Date: Sat, 1 May 1999
Columbine
Thomas M. Miovas, Jr.
First of all, I think we ought to be careful about coming to a
general conclusion about the state of Columbine High School,
especially regarding why no one did anything when the killers
were giving signs something was about to happen. Originally, the
newscasts made it sound as if everyone knew, but no one did
anything.
The very next evening, I caught a horrific image of one young
man confronting a group of newspersons interviewing policemen
from atop a small knoll. He was screaming at the top of his
lungs that he *had* contacted the police when he discovered the
killers were making pipe bombs, and *why hadn't they done
anything?!* A few minutes later, the newscaster confirmed that
indeed a report was made, but instead of doing a criminal
investigation follow-up, the paperwork was simply filed away.
Similarly, there were several students who had complained about
threats, but they were ignored as well.
Also, the will-be killers were the ones running the school web
site, complete with graphic imagery and text spewing their vile
hatred, but all that was done was to put someone else in charge
of the site. And they were able to get high security keys
reproduced, even though the keys said "do not reproduce."
In short, it seems as if the better students were being
abandoned and the killers were permitted to run lose.
Second, regarding the cause of the incident. I agree that the
irrational culture and the modern "teaching" methods were a
contributing factor, but as to why these killers did what they
did, the answer is quite simply that they *chose to be evil*.
This may be difficult for some people to accept, but given their
careful planning and execution of that plan, I don't see how
anyone can come to any other conclusion. Regardless of the
external conditions, these killers chose to be killers.
A particular culture can encourage or discourage moral behavior,
it can even encourage an amoral attitude (all this is regardless
of the morality under consideration). It can threaten you and
punish you for not following the moral "norms." What it can't do
is crawl inside your head and make you moral, amoral, or evil --
these are each states of consciousness chosen by the individual.
In a culture, such as ours, with ample examples of evasive and
evil actions being condoned -- from the Clinton on down in the
social hierarchy -- people who choose to be evil feel they can
get away with it, and so they act out their irrational plan. Who
is going to stop them?
As to why some students become violent when they have been
taught that reality isn't real and anything goes, as opposed to
becoming moronic sheep on drugs -- well, not everyone is going
to become passive under such conditions. In fact, I would argue
that the Comprachicos' goal is precisely to make sheep out of
those who would otherwise choose to be moral, in order to
unleash those who would choose to become evil. And I can just
see them laughing, as they realize these students have taken
their lessons to heart by their own free will, without ever
having had a hand laid on them. How did Miss Rand put it: To
make them insane by means of their own mind. How devious -- and
who would suspect it?
Notice that all the things being considered as a cause of the
incident, no one in the media is questioning what is being
taught in our schools. Oh, they may mention a few strange
courses, but it's the run-of-the-mill, taken for granted courses
in irrationality that are not to be questioned -- at least not
by the main-stream press. And so it continues unabated.
When the next incident occurs, everyone will ask: What went
wrong? When what they should be asking is: What went according
to plan?
