ARTICLES

What's With School Shootings?

By: Gian Erguiza - September, 2008

I turned on my TV set today and was greatly saddened by the news, which it always does. Most of the news we watch are not the happy type of news but instead the grim reality of life. I guess that’s how we like it. Well I think it’s finally taking a turn for the worse with these school shootings.

School is a place of learning. People of all ages go to school to learn and enhance skills and knowledge that would be beneficial to their lives in one point in time or another. All of my schooling days were happy and were some of the best times of my life. Every time I look back to a happy time in my life with minimal responsibilities and lots of partying, I think back to my high school days. Every time I look back at my College days, I think of how much I learned and how much it has helped me grow into a better person today. I shudder to think that some people might not feel like this anymore because of the nonsense violent school killings or school rampage that has plagued our nation today.

More than ever, rampage school killings are becoming all way too familiar. When there was one in a year or none can now be two to three in a year. I’m not talking about a single person getting killed either so please do not get it mixed up. We all know that people get killed in schools but not because of an angry nonsense rampage but from a retaliation or gang related. I’m talking about the guy that comes in, fully loaded with handguns and weapons and then opens fire on all innocent people in sight. I’m talking about the psycho, distressed, sick, frustrated, and confused individual that has taken it upon himself to correct what he thinks is wrong by killing the innocent.

Instead of glorifying these animals, yes I called them animals since they killed people like animals running away from a hunter. I refuse to glorify them in any way so I’m not going to mention not one of them. It is purely unjust and unfair to the people that have lost a loved one, a friend, or an acquaintance. Instead, let’s take a look at some possibilities why these animals did what they did. There are a million reasons why people go on a shooting rampage but here are some evident ones that have been part of the reason for most of these shooters.

Mental Illness

To me, this is the biggest reason why these people go out on a rampage. I’ve had first hand experience with mental illness, schizophrenia, and it is no day at the park. From my experience alone, I found that people with mental illness are very much irritable, get no sleep and are prone to violence if not treated. The one issue that sticks out in my head is the violent nature of untreated people where the violent tendencies escalate more as they are untreated or neglected resulting in a violent act. My first hand experience was close to violence, all way too close to hate where he claimed that the devil himself was asking him to kill everyone. He said that the devil is telling him to kill everyone because everyone was undermining him and that he will be taken out soon if he doesn’t. I mean can you imagine the horror of this thought? No sleep, no rest, no food, no control and you think the devil is telling you what to do? Crazy. Your mind can really play tricks on you and sometimes it gets the better of the person which in turns draws them to commit a violent act. In this case, I believe that most of these shooters were mentally ill. It is the most plausible reason why they would commit such an act of violence. You see mental illness is dangerous because it builds and builds until the person lets it control their thoughts, actions and speech. That’s mental illness. If you know someone with mental illness, I suggest that you monitor them very carefully and make sure that their illness is being treated effectively. An untreated mental illness can result to a number of senseless or random acts of violence. Although treatable, most people who suffer from mental illness need help almost all their lives. It is one sickness that they cannot shake off but instead can neutralize with the help of medicine and research.

Ridiculed/Taunted

I myself have never been ridiculed. I have been taunted but not ridiculed. Some of my old friends on the other hand weren’t so lucky. Having to look a certain way and act a certain way, the “cool kids” would always taunt them and ridicule them in any which way they can. Although not every “cool kid” taunts the un-cool, most of them do. Some bullies take it far as to taking their money and punking them for their lunch and anything else they can punk them for. Little do these bullies know that some of the kids they’re making fun of can be their death dealer. Of course, some of the taunted kids can get real violent if pushed way too far but that’s the same with anybody else that’s being pushed way too far. You know as my mom has always told me, “Don’t say anything if you don’t have anything nice to say and pick your battles wisely” That always worked for me.

Neglected by Parents/Friends

This one can get real touchy but it’s the truth. There are parents out there that fail to pay attention to their kids and in which the kids turn into rebels. I’ve seen it countless times where the parents neglect their children and their children grow up very defensive, angry and violent. This could be the main reason for some to go nuts. Some kids even get beat by their parents for little things and we all know how that turns out when the kid grows up. I believe that parents should always pay full attention to their kids and what they’re doing with their lives to prevent them from becoming a violent monster. I knew a kid once that was neglected and left alone by the parents and he grew up a vicious little bastard. He stole, cheated, lied and eventually moved on to doing major crimes such as rape and murder and ended up in jail for life. He primarily blames his parents for his outcome, yes it was wrong for him to blame his parents for his vicious and murderous nature but one can’t help but think that if the parents would’ve just paid attention, then maybe his outcome would’ve been different.

Influential Media

I thought about this one long and hard and came to the conclusion that yes, the influential media is partly to blame. I know it’s a grey area all in all but the media is very much influential to everyone. With all of the violence in the news, video games, movies, music and other forms of media, people take it to the next level. My argument here is that you don’t have to do anything that you see nor hear. There has to be a line drawn on what’s real or fantasy and I think that’s where most people fail to recognize. The Influential media is only part to blame.

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