Violence - Synopsis

Synopsis вЂ" Violence by Pernille MÐ"Ñ'lgaard

Introduction

During the last couple of years war, death and violence have become the most discussed subjects on the news in most parts of the world. Every night we sit in our living rooms, watching how people kill each other in countries far away. It can be hard to relate to these episodes, but every day the problem moves closer and closer.

The shooting at Columbine High School, which is located southwest of Denver, is probably the most well known of all school shootings. April 20th 1999, at about 11.00 AM, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School. The two boys started shooting in all directions; killing several students and a teacher. 25 people were wounded, seven of which were in critical condition, and after terrorising the school for about 45 minutes, Harris and Klebold committed suicide. The police found 60 bombs on the school ground. Stone, a sheriff of Jefferson County, said he believed the two suspects died of self-inflicted wounds in an apparent "suicide mission." The attack had been planned for a year, according to a diary kept by Harris. The amount of ammunition and explosives that the gunmen had brought also indicated that their attack on the school was planned. The shooters also knew where the most students would be, such as in the cafeteria and the library. Klebold and Harris seemed to be young intelligent boys from apparently well functioning families.

In the following, we have chosen to focus on school shootings, and we will try to answer these questions:

Who are the shooters?

- Do they have anything in common and what social background do they have.

Why do they shoot?

- Who is to blame? The parents, music, computer games or television.

Can we do anything to stop it?

Who are the shooters?

Some people say that the young people who do these things, has not had enough parental attention. Another theory is that the shooters have listened to too many Marilyn Manson songs. According to Nancy Gibbs there is no pattern to find. The shooters come from very different backgrounds. Some are involved with gangs and are known by the police already, others come from apparently well-functioning families and get good grades. There is not even a pattern to find when you look at how old the shooters are. Some are as young as eleven years old. It is totally unpredictable to say who the victims will be. It can the bullies that have taunted the shooter since kinder garden, the cheerleader that stands for everything the shooter hates, the boy that kissed the girl that the shooter was in love with or some very unlucky people who were at the wrong place at the wrong time. School shootings are like plane crashes. Nobody ever knows which plane is going crash, or when it is going to happen.

Why do they shoot?

It is as impossible to find a pattern here, as it is when you talk about who the shooters are. There are so many motives: anger, jealousy, boredom or a cry out for help. In the movie Bowling for Columbine Michael Moore sarcastically suggests that bowling could be responsible for the Columbine Massacre as well as Marilyn Manson and Bill Clinton could be. Perhaps it is because guns are so easily accessible. It just seems so easy. However, Moore does not believe that easy gun availability is the issue. He claims that the constant fear Americans live in, is what causes the problem. Moore illustrates this by visiting Windsor, a Canadian city across the river from Detroit. Despite the fact that the gun ownership level is similar to Americas, he finds unlocked front doors and establishes that the residents of Windsor are much less concerned about crime and security than the average American. Presumably, the Columbine massacre is the product of the general fear that Americans have in their blood.