Comments about ‘We must erase the Columbine murders and their lure from popular culture’

So long as we keep perscribing SSRI anti-depressants to kids and young people, we will continue to have these sorts of acts of violence.

Read the FDA Black-Box Warning Labels on the meds.
Children and Young Adults to age 24 run the added Higher Risk to increased violent and suicidal behaviors when using these meds.

Pop culture isn't the problem.
Adverse reactions to these sorts of drugs are the problem.

Can we blame pop culture for the excessive slaughter of millions of people by Stalin, Hitler and Mao? In most cases, they oppressed the pop culture of the time as they decried it as dangerous and unfit for society. Just sayin...

Also, school shootings while extremely tragic are rare. So rare that they get huge media attention. Adults kill people much more than our children do, who are in grand scheme of things, thankfully much more civil. And most of the youth violence that we do have still lies in the depths of poverty in our inner cities but it isn't quite as "newsworthy" or interesting to cover this problem gripping segments of our society as white suburban youths doing a school shooting or planning on one out. I think addressing the poverty and poor education that is gripping our inner cities deserves much more attention than these issues.

As far as the drug problem listed above, I don't know. I think drug (medications) may have their place but are probably overused in our society. Chances are these youth in Roy were using illicit drugs as well.

I think one thing we ought to consider is a policy whereby we don't post the perpetrator's pictures on TV or in print. One motivating factor for these types of terrorist acts is notariety. The endless, relentless coverage some of these incidents garner just "fans the flames' so to speak.

Another factor which is not uncommon among perpetrators is a history of being BULLIED.

LDS Liberal
Were the Columbine perpetrators on anti-depressants?
Do you have specific examples?

LDS Liberal

Further reading about Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold revealed Harris was on Luvox, an anti-depressant. According to the journals he left behind, Klebold suffered from undiagnosed and unknown (to even family members) depression and had suicidal thoughts long before Columbine. A bottle of St. John's Wort was found in his room.

Also, sometimes it happens that the wrong people get together. We had an arson case here last year and in talking to a friend who knew one of those involved, he was a follower. He had few friends, was socially awkward and probably wouldn't have committed the crime on his own, but become friends with someone older who had previous run-ins with the law and was the ringleader so to speak.

We need to be a kinder society.
(Today's political climate sets a poor example for the youth).

LDS LIBERAL, the "black box warning" you quoted is incorrect, you ad libed just a tad. It says NOTHING about violence. Here is the actual full warning:

"Antidepressants increased the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in short-term studies in children and adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. Anyone considering the use of [Drug Name] or any other antidepressant in a child or adolescent must balance this risk with the clinical need. Patients who are started on therapy should be observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality."

Please don't fake the facts.

Going Postal,
Columbine,
Mothers drowning children,
random shootings,
family arguments ending in murder suicide,
and suicide by cop,
even Teachers having sex with students...
---

in 3/4 of the cases, the violent person was taking an SSRI.

The thoughts or ideas may have always been there (the mental illness)
but the ACTING upon those thoughts or ideas are more likely to occur when these frugs are being taken.

It gives a feeling of lessened reality,
less guilt or conscious comprehension,
and provides a hightened sense of "I can do this!"

Good effects for someone with mild depression.
Badd effects for someone getting picked on or beat up at school.

I don't think there's any way to hide something like Columbine. I think that sweeping it under the rug leads to more problems than hiding it does. I think it merits careful examination so that future instances can be prevented (like the one in Davis County was.) I think we as a society absolutely need to speak out when someone does try to glamorize those events. Perhaps we need to do a better job at highlighting the warning signs and consequences of these events than we currently do, but I don't think simply "erasing" them from popular culture is the answer. In some ways, I think that obscures the memory of the innocent people killed.

Instead of parents just dumping their kids off at school and going to their jobs to earn enough money to support their 5 SUVs, 3 boats, and mansion house, trying to live like Mitt Romney, maybe these parents should *gasp* become involved in the raising of their children?

This is the best solution to fight cases like Roy High School and Columbine. Talk to your kids. Know who their friends are. Know what they are doing. It's not that difficult folks.

If you cannot handle child raising, STOP HAVING KIDS! Wait until you're ready.

This article is correct. As long as the entertainment industry continues to glorify violence and anarchy, these incidents will continue to occur with increasing frequency.

Without exception, the perpetrators of violence at Columbine, Roy High School , Virginia Tech, etc, have been avid players of violent video games. These games glorify indiscriminate killing for the sake of pleasure. Is it any wonder that youth raised playing violent video games would seek to immitate this violence in real life?

In addition to video games, modern movies and television portray violence as a noble form of recreation. They potray the idea that human life has no value, other than the entertainment value it has when ended in a cruel, bloody, violent manner.

