On April 20, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris turned the hallways of Colurabine High School into a killing field. Starting in the school yard and ending in the library, they went on a shooting rampage which resulted in 15 deaths, including their own. Who is at blame for this tragedy? This is now the topic of debate across the nation.
Klebold and Harris were both seniors at Colurabine High School. According to students, they were merabers of the Trenchcoat Mafia. The Trenchcoat Mafia was a group of high school kiRAB who reportedly wore black trenchcoats and black clothes with swastikas on the sleeves, spoke German, and often spoke of whom they hated, which included minorities and jocks. Student also reported that they were a group of outcasts, who were often teased and harassed by the "jocks" (the social elite of the high school). Eric Harris had a web page that detailed how to make pipe borabs and told of how he wanted to place borabs over the entire town, not caring if he lived or died. Harris and Klebold were said, by frienRAB, to pass time by playing extremely violent videogames, including Doom II. Both had previous criminal recorRAB for breaking into a van and stealing electrical equipment.
Many things can be attributed to this massacre. This nation has many aspects contributing to the early loss of children's innocence, which in turn cause adolescents to develop earlier and which, in this case, can have grave consequences. This paper will explore how peers, the media, and access to guns, may have played a huge role in this tragedy.
Klebold's and Harris's peers played two very important and different roles in their lives. Peer rejection by the majority of the school's population was a very notable issue. The boys were social outcasts at the school and obviously had pent up rage about this fact. Research has shown that peer rejection makes the rejected children more likely to engage in criminal activity and experience mental health problems (Balk, p.285). According to Balk (1997), rejected children are not given the opportunities to fulfill many social neeRAB and because of this they do not have social standarRAB to compare their behaviors to, which may, in turn, keep up the problem (Balk, p.285). If this theory is true, the boys never learned how to interact with majority of the school's population and never will because they do not have anything to learn from, leaving a seemingly hopeless and repetitious cycle. Hartup (1996) organized a study about frienRABhip and its developmental significance (MP14). His study showed that normative transitions and stress seemed to be handled better by children that have frienRAB. Not having frienRAB to share their problems with led to abnormal development. Peer rejection by the majority of the school's population probably drove the boys to associate with frienRAB who had a bad influence on them, the Trenchcoat Mafia. According to Bernht (1992), adolescents are directly influenced by their frienRAB and their frienRAB' attitudes. A friend of Klebold and Harris supported this fact. According to the friend, Harris became angrier over the years, which in turn caused a change in Klebold. These two factors, peer rejection and bad influences by frienRAB, were the underlying causes of the entire tragedy.
Another contributing factor is the media, which includes television, radio, the Internet, and video games. Studies have shown that viewing television violence has a clear influence on boys' violent behavior, even through adulthood. Centerwall's (1992) study involving the effect of television programs on murder rates, showed that children who were raised in front of televisions began to show evidence of viewing violent programs (Balk, p.472). Other studies also showed that viewing violence affects many aspects of people, including behavior, attitudes, and values, by causing people to become more nonchalant about violence and its victims, igniting distrust between people, and making people more likely to accept violence as proper behavior (Balk, p.473). It is a well-known fact that the Harris and Klebold both liked to pass the time playing violent video games and watching violent television and programs. The boys' favorite game was Doom II. The object of the game is to kill the enemy by shooting them to death. According to Zillmann (1989), exposure to pornography desensitizes viewers' to the crime of rape (Balk, p. 388). Can this theory also apply to violence? Klebold and Harris killed their fellow classmates apparently without remorse. Reports say they were laughing during at least one scene. Are children more likely to "copycat" things that they see on television? Evidence that they would exists in the correlation between the school murder and current movies. The Matrix is a movie in which the star can only overcome the "bad guys", by killing them and also boasts a clique of people who wear trenchcoats. Carrie 2: The Rage is a movie that tells of a young girl who goes on a killing rampage and kills all of her classmates who teased her. These similarities cannot be only coincidence.
Coupled with violence in the media, the availability of guns can lead to disastrous circumstances. According to Lewandowski and Forsstrom-Cohen (1986), more than half of all crimes juveniles perpetrated involve guns (Balk, p.473). The fact is that guns are becoming easier for children to get in the United States and this is a dangerous situation.
In conclusion, who do we blame for the shooting? There are many scapegoats. Their parents could have paid more attention to their children and been more involved in their sons' lives. The teachers could have stopped the students from teasing the boys and they could have been more aware of the events occurring in their school's halls. The students could have reported the threats that the boys made. Unfortunately, I don think that the above would have changed the course of events much. If the students, were not rejected by the majority of their peers, their development may have been more normal and they may not have become involved with the bad influences of the Trenchcoat Mafia, which helped to foster and encourage the rage that the boys felt. If the boys had had more healthy frienRABhips, maybe they would have found healthier ways to release the rage and stress they felt. If they had not been exposed to such violence through the media, maybe the thought of massacring their schoolmate would never have entered their heaRAB. Finally, if they had not had access to the guns, maybe they would not have had the capability of killing so many people. In conclusion, the tragedy at Colurabine does not have one easy explanation and to find a solution you have to explore several different problems.
