Date sent: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 08:35:50 -0600 To: virus@lucifer.com, "Church of Virus" <virus@lucifer.com> From: David McFadzean <david@lucifer.com> Subject: Re: virus: going postal before you get a job Send reply to: virus@lucifer.com
> At 09:06 AM 4/21/99 -0400, Wade T.Smith wrote:
> >QUOTATION OF THE DAY
> >
> >"This is a cultural virus. We have to ask ourselves what kind of children
> >we are raising."
>
> That's almost certainly true, I doubt each school yard killer came
> up with the idea independently of the others.
>
> My local paper had a front page article that blamed gothic culture
> in general, and ultimately Dungeons and Dragons. Now there's a
> stupid meme that just won't die.
>
All the schoolyard Rambos so far have been white males attending
suburban or rural schools, and all have been outcast, persecuted
and picked upon, for being bright, nonathletic or otherwise different.
In the past, jocks and bullies could get away with this kind of
behavior, but with the internet providing access to knowledge of
how to build weapons and opportunities to illicitly purchase them,
and with violent media, from movies to television to gaming, not
only inuring and desensitizing youth to the horror of violence, but
also training them in paramilitary assault strategies, this is no
longer possible, nor can the information access rabbit be stuffed
back into the hat. Unlike Japan, the US is a relatively extroverted
and individualistic society. Whereas in Japan the teased,
harassed and bedeviled outcasts and pariahs commit suicide, here
they cold-bloodedly plan and commit mass homicide upon their
tormenters. To minimize the continued burgeoning of this trend, a
policy must be set that harassment of any student by any other
must be reported, and a "zero tolerance" policy must be
implemented to deal with such harassment.
> --
> David McFadzean david@lucifer.com
> Memetic Engineer http://www.lucifer.com/~david/
> Church of Virus http://www.lucifer.com/virus/
>