THE Gypsy said:
Obviously we ARE having a problem with the "quote" feature.
Anyhow...Who wasn't a "homeschooler"?
The 20 year old kid we are talking about.
Here is an excellent excerpt from this
website:
Psychotropica
Parents are a big problem in this issue; some don’t care what their kids do and the rest are just oblivious. Parents are all too often just self-centered babies that never grew up themselves. They don’t want to discipline the brats or even appear as the ‘bad-guy’ by saying NO or denying them toys or food or not doing homework for them. Maybe it shouldn’t be too surprising that these 1960’s losers turn to drugs as the panacea for every childhood problem. The kids depressed, they’re too excited, they’re not paying attention, they’re not following teachers instructions, they don’t look right or act right, easy just dope ‘em up! And then we’re supposed to act surprised when they start shooting up the schools. Every school shooting has had one or more suspects mentally imbalanced due to psychotropic medications at the time of the shooting. The Jonesboro kids were on Ritalin, Kip Kinkel was fried too, and Eric Harris had Luvox (a powerful drug often prescribed for obsessive-compulsive disorder) in his brain, according to the autopsy. Harris, after lying on his Marine Corps application (wanted to fight in Kosovo) was rejected April 15 when the Marine recruiter interviewed his family and found out about the prescription drug’s. This was a significant blow to his self-image and probably did more than anything else to push him over the edge and into a shooting rampage shortly thereafter.
Between 1990 and 1995, use of methylphenidate more than doubled, according to a 1996 study at Johns Hopkins University. By mid-1995, it found, nearly 3 percent of American children and youths, or about 2.5 million, were taking it. And that number appears to have kept rising, so that by now, it may have hit 3.75 million, according to a rough estimate by Dr. Lawrence Diller, author of "Running on Ritalin" (Bantam, 1998).
"I think they give out more psychotropic medication than a psych hospital did when I did psych," she said. "Not just Ritalin but heavy-duty psychiatric medications." From NYT Jan. 28, 1999
"We do know, for example, that the 13-year-old in Jonesboro was being treated. Apparently they were saying he had been sexually abused as a child. They were saying he was now a sexual abuser. He had a hyperactivity type label put on him as well -- or 'attention deficit disorder.' So we had several different things working with him. There is no chance under the sun, moon, or stars that this kid was not on drugs," described Clarke.
Many of these kids have been on prescription medications from the day they first enter school and even earlier, literally their entire lives. Not only that but the schools and doctors alter and increases the drugs as they get older and more tolerant switching from Ritalin to Prozac to Luvox etc. Incidentally Prozac is not approved by the FDA for pediatric use but evidently that hasn't stopped any prescriptions. The use of these drugs is a relatively recent event, especially on the widespread almost universal scale that has been reached. The increase in suburban and rural school violence is directly related to the increase in psychotropic drug prescriptions to students in the public schools over the past 10 years. And tragically as long as the news media and many analysts focus on the side effects and accessories like guns or ‘Goth clothing’ nothing will be done about it. The use of these dangerous chemicals will increase as will school shootings. No one really knows what long term effects these drugs will have on brain chemistry and future adult behavior. The kids going through school now are the first generation fried on State administered mind altering chemicals and as they reach adolescence and the emotional and physical difficulties associated with it, unanticipated and unpleasant reactions are inevitable. Many things have been used as safe and effective but after several years they find out the long term costs of such chemicals; dioxins, DDT, asbestos the list is endless. And if that wasn’t bad enough the behavioral symptoms these drugs are supposed to cure are so vague that nearly any kid can qualify, it’s largely up to parental approval. Lazy parents have a troublesome kid (and what kid isn’t at times?), the school recommends this wonder drug, the parents say ‘why not’ and little Johnny gets his fix from the school nurse every day until he graduates. Any chemical that alters behavior will have have after-effects that will magnify mental imbalances - even after the prescription is discontinued. These reactions are difficult to predict but the fluctuations from extreme emotional peaks to troughs can be magnified by sudden and significant personal events like the Marine's rejection of Harris. These extreme points are when violent outbreaks are most likely to occur.
