| Libertarian Party of NY -- Following the News -- Columbine High School Shooting, Littleton, CO |
It is tempting to believe that more laws could have prevented the the tragedy at Columbine High School. It's human nature to try to search for ways to convince ourselves that 'this will never happen again.' In this space, we share with you the impressions of some NY Libertarians on the tragedy. What causes teenagers to kill?
Blay Tarnoff, past chair of the LPNY
I suspect the primary cause of teenagers going violently over the edge
may be that they are subject to more authoritarian control than in
previous years, secondarily combined with a lack of moral guidance.
Although I don't have any special insight into the lives of teenagers
today, I do seem to get the feeling from documentaries and my personal
experiences with today's society in general, that children are much less
free than they used to be.
When I was a kid, we could do just about anything we wanted to, as long
as our parents didn't find out about it. The things we did may have
been wrong, illegal, or against the rules, but we were rarely caught,
the rules were rarely enforced, and punishments were generally light.
For whatever reason, we were allowed the freedom to rebel in our own
personal ways, without having humility forced down our throats under
threat of escalating discipline for trying to maintain an ounce of
pride. We were basically left alone, and not cajoled and terrorized
into conforming. The rules themselves were probably almost as absurd
and arbitrary as they are today, but you could feel as if you could get
around them if you were smart, or you could just ignore them if you were
tough enough, and so, there was an outlet, an emergency steam valve, if
you will, for youthful passion.
In a world of metal detectors, drug testing, zero tolerance edicts at
every turn mandating draconian punishments for minor offenses, increased
surveillance and "get tough" policies by police to control teenage
behavior such as drinking, hanging out, and partying, increasing resort
to police and the criminal justice system by school authorities to
handle school matters such as drugs, sexual harassment, minor violence
and vandalism, increased police patrols in areas where teenagers tend to
drive, more liberties taken by police in dealing with teenagers, who are
more easily victimized by police than are most adults, etc., I wouldn't
be surprised to find a lot of teenagers who feel as if they want to kill
somebody, if out of no other reason than feelings of sheer powerlessness
and frustration. I know I would.
Youth needs to rebel. That's how our evolution has programmed us. When
that drive is arbitrarily beaten down and stifled, an explosive
situation is created. I don't find it difficult to see how a few not
terribly well-adjusted individuals might explode -- fight back and have
the final word in the only way they can.
When the message a teen gets from the world is that he must conform
because there are people out there who are bigger and stronger than he
is who will punish him if he doesn't, is it really any surprise when he
decides that what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and two
can play that game and he devises a plan where *he* can be the one with
the power for a change? How is he supposed to know what's right and
what's wrong?
The laws and regulations in this country mostly exist to benefit one
person over another, the prime criterion for benefits being how
politically favored one is. There is no real foundation any more. Laws
used to basically protect people's lives and property. Everyone could
understand the principle that "what's mine is mine and what's yours is
yours". Everyone could understand that violence is wrong, except in
self-defense.
But, in the past 30, 60, 90 years, those simple messages have
increasingly disappeared. Today, you're a worse person if you smoke pot
than if you rob and beat someone. People are entitled to special
consideration because of their skin color. Poverty is a virtue,
entitling the unproductive to the property of the unworthy productive.
When there is no simple moral guide, it all comes down to power. "You
have to do what you are told or you will be hurt, restrained,
punished." When that's the message, I believe violence will inevitably
follow.
Personally, I don't want a society of conformists. I want youth to
rebel. I want people who feel confident to decide for themselves how to
order their own lives and their environment, people who are willing to
take a stand and stand up for what they believe in.
I don't think we should be trying to divine more draconian ways to stop
this kind of thing. I don't think the problem is that we're not tough
enough in regulating teenagers' access to guns, or that the problem is
that we're not disciplining them enough, or that we need to force more
conformism on them. Those things are the problem, not the solution. If
that approach does succeed, we'll wind up with nothing but depressed,
dependent human sheep. I think we just need to relax.
Blay
by Max Fordham
Keep in mind, this is not meant to rationalize or excuse the way Harris/Klebold acted, but instead to explain some of the social factors the led to this incident. Both the way Harris & Klebold (and many others who are very much like them) are routinely treated by society (particularly in our schools), and the way they reacted to such treatment (the shooting) are both wrong and improper. By extension, seeing to it that those who do not "fit in" are protected and given fair treatment by society, one can expect that you will encounter fewer such situations in the future.
