Lessons from Columbine
Posted by sebersole on April 19, 2009
Ten years ago the nation was shocked to hear that two disgruntled students had gone on a rampage at Columbine High School in Denver, Colorado. I remember turning on the TV in my classroom and watching, along with my students, as live coverage of the event played out on screen. We were transfixed by the images coming from the TV and left with questions about how this kind of tragedy could have happened in what felt like our own back yard. It was not long before TV pundits tried to answer those questions. Tales of the shooters’ affinity for Marilyn Manson’s music and Doom, the first-person shooter videogame, were first to surface. Others made comparisons to the movie Basketball Diaries starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Critics of media violence see Columbine as the inevitable outcome of a broken social system where film, television, music and videogame industries mass-produce violence-filled content that is consumed by impressionable children. Today’s children are more impressionable, they say, because they are frequently alienated by their peers and abandoned by the social institutions, e.g., family and church, that, in earlier times, provided alternative perspectives on life. They also point to the few cases of perpetrators who themselves said that they were influenced by media or by the desire to copy the behavior that they saw acted out on the news. Just last month two UK teens were arrested for plotting to bomb a school on the 10th anniversary of Columbine.
Critics of the critics counter that media exposure is an insignificant contributing factor when attempting to explain real-world violence. As evidence they like to point to all of the children that have grown up on violent cartoons, movies, videogames and music yet have never acted out in a violent manner. Some even believe that mediated violence serves as a sort of pressure valve that allows young people to blow off steam in a virtual environment. Killing a few computer-generated monsters or villains is certainly better than kicking the dog or punching a little brother.
This debate has been going on for centuries and will likely continue for years to come. But don’t let that stop you from having opinions of your own!
Tayler Zinanti said
I do not think that the media is completely at fault for violence, but I do think that it plays a part in the influence of it. I think that these violent types of media can show the viewer new ways to be violent in which they wouldn’t have thought of before, which can give people that are planning on acting in violence, bad ideas. Chapter 15 of the book, Media and Culture talks about the concerns of the media’s effect on violence among people.
Cassi Brunson said
On April 20th 2009, it was the ten year anniversary of the Columbine shooting in Denver Colorado. I too remeber watching all of the footage that was aired on the news, and wanting to look away but at the same time I couldn’t. Many ask the question, “why did they shoot up the school” “what led to this behavior and violence?” Many say media is at fault because of all the violence portrayed through tv, radio, video games, etc.
I do not think that media should be completely to blame for this issue. I think that a lot of it comes from parenting and communication. I mean the two boys were making their weapons in the garage! What parent is not aware of that? Perhaps it is not just bad parenting and maybe it is lack of communication or being involved in work or other things. I hold parenting with the most responsibility. Media however, does play a role in some children and teens.
Media and Culture discussed the issue of violence and media with children and teens and still can only come to this conclusion, “For some children, under some conditions..”
Cassi Brunson
Kami Dahlberg said
It is crazy to think that this tragic event happened ten years ago. It seems like it was only last year. I don’t think that all the blame can go to the media. However, I do believe that the media plays a small role in it. When teens and children see things on TV like their favorite actors killing people, they see it as being cool and they want to be just like them. I do think that it is a very tiny role. A lot of it falls with the parents I think. They need to be able to talk to their kids about what is real and what isn’t. They also need to play a huge role in their lives to make sure everything is going alright. I know that in the Media and Culture book, it talks about teen violence and the media in chapter 15. Like I said before, media plays a small role in teen violence and the parents play a large role.
Michelle Mankins said
I think that there are two sides to the story of how media influences. First off, no, I do not think that videogames and Marylin Manson music is going to be something to trigger someone to go off and shoot away their classmates. I do however think that it is a contributing factor. The fact that they are a fan of violence is evident and someone who is already a violent person, it would make sense that they would enjoy violent kinds of media. I think that parents play a huge role in teaching their children what is right and wrong. If you don’t tell a child that cannot kill their classmates, or rather treat them with respect, then they might not learn otherwise.
