On The Madison School Shooting

On Monday December 16th a mass shooting happened here in Wisconsin. A teacher and a student were shot and killed at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, with six others wounded. The freshman killer committed suicide on scene. 

Aside from the obvious - the senseless loss of life and security, for all involved - here is what bothers me most about this, and other similar shootings: 

Each and every time, the media gives the shooter exactly what they want: their little blip of fame. 

Within a day of the shooting I saw pictures of the shooter, a purported six page manifesto,  short biographical articles, and a host of rumor and speculation about their motivation. 

F that. 

You'll notice I haven't named the killer. Haven't mentioned their background, their so-called "goals" - not even their gender. 

They don't deserve the attention. 

Because attention is WHY they do it. 

Oh, I know I know. Their fan clubs like to assign a dozen different excuses for what they do, from being the victim of bullying to family problems to this mental illness or that. Not all the reason even have to be rooted in reality; think about all the mistaken "truths" the media created about Columbine, the "trench coat mafia" first and foremost.

All those myriad excuses may indeed play a part in why school shootings happen,  but there has always been bullying, there have always been abusive families, there have always been mental illness, there have always been guns to be had - and how much more prevalent are school shootings now, when its fair to say bullying is less tolerated, abusive homes are more reported, etc?

They feel lost, they feel unwanted, they fell less than, and in exchange for one despicable act the media grants them the attention they so desire. 

There's their casus belli, and its time for it to end. 

We don't need to know their names. Their faces. Their lies. You want to argue the sociological need for that information, fine, study it in a closed academic environment. I didn't need to see a picture of the shooter, a mere 24 hours after their crime, modeling the same TV shirt design as one of the two guys they all copy, Eric Harris. 

How sad is it that we all know the names Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, but good luck remembering the name of one of their victims. I do believe, fervently, that almost all of the school shootings in this century lie at the feet of Columbine, and the continuing morbid fascination with the perpetrators that guarantees the media will put a killers name in lights. 

I don't think Harris and Klebold are burning in Hell; I think the Devil is so pleased with their continuing success that he's given them a front and center seat to watch their copycats. 

It needs to end. 

Stop glorifying child killers. Stop putting their name in headlines, stop putting their picture on TV. Let them die as they allege, often wrongly, that they lived: in anonymity.