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Manson Fans Wrongly Accused As Columbine Killers
by
Kim Knight
News Media Looks For Ratings Instead Of Truth
To do this with such an issue is sickening. What really makes me angry is having them blame and discuss everything and everyone when they don't know all of the information before they report the story.
The day of the incident almost all the media, certainly the national networks, began reporting before they had the basic facts. The one major exception was Channel 1 (a news show that is broadcast in our school five days a week). Two days after the tragedy, they did an excellent job; they had all the information and all of the facts.
A couple of days later, showing their need for ratings only, a local television station did a report describing the Columbine Killers; they were described as being the sort of gothic type that is in love with Marilyn Manson, who just happened to be performing a concert that night at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. The report used the fans as examples of people the killers were like and that only the Manson fans had the potential to start a killing spree.
What made me angry was that the reporters were portraying these fans as killers and everyone else as normal. They blamed music, Marilyn Manson's music, for being the main cause of the tragedy. Do they know that for sure? Did they interview one or both of the killers?
I admit I like some of Manson's songs; I don't agree with most of his views, but he is an individual who is entitled to his views and what he does is his prerogative. Each of us may do things that others may dislike and that is their prerogative.
The media is trying to explain that Manson fans are bad, psychotic people, and everyone else is normal. In this sense, to me, there is no normal. Everyone is different mentally, physically, and emotionally. We don't know what makes a person extremely happy, mad, or sad. A simple flick of a finger could make one person raging with anger and another laugh until his stomach hurt.
No one can really tell how anyone feels unless they are inside their minds, and since we are unable to do that, everyone is left to themselves as individuals. Sometimes people can go for help and consultation. It all depends on a person's subconscious ideas and how their environment affects them. In most teenager's lives, their minds are on fitting into social groups and peer pressure.
In our society, it's actually practical for a teenager to lose it faster than most adults because peer pressure has a huge impact on teenagers. But just like everything else, it affects us all differently. Basically, the media cannot blame just one thing on such a tragedy like Columbine. They need to get the facts and realize everyone is different.
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