Raging On: School shootings

Hello all, and welcome to a rather dark and sinister edition of Raging On. The title alone is enough to turn those with weak resolves away. There isn't much need for introduction to this, so I will just jump right in. Buckle up because I'm pissed off.

So we have another school shooting. That in and of itself is upsetting, but that's not what's pissing me off. No, what's pissing me off now is the media attention and the lack of caution the school took leading up to this unfortunate incident. I'm gonna break this down into 2 rants, just so I don't run all over the place and confuse you.

School officials

I blame the school officials for part of this. Sure, the kid acted alone and no one can properly prepare for something of this nature, but seriously, the school acted poorly in the matter. Take the facts. The kid was a loner, he dressed in black, he was bullied by other kids, AND he was accused of plotting something similar in 2004 which he was eventually cleared of. Its been cited that he was in a special program for policy-breaking students that basically left them at home and teachers would come to them. When asked about the policy he broke, the school officials site confidentiality reasons and say they can't tell. Is this a cover up? Was his "expulsion" a direct result of the alleged terroristic plot? Did the school have reason to suspect he would do this and instead of removing the possibility of it happening, they help facilitate it by putting him in an even more humiliating situation, and now that his evil deed has been done, they are quickly trying to erase any responsibility they might have had in this? I am not a conspiracy theorist by any means. I am just a cynic who knows how to look into situations with an unbiased opinion and see the truth from the lies. Too many questions have been raised in my mind as to whether the school system could have prevented this. Now, I know its damn near impossible to prevent something like this, but the school should have been better prepared. They had two guards...but they were both unarmed. This right here is a huge mistake. How protective and dissuading can you be without any firearms? A school guard has the responsibility to protect the students and faculty at a school, and they failed by being inadequately prepared to handle this sort of situation. Was this their fault? No. In the end, they took orders, and they were ordered NOT to carry arms. This goes back to the shoulders of the school officials. They knew of this kid's malaise for the students. He was bullied upon. He allegedly made this sort of threat once before. He was put in a situation where he was no longer a physical student at the school and this probably made him even more of a target for bullies. Put 2 and 2 together and you get a scenario like this.

Loner kid is bullied by kids at school. He runs to tell a teacher. The teachers are of no help. He runs to the principal, again no help. He hatches a plot to kill them all. He confides in someone his heinous plot. They run and tell. He's picked up for plotting violence. Naturally he's suspended pending the investigation, and now the bullies have even more fuel for their bashings. He's eventually cleared of the allegations, but naturally they can't have him back in the school for disruption reasons, so the place him in a homeschooling-type program. This brings the hatred within this kid to full-on rage. Couple that with constant beratings from his grandfather, who just so happens to be a police office, and the fact that his father killed himself and his mother is brain damaged and resides almost 300 miles away. The kid doesn't have a family anymore. No one understands him. He becomes suicidal and full of rage. He starts making postings on neo-Nazi web forums describing himself as the "Angel of Death" and sympathizing with Adolf Hitler. He hatches a new plot, and this time he sees that it is done. He has nothing left to live for. He plans on killing himself anyway, so why not take out a few more in the meantime...be it bullies, acquaintances, friends, OR family. The rest plays out like what you have already heard. You can never being fully prepared for something like this...but you ALWAYS err on the side of caution...that's a moral imperative that this school miscalculated and now they have to deal with their actions. Shame on them.

The Media

This rant will be brief. I am disgusted with the media. They treat these killings like its sweeps for the Nielsens. The have graphics, computer-rendered dramatizations, expert psychologists talking about what was going through the killer's mind, breaking news that really isn't breaking news - just another reason to talk about the killings and take up more airtime. Every news story I read talk about this being the deadliest school shooting......since Columbine...like we need to be reminded about this shit. To the media....the world is a sick place....you make it worse. Fuck off.

This has been Raging On, have a wonderful, rage-filled day (just don't kill anyone, OK?). Please visit Relevant Irreverence, a new internet destination for all things artistic, musical, and disturbing.