.) At the time, though, I and most of my friends had just gotten out of high school, and so it was a bit more in our minds and whatnot (though Middle School was miles worse), and, well, at the risk of sounding crass, horrible though it might be, a Bully Hunt didn't seem to be the worst of all possible things (which was how it was initially presented, and you can even see some stuff like that in, say, the Onion's "coverage" -- there was a lot of a "Well, they had it coming" sense. At least, well, until it was revealed that there wasn't really a Bully Hit List and more of "Hey, let's be a couple of psycho nutjob assholes and shoot up a bunch of people! That'd be awesome!!", which.... yeah. Not so much. (Not that the former is exactly something to be Praised or Wished For, but it is a little bit more... sympathetic, I guess -- sort of a twisted version of rooting for the underdog.)
I think Kleibold and Harris are probably a bad example for the Sympathy side of things (as it became clear that they were just going after anyone), and I'm not sure if there actually has been a school shooting where it has been a "Bully Hunt" rather than just a chaotic "shoot whomever I can, be it teacher, enemy, friend or innocent" free-for-one-or-two. I know that because K. and H. were outcasts (and from my friend, they were Outcasts even amongst Outcasts -- to hear her tell it, they were overly aggressive yet cluelessly so and dumb; the kind of kid who's obsessed with death and murder to be "edgy" or whatever, and, well, I suppose I can speak about this because in my younger days I was one of those, sadly. (I've come around, though, thankfully, and I was never anywhere NEAR the extent as them; never been a big Weapon Guy, though I've known a few (though weapons tend to have a... simultaneous sense of awe and fear in me -- if someone presents one in a way that is clearly "Hey, let's examine this!", I'm really interested (though that's probably also just my desire to know how things work, too... I don't drink, but I jumped at the chance to go on a series of brewery/winery tours and had a blast because, hey, Learning!), but, for example -- when I was recently at a pawn shop looking for Cheap-as-free CDs, someone was purchasing a gun nearby and I just.... couldn't wait to leave, even though I know there wasn't any danger or anything. I just got really tense and kind of upset, but then again, I've got quite a bit of anxiety problems that I should really actually see a doctor about, I think, but I'm completely digressing.) So.... yeah, in a way, I think I can kind of see where the author's coming from in terms of "sympathy", as I actually saw that quite a bit when there were events like these. (Though, strangely, despite being through two minor ones, it didn't so much work out then. Funny that you can't feel "sympathy" for the shooters when they're actually in YOUR neck of the woods, huh?)
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