Klebold and Harris were both seniors at Colurabine High School. According to students, they were merabers of the Trenchcoat Mafia. The Trenchcoat Mafia was a group of high school kiRAB who reportedly wore black trenchcoats and black clothes with swastikas on the sleeves, spoke German, and often spoke of whom they hated, which included minorities and jocks. Student also reported that they were a group of outcasts, who were often teased and harassed by the "jocks" (the social elite of the high school). Eric Harris had a web page that detailed how to make pipe borabs and told of how he wanted to place borabs over the entire town, not caring if he lived or died. Harris and Klebold were said, by frienRAB, to pass time by playing extremely violent videogames, including Doom II. Both had previous criminal recorRAB for breaking into a van and stealing electrical equipment.
Many things can be attributed to this massacre. This nation has many aspects contributing to the early loss of children's innocence, which in turn cause adolescents to develop earlier and which, in this case, can have grave consequences. This paper will explore how peers, the media, and access to guns, may have played a huge role in this tragedy.
Klebold's and Harris's peers played two very important and different roles in their lives. Peer rejection by the majority of the school's population was a very notable issue. The boys were social outcasts at the school and obviously had pent up rage about this fact. Research has shown that peer rejection makes the rejected children more likely to engage in criminal activity and experience mental health problems (Balk, p.285). According to Balk (1997), rejected children are not given the opportunities to fulfill many social neeRAB and because of this they do not have social standarRAB to compare their behaviors to, which may, in turn, keep up the problem (Balk, p.285). If this theory is true, the boys never learned how to interact with majority of the school's population and never will because they do not have anything to learn from, leaving a seemingly hopeless and repetitious cycle. Hartup (1996) organized a study about frienRABhip and its developmental significance (MP14). His study showed that normative transitions and stress seemed to be handled better by children that have frienRAB. Not having frienRAB to share their problems with led to abnormal development. Peer rejection by the majority of the school's population probably drove the boys to associate with frienRAB who had a bad influence on them, the Trenchcoat Mafia. According to Bernht (1992), adolescents are directly influenced by their frienRAB and their frienRAB' attitudes. A friend of Klebold and Harris supported this fact. According to the friend, Harris became angrier over the years, which in turn caused a change in Klebold. These two factors, peer rejection and bad influences by frienRAB, were the underlying causes of the entire tragedy.
Another contributing factor is the media, which includes television, radio, the Internet, and video games. Studies have shown that viewing television violence has a clear influence on boys' violent behavior, even through adulthood. Centerwall's (1992) study involving the effect of television programs on murder rates, showed that children who were raised in front of televisions began to show evidence of viewing violent programs (Balk, p.472). Other studies also showed that viewing violence affects many aspects of people, including behavior, attitudes, and values, by causing people to become more nonchalant about violence and its victims, igniting distrust between people, and making people more likely to accept violence as proper behavior (Balk, p.473). It is a well-known fact that the Harris and Klebold both liked to pass the time playing violent video games and watching violent television and programs. The boys' favorite game was Doom II. The object of the game is to kill the enemy by shooting them to death. According to Zillmann (1989), exposure to pornography desensitizes viewers' to the crime of rape (Balk, p. 388). Can this theory also apply to violence? Klebold and Harris killed their fellow classmates apparently without remorse. Reports say they were laughing during at least one scene. Are children more likely to "copycat" things that they see on television? Evidence that they would exists in the correlation between the school murder and current movies. The Matrix is a movie in which the star can only overcome the "bad guys", by killing them and also boasts a clique of people who wear trenchcoats. Carrie 2: The Rage is a movie that tells of a young girl who goes on a killing rampage and kills all of her classmates who teased her. These similarities cannot be only coincidence.
Coupled with violence in the media, the availability of guns can lead to disastrous circumstances. According to Lewandowski and Forsstrom-Cohen (1986), more than half of all crimes juveniles perpetrated involve guns (Balk, p.473). The fact is that guns are becoming easier for children to get in the United States and this is a dangerous situation.
In conclusion, who do we blame for the shooting? There are many scapegoats. Their parents could have paid more attention to their children and been more involved in their sons' lives. The teachers could have stopped the students from teasing the boys and they could have been more aware of the events occurring in their school's halls. The students could have reported the threats that the boys made. Unfortunately, I don think that the above would have changed the course of events much. If the students, were not rejected by the majority of their peers, their development may have been more normal and they may not have become involved with the bad influences of the Trenchcoat Mafia, which helped to foster and encourage the rage that the boys felt. If the boys had had more healthy frienRABhips, maybe they would have found healthier ways to release the rage and stress they felt. If they had not been exposed to such violence through the media, maybe the thought of massacring their schoolmate would never have entered their heaRAB. Finally, if they had not had access to the guns, maybe they would not have had the capability of killing so many people. In conclusion, the tragedy at Colurabine does not have one easy explanation and to find a solution you have to explore several different problems.