*Though I already wrote a similar blog to this not so long ago and it is a little off topic of censorship in high schools, I think that this issue is highly important to education.
On the news, I remember most hearing of the Trench Coat Mafia and Marilyn Manson and how anything associated with either was generally evil. Being ten, of course I believed this and when my next door neighbor had a Marilyn Mason CD I was unnerved. My next door neighbor was not a killer, but it proves that generalizations are not the answer in this type of scenario. Everyone has to work together to make sure that events like these never happen again.
To some degree of the feeling of personal safety some items can be censored or some dialogue can be deemed out of line. But for the most part to prevent another tragedy an open discussion is the best possible solution as well as an increase in the importance of seeking some form of help.
After Columbine Marilyn Manson issued the following statement regarding what he would have said to the two shooters: "I wouldn't say a thing. I would just listen to them... and that's what nobody did".
That message coincides with the results of a 2000 study by the US Secret Service. The report said that there was no profile to look for in a school shooter, but that the most important thing to do was to watch for behavioral signs and listen to students when they have problems. According to Wikipedia: “A school shooting, unlike other forms of school violence, usually has no single target but is an expression of pent-up rage.”
If that rage is counseled then perhaps tragedy could be adverted.
According to a Yahoo! News report: “During a class discussion of Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech, [a] student "made comments about understanding how someone could kill 32 people," university police Cmdr. Brad Wiesley said.”
This student, Max Carson who attends the
From the article, the student didn’t appear to say anything about actually wanting to commit murder, arresting him is questionable but wanting to know more about his feelings and intentions is incredibly important. From a quick Google search, Max Karson is no stranger to controversy – both in high school and his college years his writings have been subjected to great criticism, even getting him suspended in high school, until the ACLU stepped in.
Since Karson does have a history of messing around with the administration, he may very well have made the comments to start a controversy about what is appropriate to say and when. If he does have a serious issue then the most important thing to do is to listen to him. By banning a book, it doesn’t solve the problem and by ignoring someone their problem does not go away.
One of the main reasons cited for censorship is safety. But safety from what exactly? Every kid who watches a violent movie isn’t going to go out and shoot someone. Some have, obviously, but what does it teach to just leave out something. Young minds are impressionable – but that impressionability is a two way street – not being exposed to something may be just as dangerous as being exposed.
I suppose I too often associate censorship with ignorance and I know that there is not ignorance in every case of censorship, but I suppose that it is some form of a commonality. It’s what the culture wars are all about – there are two sides to every story, sometimes even more and it’s all about trying to find a middle ground that everyone can be somewhat happy with. Sometimes, there just isn’t a solution – no side wants to give way and there is just constant conflict.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_massacre
-http://powerreporting.com/files/shoot.pdf
-http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070418/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_colorado_1
1 comment:
Too bad they're trying to delete the wikipedia page documenting what's been done to Max Karson:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Karson
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