Too many people who should no better fall into the trap of believing ‘oh its the media, violent culture, TV and video games and guns that drive these perfectly sane, normal happy kids to do bad things’. That’s total bullshit, uh I mean specious reasoning because many more children play ultra-violent video games or watch R rated movies and even use guns but
they don’t shoot up schools or kill their parents. These factors certainly may contribute to violence but they are not sole causes. A genuine cause is the fact they are so fried and parentally unguided from day one that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing and its not even they’re fault because the people who should be looking out for them are lazy and want a quick easy out so they just dope 'em up and then wonder what went wrong later..
A great deal has been written about all of these [school shooting] cases. There have, however, been no indications that all of these children watched the same TV programs or listened to the same music. Nor has it been established that they all used illegal drugs, suffered from alcohol abuse or had common difficulties with their families or peers. They did not share identical home lives, dress alike or participate in similar extracurricular activities. But all of the above were labeled as suffering from a mental illness and were being treated with psychotropic drugs that for years have been known to cause serious adverse effects when given to children.
Insight Magazine June 28, 1999.
Students are in a crucible 24/7, under stress academically to get good grades and enormous social pressures, especially the ones that are ostracized or unpopular. Top that off with the usual litany of biological stresses then mix in a cornucopia of drugs to their brain and what do you get? Maybe now we're beginning to see the long-term consequences of a young life hooked up to a black rainbow of behavior altering drugs.
Evaluations
But we’ve shed enough tears for little Johnny, turns out he’s actually one sick case. Any psychologist will tell you that about the only sure sign of a future serial killer / psychotic is when they torture animals. Many of these cases do exactly that; anyone that tortures animals is about the lowest form of life
I can think of, and from what I’ve found on the biographies of these school shooters that seems a pretty accurate description. If they hadn’t killed a few classmates they would be on death row in 10 or 20 years anyway.
Little Johnny was not a nice kid despite what his parents may say of him; and this is clearly borne out by classmate testimonials, psychological evaluations and court proceedings.
Kinkel:
"Megan Conklin, a junior who took the same school bus with Kinkel, said after the shooting, "He said on the bus that he was mad and he was going to do something stupid. He's a mean kid. He'd said some horrible things to me before." Several students said Kinkel had been upset over teasing from older students, and that he had a temper and a troubled past. The police said that the boy had once been questioned by officers in a neighboring county for throwing rocks at cars from a freeway overpass."
Not to mention that he was caught with a stolen pistol in his locker or that he bragged about torturing animals.
Edinboro event:
Lucas and Mills [his friends] said Wurst had a troubled home life. They said he had recently argued with his parents over his poor grades.
From the trial of the Pearl High School shooting:
"In his closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Tim Jones described Woodham as "mean" and "hateful." CNN
The investigator also read portions of a manuscript, ostensibly written by the Woodham youth and labeled a manifesto by prosecutors, that described the gruesome torture of his dog, Sparkle, by Woodham and an accomplice. Eklund said he believed that the accomplice was Boyette. Last April, according to the document, the two teen-agers repeatedly beat the dog with a club, wrapped it in garbage bags, torched it with a lighter and flammable fluid, listened to it whimper and tossed it in a pond. Oct. 15, 1997 NYT
And from Paducah Kentucky:
"Bond said, "He acted just like he had been caught with some minor offense." ...He [the Principal] said the teen-ager calmly inserted earplugs, then drew the pistol from a backpack and opened fire. " From the AP
Those victimized hero’s of Columbine:
In February they completed a "diversion program" for first-time juvenile offenders, after their arrest for breaking into a van and stealing electronic equipment, the Jefferson County District Attorney said. April 22, 1999 NYT
Kid's say the darndest things...
Harris wrote: "My belief is that if I say something, it goes. I am the law. If you don't like it, you die. If I don't like you or I don't like what you want me to do, you die."
He added, "Dead people can't do many things, like argue." And "Don't let me catch you making fun of someone just because they are a different color," May 1, 1999 NYT
Johnson from Jonesboro:
"He said, 'Everyone that hates me, everyone that I don't like, is going to die,' " recalled Dustin Campbell, also 13, who considered himself a "sometimes friend" of Mitchell. From NYT March 26, 1998.
