Gov: We could pass laws to help stop these horrible deaths… hmmm, or we could unload our responsibility onto the prime victims and make it their issue!.. Yea.. now, pardon while I go cash this check from the NRA
More on the point about Columbine: Eric Harris was actually a relatively popular kid. Not with the “popular kids” but, when it came to the more obscure cliques in the school, Harris was actually relatively well liked even for a kid who was, as was stated, an ACTUAL psychopath. Dylan Klebold was less popular, but only because he was more of a follower who mostly just wanted to hang around Harris.
Neither one of the Columbine shooters was bullied. They literally WERE the bullies.
Klebold’s own mother has been vocally debunking the narrative that they were bullied and “the real victims” for years. Her book, “A Mother’s Reckoning” is worth reading. It counters everything in the media. Kid was well off, wanted for nothing, wasn’t abused, neglected or bullied. What he was was radicalized by Harris, a neo-Nazi.
And just as “Walk Up” types don’t suggest showing compassion for poor Black or brown kid at risk of joining a gang, they don’t acknowldge that white radicalization is the root of a lot of America’s problems, more so than non-Westen radicalization that is readily accepted as dangerous.
Telling kids they should be kinder to the creepy kid who does Nazi salutes in the hallway is in fact making them more susceptible to radicalization. “Walk Up” is not only misguided, racist, misogynist and ableist, it makes things worse. Painting the Columbine shooters as the real victims set off the era of school shootings, and the more people call for more empathy toward angry white men who fit the profile (and again, in many cases these kids are actual neo-Nazis), the worse it gets.
The book Columbine by Dave Cullen is also a good read that debunks a lot of that misinformation and explores how the false narratives spread in the first place.
octoberspirit 