The reason behind this murder? The deceased Lawrence King, was gay and had asked his murderer to be his Valentine. Was this a hate crime? Did the shooter, Brandon McInerney, find this gesture of affection so deeply disturbing and Lawrence's sexual orientation so abnormal that he had to resort to murder? Did Brandon have a deeper psychological problem? Masen Davis, the executive director of the Transgender Law Center stated that Brandon "is just as much a victim as Lawrence, as he’s a victim of homophobia and hate.” Was Mr Davis pointing out the fact of how much external factors had influenced Brandon to think in this hateful, homophobic manner?
This of course is not the first time such violence has occured in schools; the Thurston High School massacres in 1998, the Columbine High School shootings in 1999 and the Virginia Tech Massacre in recent 2007. The public and the media have searched and searched for the reasons behind, what could've possibly driven these young men to commit such crimes? Of course there are many reasons the media has claimed to have found for us; that it must have been the violent video games and movies the shooters were so fond of, it must have been the anti-depressents some of them were taking, it must have been their ties with the 'alternative' subcultures and music which must have so heavily influenced them, because they had no guidance from their family and God, because they were outcasts at school, because they were bullied and had no one there to listen to them; who can really say what the exact reason was? Could it have been aspects of all of them? Could it have been none? Would all these 'reasons' slowly surface in explanation of Brandon McInerney act of murder like they did in past school massacres? Can one really pin-point some ones motives and influences for their actions? Wouldn't it be like trying to read minds?
Here's an extreme example; on the exact day of the Columbine Massacre, April 20th 1999, the US dropped the largest number of NATO missiles on a village in lower central Serbia, NOT Kosovo which is located in southern Serbia where the war was going on. His explanation? The US wanted to “intimidate the Serbians but minimize harm to innocent people.” Were the hospital, the primary school and the aspirin factory bombed not full of innocent people? The US had also stated on Febuary 17th of that same year 1999 that the United States would commit about 4,000 personnel to 'implement peace' in Kosovo-with their goal being to "stop the fighting now, rather than later." With this warfare going on all around the world, for years and years now, how come no one has ever said hmm, maybe the President had an influence on this violent behavior, after all, people would be viewing this violence and destruction of the ongoing war on the news, in the papers, on the radio would they not? The public were of course told he was doing the 'right thing'; in this case of war and the security of civillians in the US and Serbia, this violence was 'necessary'. Do people believe things are right because they're told yes this is the truth free of all biasedness, or because their judgement really is a conclusion of their own thoughts? Which comes to the question: how much does society play into your own opinions and judgements? Case in point, how much do your peers, the media, society and social norms really affect your personal opinions? Does it happen subconsiously? Would you have a different opinion if certain factors were not present?
In the case of Brandon McInerney, for examples; did mere homophobic jokes on television or around him subtlely tell this young boy that homosexuality was some thing to laugh about? Did every day insults used by alot of youth today such as 'fag', 'thats so gay' and 'homo' on others implement to him to be labelled this things was actually a horrible insult? Did organisations or religions tell him that homosexuality was blasphemous and an act against God? Did he overhear people around him discussing how 'wrong' homosexuality is? Despite every sector, be it the media, the church, the human rights groups having their own opinions, and that is of course everyones right, is it really fair to have them implement their ideals on others, let alone youth? Telling them what is right and what is so wrong that they must take action? What is right and what is wrong? Isn't it different with every individual you meet? Either way shouldn't your opinions and actions be free of any harm to others? Shouldn't people should figure things such as these out for themselves in their own time, and determine what is right according to their own opinions, as free as they can be of what external factors tell them.
Maybe society should look all around on what influences people, and it may not always be the most obvious reasons: popular culture cause its so much more accessible than political factors, the scapegoats, the ones who disagree with the 'norms', the pin-ups for violence and hate, or the underdogs that are the ones to blame.
"All we are saying is give peace a chance" ~ John Lennon
1 comment:
i remember reading about this only last week after i saw ellen degenneres make a reference to this boy. i know a lot of crazy things happen all over the world but this must have been the saddest article I've read in weeks. i know people die everyday, usually of accidents, natural deaths, natural disasters but the worst are deaths like these. they are the hardest to accept and try to understand because there is absolutely no reason for anyone to die if it isn't for any of the reasons above.
i have always believed that even thought there is the big nature and nurture debate that nurture is more important to shape us as individuals. thus, such cases make me feel bad for the boy who killed lawrence because what kind of childhood did he have and what kind of people must he be surrounded by to take such extreme measures. to even think of killing a fellow class-mate, for whatever reason is very hard for me to understand!!!
i just hope he knows that what he did was wrong and understand why. and that he will go on live his life differently to whoever made him think how he does now.
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