2008 Woodie Awards
School House Glock
Rebelations
Jeremiah Magan
Issue date: 9/20/06 Section: Opinion
Who knew Canadians were so violent? Canada has always been the less-masculine younger brother of America. It never gets itself fully involved with any conflict that America tries to drag them into. Sure it sends over a few troops, but not its entire military. It is the eventual destination for anyone planning on avoiding the inevitable draft because it is looked upon as a happy-peaceful place with socialized health care and maple syrup flows like water and flapjacks hang from the trees. The beer is stronger and the drug laws are lighter.
It came as a surprise to the world to hear that Montreal, Canada became the location of the latest school shooting to grace the pages of every newspaper this past week. While no race or country is exempt from violence, Canada is among the least likely of candidates.
A 25 year old man stepped into the cafeteria of Dawson College in Montreal and opened fire on the students dining there. Wearing a black trench coat and carrying a gun he apparently felt the need to put Canada's health care system to the test. We all remember when the two students at Columbine (also wearing black trench coats) decided to increase the town mortician's business in 1999.
Before then schools were seen as a safe place to dump off the kids for a few hours without worrying about their safety. Now many schools have metal detectors and all have increased security in an effort to keep students safe.
Never would someone assume that a little town no one had ever heard of previously in Colorado would be the first of its kind to have a violent act such as this so highly publicized. And this less-than-recognizable school in Montreal is the latest site of murder-suicide at an educational facility, killing one, injuring 19 and killing himself. While there have been other similar shootings in the past, few have been as publicized.
What drives people to acts of violence such as these? At the time of Columbine investigators jumped to the conclusion that the violent video games and angry music that the teens reportedly were exposed to that drove them to kill. They never thought to look at the fact that both young men were people bullied by their classmates until well into the investigation.
The Montreal shooter was a man reportedly obsessed with the Columbine shooting and often posed with guns for pictures he would post on messageboards where he would often discuss his murderous fantasies with others on the site.
The blame now has to fall somewhere, as all blame does. We can obviously point our fingers at the shooters for actually committing the crimes, but we should also take a look at what drove them to such acts of violence. It is very unlikely that the Montreal shooter was a happy-well-adjusted person with a healthy family life, and only decided to go on a rampage because he was listening to a Slipknot record while he ate his cocoa puffs that morning. Blame can only be pointed in the direction of living people that interact with one another.
Other than increased involvement of parents I can offer little advice except to run like hell if you see someone in a long black trench coat walk on campus.
It came as a surprise to the world to hear that Montreal, Canada became the location of the latest school shooting to grace the pages of every newspaper this past week. While no race or country is exempt from violence, Canada is among the least likely of candidates.
A 25 year old man stepped into the cafeteria of Dawson College in Montreal and opened fire on the students dining there. Wearing a black trench coat and carrying a gun he apparently felt the need to put Canada's health care system to the test. We all remember when the two students at Columbine (also wearing black trench coats) decided to increase the town mortician's business in 1999.
Before then schools were seen as a safe place to dump off the kids for a few hours without worrying about their safety. Now many schools have metal detectors and all have increased security in an effort to keep students safe.
Never would someone assume that a little town no one had ever heard of previously in Colorado would be the first of its kind to have a violent act such as this so highly publicized. And this less-than-recognizable school in Montreal is the latest site of murder-suicide at an educational facility, killing one, injuring 19 and killing himself. While there have been other similar shootings in the past, few have been as publicized.
What drives people to acts of violence such as these? At the time of Columbine investigators jumped to the conclusion that the violent video games and angry music that the teens reportedly were exposed to that drove them to kill. They never thought to look at the fact that both young men were people bullied by their classmates until well into the investigation.
The Montreal shooter was a man reportedly obsessed with the Columbine shooting and often posed with guns for pictures he would post on messageboards where he would often discuss his murderous fantasies with others on the site.
The blame now has to fall somewhere, as all blame does. We can obviously point our fingers at the shooters for actually committing the crimes, but we should also take a look at what drove them to such acts of violence. It is very unlikely that the Montreal shooter was a happy-well-adjusted person with a healthy family life, and only decided to go on a rampage because he was listening to a Slipknot record while he ate his cocoa puffs that morning. Blame can only be pointed in the direction of living people that interact with one another.
Other than increased involvement of parents I can offer little advice except to run like hell if you see someone in a long black trench coat walk on campus.
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