On the other hand, I do think that the media coverage on the Columbine shootings were able to trigger more shootings and bombings at schools. It was like a ripple effect, giving ideas to students all over the world of what they could do to seek “revenge” on those who had made them unhappy. Even, in my senior year of high school, there was a bomb threat and that was supposed to be just a prank from an ignorant student.
sarah beddall said
Mass media has not been around since the beginning of society, but violence has. The arguement that media causes violence is like saying”, which camd first, the chicken or the egg?” I think that crimes where mass media like music or video games seem to have a central role get more media coverage. Columbine of course would have been heavily covered either way. The two boys that plotted Columbine were ill and isolated. And the adolescent mind can be very vulnerable, but it can also be very resilliant. I don’t think the problem is the media we ingest. The problems lie within the individual and how they digest it. There are many people subjected to violence through different media everyday. If it just thewas the media, wouldn’t we see more “Columbine’s?” I am not condoning their behavior in any way. What took place there was tragic and won’t be forgotten. The copycat effect isn’t shocking, scary, but not shocking. Now you have frustrated teens across America who finally see a way out they couldn’t think of themselves. Parents could take some blame here too. But at the finish line, no one wins and no one is to blame.
As society advances, so will it’s crimes.
Audrey said
Its a ridiculous notion that we can blame fake images from a glowing box for shooting up a school. Media didnt tell those kids to shoot people. those kids didnt have any problems at school, they were popular, and were in well incomed families. I think its more likely that they were jerks that got bored.
Vinny Papasedero said
I find it hard to believe that the media influence on these kid’s lives lead to killings at a high school. There have been studies that show that playing violent video games, or listening to hardcore music actually have been known to relieve stress on a persons life. I believe that this is just a way for someone to blame these killings on. If they can’t find facts, or reasons why these kid’s shot up the school, they automatically point to video games, and music. It is ridiculous to me.
Tim Gonzales said
I believe that media plays a huge role in young adults and childrens lives. They are exposed to different types of media everywhere they go. Not all media is “good” media either. There is a lot of violence in video games, song lyrics, and today’s Hollywood films. Children view these things and they believe that this is how they are supposed act. Media does not play a positive role in their lives. It is not something that you can get rid of theough. This is where parents need to step in and do their job and teach them what is right and wrong and what is real and fake.
Victoria Watson said
My position on this incident and the events that followed is a very harsh one. I believe that to blame this incident on drugs and violent video games is ignorant to the point of insulting. These boys were products of years and years of torment and hostile behavior directed towards them. They were segregated at school, bullied, victimized, stigmatized, and profiled based on their differences. These boys sought shelter in the few things that made them feel better, their games and their music, its called “coping” and everyone does it. All people are inherently violent, and that is disputable, but that is what i believe. We are a species like any other, and we have survived this long and on this far up the food chain because of our violence. Survival of the fittest. These boys were products of their environment. I blame alot of this on not just the parents but the school administration. Bullying should not be tolerated, and this is WHY. It is absolutely absurd for them to blame Marilyn Manson or Eminem for perpetuating any kinds of acts of violence. If they would have had strong morals and values instilled upon them by their parents and family, they would not have reacted so violently without remorse for those they killed and their own lives they ultimately took.
keith berry said
I feel that the great level of violence in movies and video games certainly has a contributing factor when kids do things such as the Colombine incident, but I DO NOT feel that they are the reasons they do such horrible things. I have played video games and listened to music for much of my life, and many times both were very graphic. Any time i would interact with one of these media, I would never like or dislike someone more than I did before interacting with it. Values, culture, and lifestyle play a much bigger part in these devistating incidents. Things like this happen from large amounts of bottled up anger that is rarely released, which music and video games are not very likely to cause.
John Ninemire said
I think the most interesting thing that was revealed about Columbine on this anniversary, was the false reports of many events that happened during Columbine. For there to be so many inconsistencies in the police reports and the media reports, shows everyone how the media does effect the way news stories are reported.
spiffysam said
I look at video games an other assorted violent media as an outlet for our internal violence. Everyone has a little bit of violence or anger inside of them at various points throughout their life. I think that using video games to blow heads off of people or monsters is a good way to let a little bit of that violence out. But using these outlets requires a certain amount of maturity and the ability to differentiate between right and wrong, and reality and fantasy. A thirteen year old I know has been playing Halo, the fps game, for several years now. He is most certainly not mature enough to handle the mature content. He plays on xBox Live, where content is not rated by the ESRB. He frequently curses, screams, and throws temper-tantrums while playing. I see this behavior surface in other situations outside of the video game world. He is a very impatient temperamental person, and I believe that part of that stems from his usage of violent video games. Ultimately the parents of Harris and Klebold are responsible for the actions of their children. Though the two were old enough to make decisions on their own, perhaps better parenting could have prevented the loss of so many lives. The burden rests on the shoulders of the users of video games. Supervise your children, and don’t allow them to play games out of their maturity level.