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Don't settle for scapegoats in Littleton
Commentary
By Kenneth A. Paulson
Senior vice president, The Freedom Forum
Executive director, First Amendment Center
05.15.99
In the aftermath of the horrific massacre in Littleton, Colo., the
nation looks for clues and culprits.
How could this have been avoided? Closer parental supervision? More
attentive law-enforcement? More gun control?
A surprising number of Americans suggest these additional suspects: The
Internet and popular culture.
According to a Gallup survey:
- 64% of those polled said the Internet bears a 'moderate amount' or
'great deal' of the blame for the shootings.
- 79% said television programs, movies and music bear some
responsibility for the massacre.
Little wonder, then, that news coverage has focused on the two young
killers' fondness for Marilyn Manson, German industrial music, video
games and the Internet.
That coverage in turn has helped fuel an immediate, and extensive,
backlash against the media and free expression:
- Schools are developing impromptu dress codes, banning black
trenchcoats because the killers in Colorado wore them.
- Parents have lobbied state and local governments to intervene and
cancel Marilyn Manson concerts. Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn wrote to Manson
promoters asking them to call off a show in Reno.
- Republicans have announced plans for a National Conference on Youth
and Culture to examine video games, films and drugs.
- A Senate hearing on violent video games is being expanded to look at
other media.
- A bill has been introduced in the Senate to require that violent
television shows be permitted only 'when children are not reasonably
likely to [make up] a substantial portion of the audience.'
- High school students who have simply acknowledged in classroom
conversations and assignments that they understood the anger of outcasts
like the Colorado youths say they have faced disciplinary action or
mandatory counseling, according to Jon Katz, a columnist for free!, our
online news service, who solicited e-mails from students.
- Other young people have lost access to computer games or the Internet.
As one student wrote to Katz: 'My parents took my computer away today,
because of what they saw on television. They told me they just couldn't
be around enough to make sure that I'm doing the right things on the
Internet.'
One irony to all of this is that the Internet could just as easily have
saved lives in this case. Colorado shooter Eric Harris' Web pages made
his darkest plotting public. Concerned parents of a classmate took those
to the sheriff's department, but apparently no action was taken. If the
plot had been foiled, would we now be celebrating the Internet as a
crime-fighting tool?
A lot of thoughtful people, from throughout the political spectrum, have
called this week for a re-examination of American culture. Is there so
much emphasis on violence in our popular entertainment that it either
desensitizes children to violence or actually encourages it? That's a
fair question that deserves to be explored through debate and
discussion, not legislation or hasty rule-making.
What is needed most is perspective. This was a crime committed by two
disturbed boys. Yet there are more than 70 million copies of the 'Doom'
video games in circulation and almost 4 million copies of Marilyn
Manson's music. There is no epidemic. In fact, arrests for violent
crimes in schools have steadily declined in recent years, according to
the Justice Department.
There are no easy answers for what happened in Littleton. But we don't
make any progress when we settle for scapegoats.
Ken Paulson is executive director of the First Amendment Center with offices in Arlington, Va., and Nashville, Tenn. His mailing address is:
Ken Paulson
First Amendment Center
1207 18th Ave. S
Nashville, TN 37212