Columbine

It goes without saying that Columbine is not easy to talk about. It truly is a tragedy and is possibly one of the darkest times in the history of American education. Sadly, it is an event that in many cases has repeated itself time and time again with Sandy Hook being a reminder of that, having only happened a year ago. Even as I write this, I am having some difficulty trying to discuss it, failing to find anything worthy to say dare I simply go on saying what has already been said in the past 10+ years since Columbine. I also do not want to stir unnecessary controversy in my discussion of these “touchy” subjects (with full understanding of why many do not want to say anything that is out of place or can be taken in poor taste, though context does help).

However, nativity has been lost in the past few weeks. I decided, of my own volition, to research Columbine. In particular, I wanted to see what people have said about it. To see how people talked about. What people knew, or at least what they thought they knew. I wanted to see how people felt about it.

Given the fact that Columbine had happened more than ten years ago, there was a lot out there. I presumed I knew a fair amount about the shooting. Sure, I was exceptionally young when it occurred and was probably too busy watching cartoons to bother listening to the coverage. Even then, I probably would not have the knowledge or insight to comprehend what happened on the day. Yet, the story has almost become common knowledge since then. Little did I realize that the “knowledge” I once had was nothing more than myths fed to the people by the media. These myths were built on speculation and bold conclusions. Yet, we chose to believe it at least for a time.

Fast-forward to the present, and Columbine becomes that much more complicated. For better or worse, the truth has been uncovered. Columbine had become a terrorist attack, orchestrated by disturbed students. It is hard to tell if Columbine was meant to be a largely political event, and what Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had intended, if nothing else to stir the people and make history, but the media had made it political. Columbine became a vehicle of political agendas, powered by fear and anxiety engineered by a media. Few stories ever discussed drove the students other than a disturbed mental state or a small case of bullying. Instead, Columbine became an issue about security and gun control. No source ever talked about the source of problem. We became obsessed with the symptoms.

And that’s the real issue here. The media hardly prescribed solutions that mattered, such as counseling programs that actually help students or education that prevents bullying through more proactive programs. There is so much that society can do to prevent tragedies like Columbine, yet instead we become obsessed with the means of how it happened instead of the “why?” We ask “how did they get the guns” instead of “why did they want them.” We are asking the wrong questions and therefore coming up with the wrong answers. It’s so easy to pass uniformed blame and hope that somehow a good solution will sprout out of nowhere and fix everything. But as long as the powerful force that is the media keeps asking the wrong questions, society will come up with the wrong answers.