we're not all killers!

*groans*

Here we go again: yet another school shooting (this time in Cleveland). Astoundingly, there were no fatalities in this latest round, apart from the shooter himself, but a few people were injured.

My intense annoyance with this trend is twofold. First of all, when they interviewed some of the shooter’s classmates on the news, one of the first things out of each mouth was, “He was a loner.” Then they started talking about how he wore a lot of black, was considered a goth, liked Marilyn Manson, yadda yadda yadda, and only then did they get to the “Oh yeah, and he recently got suspended, and he had a history of getting into trouble and showing psychological distress, and he’s been making threats” bit. The most important, relevant information got buried beneath the screeching, distracting headline in everyone’s head: HE WAS A LONER. As if that alone explains why he went on a shooting spree. As if loner is a synonym for killer.

I expounded on this topic twice already on this blog, including this bit:

I know I’m being hyper-sensitive here, but I loathe when the media fixate on killers being loners. It just adds fuel to this society’s already rampant suspicion of anyone who likes being alone. Not all loners are one gun away from becoming killers! And not all killers are loners! Let’s recall Ted Bundy and the BTK killer, shall we? As a lifelong loner, this whole attitude is so offensive to me.

I just worry there’s a real risk that anybody who is different, acts unconventionally, writes strange things, or listens to strange music will become suspicious in everyone’s eyes—labeled a potential killer. I’m not saying everyone should turn a blind eye when there’s a person displaying noticeably strange, erratic behavior. But there has to be some sort of middle ground between automatically assuming every weird, introverted person is a killer and automatically assuming s/he’s just shy and harmless.

Second of all, I’m annoyed with the shooter himself, not only because, duh, he went on a shooting spree, but also because what he did was so clichéd. Shooting up your school is just such a tired cliché! I know how painful it can be to not fit in with your peers—to be maliciously or casually ostracized, to be ridiculed for being different. And I’m sure being openly bullied—physically and/or verbally—is equally painful and downright devastating. But shooting up your school is. not. the. answer.

The alienated kid deserves better than to become a walking cliché. It’s bad enough that half his classmates already can’t stand him because he’s “weird” or introverted or different. But now, on top of that, he has to be loathed by people nationwide forevermore because he thought the only way to strike back at his jackass classmates was with a gun. His name will be permanently entwined with mass murder or attempted mass murder. He deserves better than that.

Not to mention the fact that bullies aren’t the only people who die in school shootings; innocent people die, too. Kind people die. But not even the bullies and ostracizers themselves deserve to die. They may be malicious, borderline-sociopathic, little Neanderthal shits, but it doesn’t mean they deserve to be killed by their victims. Vigilante justice never dissolves evil at its root. It just hacks off a branch that may or may not grow back.

It’s said that the best revenge is living well, and I really do ascribe to this belief. The best thing any outcast or bullying victim can do is survive, flourish, look good, feel good. Sadly, we don’t live in a fairy tale society where mistreated orphans always become princesses and the wicked always get their just desserts. Sometimes, yes, sometimes the bullying brutes in high school come out on top. Sometimes they rise to the top of their field, armed with trophy wives, McMansions, and BMW SUVs, while their victims struggle to make ends meet and spend the rest of their lives alone. It happens. And it’s really fucking unfortunate, but it happens.

Still, even when this happens, it’s up to the outcasts, the mistreated, and the bullied to continue to live well. To be the best and most successful people they can be. To find happiness and purpose in their lives. To be good people. To not waste a minute thinking about the people who taunted, tortured, or ignored them, even if those people are currently living the sweet life with wealth and success. Those people who made your life so miserable really don’t deserve a minute of your time, your energy, your angst. They don’t deserve the time involved with planning a mass shooting spree. They don’t deserve to be canonized while you—the shooter—are reviled. What they deserve is to lose the power that comes from having victims. If their victims walk away with their heads held high, and go on to be as happy, fulfilled, and productive as possible…well, that’s truly the best revenge you can inflict upon them.

Some quotes on this matter from my collection:

If they’re not worth hanging out with, why are they worth killing? You wouldn’t help them in a time of need, but you’d go to jail or commit suicide to show them exactly how worthless you think they are? You don’t want them as friends, but you’ll accept them as victims? Why would you want any connection to them? –The Misanthropic Bitch, on the Columbine shootings

Black trench coats? Marilyn Manson? Nazi propaganda? Writing in all caps on a Web page? Using the personal quote: “It’s fun being schizophrenic?” Copying KMFDM lyrics? How obtuse can one be? Even in death, those kids were clichés. All black clothing. Pisspoor planning. Done-to-death one-liners. When the fuck is someone going to shoot up his school wearing a bunny costume and singing Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”? –ditto


song heard most recently before posting:
Extra Ordinary Thing—Aqualung