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Gallstone #12 April 21, 1999 |
| The Littleton High School Massacre. Before I say anything else, let me express my sincerest regret over the loss of human life. I don't condone or applaud the murder of young adults. |
| Now for the Dr. Cliff perspective. In the course of an hour of *live* coverage of a place where a crime occurred hours earlier, several inciting factors were postulated- (buzzwords conveniently enclosed in *s) |
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As a former target of high school jocks (until a rash of carefully-executed vandalism), I find myself suddenly feeling the frustration of these kids, and the feeling of helplessness. Everybody knows it's ok for jocks to tease the other kids, right? hey, they're just kids having a little fun. I shudder at the thought of high school coaches around the country, laughing it off when their quarterback punches the class nerd in the back of the head. |
I looked back at some of the infamous *kids killing kids* episodes in the past couple years. They have a commonality- the homicidal/suicidal kids were the outcasts, taking daily needling from the kids that 'Fit in'- you know, the jocks and the cheerleaders. Then one day they snapped and fought back, with a desperation fueled by the low self-esteem pounded into their heads by the popular people. |
I hope school jocks will see the pattern and stop acting like pieces of shit. I doubt it. After all, they're jocks. My thirst for retroactive revenge upon my own tormentors leads me to a feeling of near-ambivalence re: the littleton incident. |
I also have a brilliant solution to this series of escalating tragedies. It does not involve censorship, gun control, or any other invasion of our civil rights. It is a very simple, workable solution. |
Stop idolizing professional athletes. They are the stronger, more dangerous, more visible, adult version of high-school jocks. They are paraded in front of us like trained animals, because they have some almost-interesting talent. They can throw a ball, for example. This should not be enough to carry you through life, much less make you a wealthy celebrity role-model. |
Stop idolizing professional athletes. They act like savages, and we applaud them. We forgive them when they rape, drive drunk, attack and even cannibalize other people. We forgive them because we like to sit on our fat asses and watch them jump through hoops and win for us. Meanwhile, young athletes are looking to them as role-models. Like youngsters do, they are following their role-models' every behavior, on the court and off. |
Stop idolizing professional athletes. The only reason they exist, is because they have been manufactured into celebrities. That way we will watch them and pay attention to them. That way corporate america can keep your attention long enough to show you some commercials. Are you willing to let your kids think it's cool to be an athlete, just so you can watch commercials for shitty beer? |
Stop idolizing professional athletes. They are half-literate thugs, who flex a bicep menacingly when something intelligent is said. Again, our children are learning from them. And other children are learning to kill instead of being their victims. |
Jocks of the world beware- if I have my way, your days are numbered. When the rest of the world figures out that *you* (and your asshole behavior) are the source of murderous tendencies in our schools, your subculture will be ceremoniously shitcanned. |
In the meanwhile, watch who you fuck with at school. Not all the nerds are reading comic books, fuck-o. The class geek might just pull the pin on a grenade the next time you call him a faggot in the hallway. |
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