I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave.

This is the link if you haven't already heard or read about this...

 

My heart goes out to the friends and families of the people who were murdered so brutally and my prayers to those who were injured for a fast recovery.

 

Now, with that said, these situations really piss me off.  What the fuck makes people think they have the right to go out and shoot a bunch of people.  30 dead and 22 injured!  It's ridiculous.. and the reasons we're often given are complete bullshit. 

 

1) "They were picked on."  Guess what people, everyone is picked on at some point in their lives!  I was horribly picked on when I was in school... my hair was frizzy, I wore glasses, my teeth weren't perfect, I was poor, I couldn't get brand name clothes, I lived *gasp* in a trailer home, I didn't have a lot of friends.  I heard some of the meanent things you could ever think of.  I can remember being in grade school and having another student telling me to smear shit on my face so that it would match my hair and eyes.  Sounds silly now, but it had me in tears when I was 8.  When I got into highschool, it got MUCH worse.  Did I ever even THINK of picking up a gun and killing anyone?  Not once.  Did it hurt to have people treat me that way?  You're damn right it did.  But having my feelings hurt because people can be assholes did not give me the right to kill people and it doesn't give that right to anyone else.  Welcome to the real world people, people in general are jerks.  You've gotta look for the ones that aren't and stick by them.  They're called friends, learn to make them.  They become your adopted family.

 

2) "They listened to *insert Shock Rocker or Rapper here*"  Oh my god, they might have listened to Marilyn Manson, Eminem, Insane Clown Posse, Alice Cooper, or any number of other people their parents didn't like and now they're going to blame the downfall of thier child on these people.  At one point someone tried to sue Ozzy Osbourne over something similarly ridiculous.  If your kid is so impressionable that listening to music that has nothing to do with killing people that they're going to turn around and think "Hey, the music tells me to do this" then maybe you should pay attention and get them some damn HELP!  If the music is commanding them without even bringing up the subject of harming anyone, there's obviously something wrong here.  Does the leprechaun tell them to burn things?  For Gods' sake, pay attention to your kids/friends/loved ones and if you see something wrong, try to do something about it.  Don't sit back and watch them lose control and then babble about "Oh, I should have done this" when they do something like this.  Then the blame is partially on you as well.

 

3) "They played Grand Theft Auto or some equally violent video game."  Again, this is complete bullshit.  I've known TONS of people, men and women both, who play violent video games.  GTA, Halo, tons of other first person shooters or hack and slash games.  You know why they play them?  Because they're fun and it's a safe outlet to take out agression.  Never have any of the people I know who play video games looked at anyone and said, "You know, I should emulate this.  The next time I get mad, I'm just going to go out and shoot a bunch of people."  Do you know why they wouldn't do it?  Because video games do NOT give the people the urge to go out and harm others.  I listen to the bands listed above and then some.. I'd never harm anyone.

 

4) "They were depressed."  Yeah, you know what?  Everyone's despressed.  Get used to it.  If it gets bad, go to a doctor and get some help.  Find something that makes you feel better, be it your friends, a pet, a family member, or even talking to a clergyman.  Most depressed people I know turn the damage inward and harm themselves, I've yet to meet one who hurt anyone else.  The worst I've seen is a few harsh words because their bullshit meter for the day had reached it's limit and someone's feelings got hurt.

 

People, you need to stop looking for scapegoats in things like this and start looking at the real problem.  The people that do these things obviously needed serious help and it wasn't given to them.  Does that mean that I don't condemn them for their actions?  No, I do condemn them for it because they couldn't saught help the first time the thought of "I should kill people" popped into their heads.  This seems to be becoming a big thing now.  I realize that there have been tons of shootings not reported in schools in inner cities, but this mass murder thing is happening more and more.  It seems every time I turn on the news lately, someone's gone and shot up another school or stood on top of a bell tower and started picking people off.  I realize that there will always be points where people snap and lose control, but don't you think someone would notice something was off?  I've heard reports of friends and parents saying things like "Well, I knew he was acting strangely and there were some wierd things in his room but I never thought it would come to anything."  If someone's mood or personality dramatically changes, talk to them.  Even more, LISTEN TO THEM.  You might just save someone's life by doing so.