If a tree fell in a forest and nobody heard it, would it make a sound? And, if a theory on the cause of the Columbine High massacre was expounded but didn't accord to conventional wisdom (or WorldNetDaily's "cult" specialist Sam Goldman's arrogant attempts to convince folks he is right and everyone else is an idiot), would it be wrong?
Would it be correct?
Let's put it this way--would it be any less "right" than the usual theories:
Actually, the only sane explanation I have seen so far anywhere on the internet is from an 18-year-old High School student, Sarah Roney, from Baraboo, WI, who wrote an article, printed May 5, 1999, by WorldNetDaily, part of which is cited below:
Many people said it's the parents of the kids. Many people suggested television and video games. Many people even turned to popular musicians, looking to put the blame somewhere. But I will tell you what I think it is. What I, a regular teen-ager riding on the coattails of Generation X, blame it on. It is not the parents or the movies or the rock stars. It is AMERICA. It is this culture of death, this culture in which liberals and feminists and activists are so anxious to let anything be "OK" that the once tightened, knotted rope of society is unraveling right beneath us.
Here is why I believe Sarah has a handle on this when the experts do not. For one, she lives in the generation she is talking about, whereas experts, most of whom only quote their colleagues, tend to be from a time before the proliferation of violent movies, violence-promoting rock/rap/goth/techno/whatever music, and "Doom"-like video-computer games, and thus tend to believe we have to return to those earlier times, such as the times they grew up in (Right. We need to return to the Rolling Stones and "Gimme Shelter". Oooookay!)
For another, she's not selling a book, a talk-show or a feel-good product like most of these experts are.
Third, she comes from a family where sound moral values have been put into practice everyday, and she learned them early. Though these same values are in place in many families, the "experts" have managed to convince us that either no one follows them anymore or that they are superceded by TV, movies, music, video games etc.
I hate to say this, experts, but people do not learn their values from TV and video games. A guy like Marilyn Manson might simply reinforce what is already evident at home, but a young person doesn't learn values from the likes of Manson. Parents teach or model values early, and their children model parent behavior. However, beginning at age five or six, the school increasingly influences child values. What does "school" mean? Teachers and principals, yes, but also peers (who are in turn influenced by their parent's values, good or bad) and other associates. And, unless a child is home schooled AND lives in an isolated or remote area with no public or private or fellow home schooled peers (which is possible in a few cases), there is almost no way outside-home influences can be discounted. What isn't inculcated by parents, good or bad, is driven home by societal influences. There is, again, almost no way a caring parent can cover all of those bases simply by reinforcing or teaching good values.
Then again, creating a just, caring and violence-free society is everyone's business. This means responsibility: from parents, teens and pre-teens, family, schools, the entertainment industry, churches, associations, the social sciences, the workplace, business, and--since they so insist on molding everyone into their image--government. One can question how government can help mold a society of peace and love when it insists on reigning terror in Yugoslavia under the pretext of humanitarianism.
And one can answer: when government governs best, it governs least. Quite simply, you can not legislate morality. So, stop trying. You can only teach responsibility. You can only care and love. And don't say that is only dreaming until it has actually been tried.
Oh, and by the way, I almost forgot. It really is Dylan Klebold's and Eric Harris' fault.
A short aside here...
The conspiracy freaks out there may have a point. At the website "Rocky Mountain Horror Show" is voluminous info of the "Harris and Klebold are MK Ultra mind-controlled slaves" type. I am citing the below material because the same might have a bearing on this issue. From John A. Quinn of NewsHawks, Inc:
"It is becoming ever-more-obvious there is a coverup regarding the massacre at Littleton, and it is
essential that the reason for this coverup is understood. The only conceivable reason for a
coverup of such magnitude regarding an event of such stunning and massive social impact would
be the direct involvement to some degree in the events on the part of a governmental or official
agency of some kind, at some level‹very likely a covert level.
"I am highly suspicious that, as in so many other of the above-mentioned incidents, this operation
was carried out through the use of mind-controlled operatives fulfilling the directives of their
controllers‹the super-secret intelligence and (para)military agencies running our covert
government (AND our "overt" government too!)--in implementing such carefully engineered and
manipulated scenarios as the terror at Columbine High School.
"For the time being I leave it mainly to others to decipher the many "messages" undeniably lurking
beneath the surface in this manipulated event of mass horror. Results such as causing increasing
polarization and mistrust between various social and age groups and raising the bar in terms of
what violent, sociopathic actions troubled teens (and others) might contemplate enacting are
among the likely agendas.
Galvanizing public support for gun control legislation and for restrictions on the Internet seem to
be likely agendas at work in the Littleton massacre also, though as a parent I find it
unconscionable that teenagers have almost unrestricted access to weapons of mass murder. Yet
this is true for Americans in general. On this issue and regarding restrictions on the Internet, the
role which active, attentive, loving and concerned parenting plays in having our youngsters
mature into healthy and reasonably decent adults in a confusing and fast-changing world cannot
be overemphasized or underestimated.
"As a society we cannot duck responsibility for the tidal wave of violence-oriented 'entertainment'
so prevalent today in the lives of our children. Parents, educators and other guardians have too
often been either unaware, inattentive, unconcerned, tacitly or actively acquiescent and even
directly supportive of our children being constantly bombarded by a proliferation of movies, TV
shows, toys, video games and websites depicting graphic, gratuitous violence on an
ever-increasing level. Regarding this issue we cannot be too surprised that our children are acting
out violent behavior to an ever-increasing degree. We are undeniably reaping what we have sown
or have allowed to be sown."
Disclaimer: The opinion cited above is the opinion of John A. Quinn of NewsHawks, not necessarily the opinion of Deborah Lagarde of OmegaZine!