Dan31649
Imagine getting your pants torn off, jacket stolen and head stuffed in a school toilet that hasn’t been flushed for weeks by a bunch of 240-pound linebacker goons – all because you’re a guy who wears eyeliner and lip gloss (not to mention a green mohawk and monkey boots). Usually these incidents aren’t quite as extreme, but it happens all the time. There is a pecking order in virtually every high school that is strictly enforced and imposed upon all, willing or unwilling. Those who are popular, good-looking, athletic, rich, etc. are on top. Those who are average (or who are actually there to learn) are stuck in the limbo of the middle. Those who are different (‘freaks,’ ‘geeks,’ ‘weirdos,’ nerds, goths, punks, foreigners, poor/dirty, etc.) are on the bottom. Those on top have license to screw with those on the bottom, and it’s open season on anyone who doesn’t fit the description of ‘All-American Youth.’ Such an environment can foster extreme resentment and hatred, as you can imagine. Frankly, the motives behind the Columbine massacre did not shock or surprise me; of course, the carnage was apalling. No amount of harassment, abuse and degradation can warrant retaliation with firearms against those who cannot defend against them (especially randomly shooting people who didn’t even have anything to do with them). Essentially, if the pipe dream of ‘can’t we all get along?’ came true in U.S. high schools, and differences were tolerated and respected – or at least ignored – we would never hear of another school shooting of this nature again.