So another school shooting has happened. Once again its being billed as a "tragedy", once again the media is falling all over themselves to paint the shooter as a Goth who liked Marilyn Manson (who was last popular around the time this kid was learning to write). Of course, there will be a few fingers pointed at the school, which totally failed both the dead, and the shooter. In this case, as in most if not all of the others, the school was aware of the fact that the shooter was being bullied on a regular basis, and like most schools, they probably punished the kid for reporting the abuse. No, the people most to blame, and who never get any of it, are the bullies themselves. This kid was not born a killer, he was made one.

When someone takes a dog, beats it regularly, and then is attacked by it one day when their guard is down, do we blame the dog, or do we blame the owner? True the dog attacked, but then, it also might have done so at least in part out of self defense. It didn't want to be hurt any more. I believe that most people can at least agree to that. Why is that we treat cases like this any differently? This shooter, this kid, was picked on nonstop, and at least according to modern psychology, verbal and emotional abuse is just as bad as physical abuse, which he also got. He was beaten up for being different, for expressing opinions. He wasn't too fond of Christianity, and in according the teachings of Jesus, a Christian kicked his ass. By all accounts, the school did nothing to stop this, even though they were made aware of it. So basically, this kid is in some respects being forced to go to an environment that was blatantly hostile, and yet we blame him for his actions. One could say that the bastards who were shot, teachers and students all, didn't do anything to deserve it, but then, what did they do to stop it? The Good German defense is hardly a moral position I would want to stand on. Sure, some of the victims were kids themselves, and maybe one could say that they shouldn't be blamed for being bullies; but if we are not going to hold them accountable for their actions, why blame the shooter?

I think far too much society teaches people that it's ok to be mean, rude, to abuse people, and then walk away and expect nothing to happen. I mean, sure, we may get some stares and maybe a few unkind words aimed our way, but that's all most people really seem to think will happen. We never really seem to stop and ask "what did the victim do to create this crime?" Why not blame the victim for what they did to contribute to the event? Society itself may or may not have a hand in the crime, but seeing as an awful lot of violent crimes are committed by someone who knows the victim, why not start looking at the victim?