In short, the modern entertainment industry is a major cause of the culture of teen violence. No reasonable person can continue to deny this irrefutable fact.

'These games glorify indiscriminate killing for the sake of pleasure.' - John Charity Spring | 7:35 p.m. Feb. 2, 2012

So do any movie rated 'R' for violence.

Also, let's not FORGET what allowed children to have access to guns.

Their, parents.

'Second amendment remedies', and all that.

Re: Pagan | 8:07 p.m. Feb. 2, 2012"
"Second amendment remedies', and all that."

It was the Obama Administration that cooked up Operation Fast And Furious that resulted in the arming of Mexican drug cartels and the murder of a US border agent. Attorney General Eric Holder is in the frying pan over that that debacle and it will rear its ugly head during the 2012 presidential campaign.

I think the notion of copycat goes a great deal farther than the articles alludes. The apparent rules of conduct in our society seems to be to harm your enemy and if some innocent people get killed, so what.

Most of our monuments, memorials and remembrances are of the bad things that happen. Disasters, wars, battles, and dead people. Not too many shrines to ordinary people.

Dead soldiers are praised, those that come back unharmed or even wounded are nothing special. And even when the living soldier may have destroyed his marriage, family, career and mind.

So if you want to be remembered, you have to die.

@Ultra Bob - That's the purpose of a memorial - to remember those who are gone. If they are still here, they serve as a living reminder of their sacrifice. Most of the soldiers who come back are given medals to honor them for their service and sacrifice. We also take care of them as a society (though I'll refrain from starting a debate about how well we do that.) We erect memorials when the people we wish to honor are no longer here. I doubt most people who've received their own memorial would have actually wanted that. Furthermore, say we did build a monument for a living person who had done something great, then they went on to do something horrible?

In the past few weeks relatives of mine have been looking at homes to buy for their family. Most of these homes coincidentally have been in the same neighborhood as Roy High School. While looking at the homes some of the discussions have centered around this tragic event and the question of why it would happen. My relatives are graduates of a nearby high school and had no real answer, but asked: "what would have happened in your day"? I would guess that in my rural school 75% of the students (including women) had guns in their cars (yes, at school) and during the deer hunt, we actually took our rifles into school to have them inspected for the big buck contest. There was bullying, name calling, social problems, fights, etc.... but you have got to believe the mentality was different and the respect for human life just a little bit more relevant in those days. "Not to study history is but to repeat it" - I am just wondering how to get back to it.

'Attorney General Eric Holder is in the frying pan over that that debacle and it will rear its ugly head during the 2012 presidential campaign.' - Rifleman | 6:20 a.m. Feb. 3, 2012

So, it's 'guilt' by association?

Trying to tie Obama in, with Eric Holder?

Ok.

How about Columbine...

and Sharon Angle?

**'Sharron Angle Floated '2nd Amendment Remedies' As 'Cure' For 'The Harry Reid Problems' - By Sam Stien - Huffington Post 05/25/11

'One of the more outlandish was a statement she (Angle) made during a radio interview last January in which she floated the idea that the public would bring down an out-of-control Congress with "Second Amendment remedies." - article

Stop trying to 'blame Obama'...

for the 2nd amendment.

Good plan, Jay. Should we also try to erase Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Timothy McVeigh, the KKK and Custer's Last Stand from public memory? We've already pretty much buried the 2000 election debacle and the decision making that led to invade Iraq. And from now on we could just concentrate on HAPPY news so as to keep things peaceful.

Shawnm750.

My question is Why? The people who care about the people gone will do so in their own minds and private ways. The dead people probably donât care, the monuments are to remind the living people who donât care. And to propagandize to all that the reason for the death of the dead was for good reason. And to apply virtues to the dead beyond the actual truth.

If we honor a person, living or dead, for the good that they do, and later find out something bad about that person, whatâs the harm. Is that worse than if we build a monument to a bad person and imply that he only did good?

I think we should remember the good that people do, and set aside and forget the bad.

Until we restrict gun culture; until we are prepared to denounce violence in our midst, we cannot dismiss columbine. It's ours. It's no surprise. We created columbine, and we are not ready to make it go away.

I am amused at the contortions used to explain the reasons for Columbine and other Gun atrocities committed in this country. It's the Media. It's lack of parental control. It's drugs. it's moral breakdowns. Since 1962 there have been over 400,000 murders committed in this county and the greatest common denominator associated with the slaughter by far has been the gun. We have let the financially interested American Arms industry and its puppet surrogate, the NRA, control the debate. When will this county learn that technology has changed since the Constitution was ratified, and that we will not significantly deal with gun slaughter until we agree upon a new lawful basis for a placing significant controls on weapon production and possession?