| My Thoughts |
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with them. if you want you can e-mail me (jaymes_kay @ yahoo.com) but please note
that I will just delete 'flame' type email.
NOTE: to help ensure i get your email, please put the word
'Columbine' in the subject line
Many people say they can't believe there was a school
shooting in Colorado. I can believe that it happened in
Colorado, but not in Unincorporated Jefferson County
(Columbine is not really in the city of Littleton) and
only a mile or so from where I live. If this had happened
in downtown Denver I would not have nearly as shocked.
One of the worst things on the day this happened was the
media. They were giving as much mis-information as true.
with reports of as many as 25 dead when in truth there were
13 victims and 2 suspects dead. If they don't know they
should not report it. Another very annoying was all of the
helicopters that were right overhead - what better pictures
are you going to get by circling the same place for hours
on end. After this was all over they setup in clement park.
and had so many wires and cables strung through the park
that in areas you had to watch where you stepped or you
could have easily tripped as some of the wires were well
over an inch thick!
Ok enough with the media, now for my thoughts on some of the
causes or lack there of
First off we can't blame video games such as Doom for this.
It's true that Eric Harris (and possibly Dylan Klebold) were
fans of this game, but so are many kids of this age. It's
also true that He made some custom levels for Doom. I have
seen some of those levels, and none of them look even remotely
like the Columbine (at least from the outside) nor do the
level's maps look like maps of Columbine that have been
published in the local papers. I can not say 100% for sure
on this because I have not seen all of his Doom levels, and
I have not seen the inside of the school since before it
was remodeled. But even if Eric did make a level of the
school, it does not mean that Doom was the cause of this
tragedy. There was also a rumor that Eric hid messages in
his levels, and had the doom creatures beg for their lives.
The messages I have seen is "EMAIL ME!!!! Rebldomakr@aol.com",
"looking for me?", and "deathmatch!" (in doom 'deathmatch'
simply means a multi player game). as for the creatures
begging for their lives - simply not true. In the levels that
I have seen they don't do this (if I am wrong on this you
can e-mail me). Simply put anyone with *any* intelligence
would know that it's only a game and is not real.
Movies (with possibly the exception of one that depicts a
school shooting) are also not at fault for the same reason
as video games - it is not real and kids know this.
Easy access to guns was a factor, but the fact is that if
someone really wants one they till get it. Banning all guns
would not solve the problem, it would just give criminals
even more reason to commit crimes. Should we ban all pipes
and fireworks to since they can be used to easily make
bombs. I will not even slightly describe to do this here,
but if someone really wants the info...it exists somewhere.
my answer is NO, pipes have many good uses too. Along the
same line, banning access to the Internet or Censoring it
just because people like Eric had a web page is not,
practical or really even possible, even if it was and you
did ban all access, the economy would go to hell. I could
understand a ban on all 'assault' style guns as your
average citizen has no need for that much firepower. the
only place for those weapons is the military.
What it comes down to is that there are only 2 people who
are responsible for this crime, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
Their parents are not, the school district is not, and the
kids who teased and harassed them have no more than a very
slight responsibility. As for the guns themselves they are
also not responsible as a gun can't fire itself. Computer
games are just that...games. the media may take a small
part of the blame because they make such a big deal out of
stuff like this and the next person has to "one-up" the
previous one.
If we don't find a solution to the root cause of this soon,
it will happen again, maybe not in Colorado but it will
happen somewhere and will probably be worse. The best way
to prevent this is talk to the kids and teachers at the
schools, not the politions or media as they do not spend
their days at school, and would have no real idea of what
goes on in there...sure they can guess, but they most likely
will be wrong.
And to those of you who have posted to other places that
think Eric and Dylan are "cool" for doing this or have
left threats, Please go get mental help before it's too late.
go back to the other info page
go back to the memorial page
last updated 6-25-99
This page and the images on it (c) 1999, 2004 James k