It would seem that the real root causative factor is the institutionalized intolerance that occurs daily within schools across the US. It also seems very possible that whereas American society has made great strides in promoting "non-discrimination" (at least regarding ethnicity and skin color), it has still failed to effectively discourage certain forms of intolerance, such as of beliefs or lifestyle. So, whereas many previously acceptable forms of discrimination (as expressed against particular minority group targets) are no longer acceptable, we find a smaller group of targets who become the recipients of the still same pre-existing level of hostility by larger social groups. The net effect is that a smaller group of people suffer a higher degree of intolerant hostility simply because they are the only remaining (viable) target groups that are not protected by the school authorities. Quite simply, they are the only ones left who people in general can still get away picking on, harassing, and intimidating.
Consider that if you are black or hispanic, and somebody harasses you, you can complain about "racism" or "prejudice" and the school authorities will be forced to intervene and stop that sort of activity. However, if you are "different" - dress differently, think differently, have different interests, the school authorities will do nothing to prevent others from harassing or intimidating you. In that case, more often than not, the nonconforming persons will be advised to "be more normal" or to "try to fit in", rather than any acknowledgement that the individual has a right to be/live in such fashion as makes them happy while also being physically secure, just as any "normal" person expects. This is not to say you can make people socialize with people they do not wish to, or that people have to like the choices others make - only that ALL people, whether conforming or nonconforming to society's "wishes", are deserving of the same level of protection from the violence of others.
To fail in providing a tolerant environment relatively free of harassment and intimidation leaves those individuals enraged (because they are constantly and unfairly "ganged up on" by cliques like "jocks"), and puts them in a position where they may see arming themselves (and concomitant possibility of actual physical violence) as the only viable way to "even the odds" (of individuals fighting against groups) and protect themselves from harassment. This can explain the underlying hatred where violence like this stems from, and massive media desensitization/normalization of violence (videogames, movies, etc) may further erode personal restraint from committing such acts. Put it all together and nobody should be surprised at the outcome we seem to be experiencing. Another thing to think about is that if society fails to recognize the real root of the problem (intolerance), and fails to ameliorate it, then the conditions which lead to this sort of situation will not change, and subsequently we will have a recurring problem with school violence which will not be amenable to any other measures.
Widespread, institutionalized intolerance to those who are of different styles and interests leaves kids who are "different" vulnerable to harassment/intimidation, and subsequently angry and hurt. Repetitive, constant harassment may fuel rage to dangerous levels, especially in particularly "sensitive" individuals who may take such harassment attacks more to heart, and thereby take such inhuman treatment from those around them quite personally. Couple this with the fact that many kids who are "outsiders" are often more intelligent than normal (which is why they can't accept the status quo reality like the "others" do - they are smart enough to see through the contradictions and lies, and consequently refuse to support them, or find common past-times uninteresting/boring, even when coerced by "peer pressure"), and are likely to further resent being treated inhumanely/disrespectfully by those who they consider (probably quite rightly) to be be intellectually inferior, emotionally insensitive brutes.
It would seem that the real way to prevent this sort of problem in the future is to get to the root of the problem. We, as a culture, have to be "intolerant of intolerance", and protect ALL individuals equally from harassment and intimidation. In doing so, we should be able to prevent the lashing out in blind rage against the "normals" which the "normals" institutionalized persecution of the "weirdos" seems to lead to. In doing so, we will be able to ensure a safer, less hostile environment in our schools, as well as lay the groundwork for greater over-all tolerance in our society of differences that will percolate upwards into adult society as the new attitudes take hold.
-BaudMax
Vin Suprynowicz, syndicated Libertarian columnist
Debating who are the real `militant freaks'
Joseph Farah, in a WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Between the Lines: Hammering home truth about guns
Jon Katz and a cast of thousands
Voices from the Hellmouth, More Stories from the Hellmouth, and The Price of Being Different (long articles)
Justin Mallone, Vice-President, Americans for a Society Free from Age Restrictions
Libertarianism and Parental Discipline
Declan McCullagh, political columnist for Wired
Looking for Something to Blame
Jacob Sullem, writing for Reason
Keeping It Simple
Send in your essays ... if they are well-written and represent a Libertarian viewpoint, they could be published here.
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