Conyers Georgia statements:
"He kind of had a natural high, pulling the trigger, like it was some kind of game to him, like he was having a good time." ABC news
One student who said he took a class with the suspect said he was disruptive, often forcing the teacher to repeat instructions. Another student, Chris Dunn, said he had seen guns at the student’s home but never heard him mention plans to shoot anyone at school. He did notice the boy’s grades had been falling. "He wasn’t even trying anymore, which I was kind of concerned about," Dunn said. From MSNBC but credited to AP & Reuters
Alienation is
not the sole cause either, many of these students use their separateness and alienation as a badge of honor. By wearing strange clothing and saying weird things they gain a solidarity amongst their clique and delineate themselves from the rest of the school, it’s as simple as ‘we are better than they all are’. "They were just a little weird," said Dara Ferguson, a 17-year-old junior and a cheerleader. "They wanted to be different." As was said of the Columbine High teens."
What we have here is a common theme of revenge against school, authority figures, parents, jocks and basically anyone that utters something the shooter doesn’t like. Just go back and read what Eric Harris wrote or Kip Kinkel. These teens have a stunted mentality that has been debased to the point where nothing else matters except what "I" want, ‘I should have absolutely everything I want right now and anyone that says otherwise or gets in my way I kill'. Are these teens nihilistic revenge seekers without remorse or awareness of good and evil? Or just schizoid, pharmacological basket cases waiting like time bombs to go off when sufficient provocation coincides with their drug induced emotional nadir?
Cultural Turmoil
How does someone reach that point, a level of total selfishness and self-interest where they care nothing about other people, society, church or country? It certainly starts with their parents, the original role models for ethics and morality. But everyone is influenced by collective social standards and expectations too. If you think about it America doesn’t really have too many expectations as far as civic duties go, no compulsory military service, no compulsory community service no compulsory anything except paying taxes and doing time from K-12. You don’t have to believe in a specific State religion, the Queen’s not going to give you a morality lecture, you don’t have to be part of the official Party for promotions, it’s an environment totally devoid of values like an undefined field without beginning or end, future or past, purpose or reason; welcome to America. All the traditional institutions of authority from Nixon’s White House to Janet Reno’s Justice Department to Jim and Tammy Baker’s Church have been discredited and I’m sure you can think of many more examples. The things that used to have value and significance no longer do, today little if anything has value besides the basics or survival like money, food, friends, clothing, or housing. Teens just like adults realize this and they realize the nature of the social order they live in. Adults have certain faculties and common sense that adolescents and juveniles just have not developed yet; they react to the same situation in less predictable and less mature ways. As they float in the sea of nothingness that is everyday American life they react in ways that are dangerous and foolish to themselves and others. They lose fear of authority because everywhere they look it’s either hollow or has been discredited. The public school teacher isn’t going to do anything to stop them, the Principal can only give them detention or perhaps suspension which is almost a gift to some kids. The Parents don’t care or don’t know what the kid does ‘that’s the schools responsibility’ , the police at worst send them to juvenile hall for a night and usually just release ‘em back to Mommy and Daddy for punishment (yeah right). A significant portion of growing up is learning that actions have consequences, but in this type of an environment what are kids really learning? Knowing nothing but ineffectual and inept authority they will say ‘I can do whatever I want, they can’t stop me, they can’t hurt me’.
Summary of important factors contributing to school shootings and other deadly violence often overlooked:
Very large schools have more problems than small one due to the alienation factor and because of the greater personal distance between faculty and students.
Pyschotropic drugs (like Ritalin) factor into most of the junior and senior high school cases but medical records are notoriously difficult to obtain to link all of them one way or the other.
The school shooters nearly always have an inability to grasp the gravity of their drastic actions, that of their own situation or the repercussions that follow.
Trite targets include:
- Video games and a 'violent culture'
- Immorality (lack of God and religion)
- Lack of security (metal detectors, security guards etc.)
- Guns
But in reality...
The guns in these cases are almost always stolen anyway. The schools are increasingly heavily guarded but no connection can be found that this decreases violence; on the contrary it increases the sense of alienation and oppression which actually increases school violence. And finally if video games and a 'violent culture' are really to blame then someone has to answer why the vast majority of kids that are immersed in this
don't act out.
It used to be reasoning would never even progress that far because of childhood discipline; enforcement of the rules and boundaries of conduct would keep unruly kids from crossing the line. And even if that didn’t work guilt was the next speed bump. Kids felt remorse when they stole or broke the rules because ‘it was a sin’ or it discredited the family or something along those lines. Guilt just like Church no longer works to force kids to do ‘the right thing’, largely because both the parents and the kids don’t really know what that ‘right thing’ is anymore.
