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Andrew Seymour Dr. Erin-Dietel McLaughlin WR 13200 14 November 2011 Misunderstood: An Analysis of the Motivation for School Shooters Pain is one thing in this world that we simply cannot avoid. Even people who have gone onto incredibly successful careers in business, entertainment, sports, or philanthropy cannot avoid its ability to rip us to bits. Whether it is emotional pain or physical pain we all at one time or another experience its grip. It oftentimes leads to feelings of isolation and loneliness, and anger, causing one to dislike the people and things that he or she once loved or enjoyed. But why, if we hate this feeling of sorrow, frustration, depression and emptiness so much, do we so frequently inflict pain onto our brothers and sisters? Why do we want others to feel as desperate and afraid as we do? Pain plays a pivotal role in what are some of the most horrific events that this country has ever seen: school shootings. During the 1980s, school shootings began to occur in the United States, beginning with Deer Creek Middle School in 1982. The frequency of school violence resulting in deaths has increased at a dramatic rate and has become very alarming to educators throughout the United States. Up until 1990, there had been 14 school shootings in which there had only been one student killed (Bender et al 107). Between 1990 and 2000 there were 25 incidences of school shootings resulting in one or more deaths, the most disturbing being the shooting at Columbine High School which resulted in 13 deaths (Bender et al 107). In the

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aftermath of a school shooting, the explanation of the event plays out in the media in the same way every time: some troubled kid brings a gun to school and proceeds to shoot all the kids he hates or have wronged him, leading to the loss of several lives and jail, or a mental institution for the embattled teen, assuming he or she has not committed suicide at the conclusion of the assault. The general public accepts this superficial explanation far too easily, with very little investigative work done to explain why these horrific events have been occurring with such frequency, and what motivates a person to commit such an inhuman act. The lack of education regarding this issue is very concerning. Most of the general public still believes that things such as violent lyrics in rap songs or blood in video games is what causes kids to kill their peers, despite the fact this have been disproved through various studies conducted by Montreal professor Richard Tremblay, who proved there was no correlation (Lieberman 24). I believe the pop sensationalism in todays media causes kids and teens to see a school shooting as an opportunity to show that they are better than their peers, also as an opportunity to live out the myth of redemptive violence that has been widely accept by our culture. These both play have an impact on the narcissistic ideas developed by the shooter and the detachment the shooter feels from society. While the news has to report the stories regarding school shootings, the manner in which they often portray them has had an impact in increasing the incidence rate of school shootings. In an analysis of statistical data done by the Emergency Service Report, there were many bomb scares, attempted bomb attacks, and many attempted copycat killings in the weeks following the Columbine shooting (Larkin 9). Although this may be a strange coincidence, Joseph Lieberman has discovered that these sorts of copycat killings have been occurring after every major school shooting since 1995 (Larkin 224). In the year 1995, there were four shootings that occurred within a two-month period and in 1996 seven occurred in three-month span (Lieberman

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224). The reason for this spike in killings is not just because these events were simply seen on the news but because of the pop sensationalism that is in the presentation of the stories (Lieberman 226). The news oftentimes presents these children as otherworldly or un-human, rather than seeing this as negative, school shooters will see this as a compliment because of their narcissistic tendencies. In the mind of the shooter they are not an inhumane, bloodthirsty, beast, but a creature of a divine, godlike realm. This type of divinity and recognition is just one of the many reasons that compel shooters to commit such brutal attacks. Such a mindset was seen in videos made by the shooters prior to committing the violence at Columbine, when Wayne Harris and Dylan Klebold state, I know were gonna have followers because were so fucking godlike. Were not exactly human-we have human bodies but weve evolved into one step above you fuckin shit (Larkin 60). This mentality distances the shooter from his or her peers enabling him or her to commit acts without feeling empathy for his or her victims. Rather than thinking of a school shooting as harming his or her peers, the shooter thinks of it as killing another animal just as we kill animals like deer or cows. The media not only contributes to the creation of false ideas regarding divinity, it also provides the shooter with an opportunity for instant nationwide fame and intimidation. Due to the fact that these school shooters are narcissists, they are seeking to show their peers and the rest of the world that they are the superior beings in society. What easier way to do that then to be broadcasted on all the nationwide news shows? This use of mass media was exhibited in Brenda Winstons shooting of an elementary school; Brenda was seeking to show herself as an intimidating killer and was quoted as saying that her reason for killing the children was that she did not like Mondays and was looking for some fun (Fast 73). Such a callous and emotionless response was a perfect way to show the country just how cruel and dangerous she really was,

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exhibiting that shooters often strike for fame. Larkin agrees with this opinion because of the flurry pattern seen in school shootings. School shootings occur in clusters because the shooters know that they will achieve instant fame in large part because of the sudden frequency of attacks in a short period of time (Larkin 224). In this way, the shooters display that they do not only want to kill because they are divine, but also show the whole world their divinity. Rather than suffer in a world where they are isolated from the rest of their peers and oftentimes neglected by their parents, the child will get to go down as one of most notorious killers in history. The shooter sees this as an outlet from their cold life of obscurity. This desire for a violent outlet is not caused by the language in rap music or violent movies. Many critically acclaimed writers following the shocking increase in shootings have expressed this belief in newspapers across the world. Even Albert R. Hunt of the Wall Street Journal expressed this belief following the shootings in Springfield, Oregon, and Jonesboro, Arkansas, Hunt believed that it was the cultural rot that was plaguing our country. In his article he stated, If Frank Sinatra songs make people feel romantic and John Phillips Sousa makes people feel patriotic, then the obscene violence of shock rocker Marilyn Manson or gangstarapper Snoop Doggy Dog might encourage impressionable and troubled teenagers to feel perverted or violent(Hunt). This belief that was established by many writers in the late 1990s and continues to be expressed by many throughout the country today, even though the statistical data just simply does not support such a belief. If it is television, music, and movies that are influencing these kids to commit acts of violence, why do only a select few commit homicidal actions? Children are exposed to 200,000 violent images by the time they reach high school, yet less than one percent of kids commit violent actions at school (Kiilakoski & Oksanen 33). If television, music, and movies had such a vast impact on the actions of students, then a far greater

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number of youths would commit these acts. In addition, such adult orientated, crude, gory entertainment existed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, yet it was not until the 1990s that the increase in school shootings occurred (Fast 22). Therefore, the spike is better associated with the shift toward over-dramatic and excessive news story coverage. The appearance of pop sensationalism in the news began in the very late 1980s and has been a part of our culture ever since (Fast 27), suggesting that this may be the cause for the tremendous increase in school violence, not the presentation of unclean or inappropriate material in television, music, and movies. The utilization of the pop sensationalist media is not only motivation for committing horrific acts of violence but also an instant opportunity for fame can help show the world his or her redemption. As expressed earlier, most of the kids who commit such acts have suffered abuse from either their parents or their peers. These kids have been outcasts at school or beaten and or pushed by their parents. The perfect case study for this is Wayne Lo who killed many at a shooting at Simons Rock. Wayne Lo was a good student and was even liked and respected by students and faculty, only occasionally ever revealing the dark and depressing feeling of loneliness and depression to the surface (Fast 84-85). Because he was very respected by his teachers and peers, investigators were puzzled as to why he would turn out to be a homicidal killer. It turns out that as a child Lo was put under an intense amount of stress from his parents. During the week Wayne would have to watch his brother, clean the house, do his schoolwork, and practice violin, and on weekends he would bus tables all day (Fast 84). Disobeying orders would result in a beating from his strict disciplinarian father, thus when Wayne went on to kill students at Simons Rock years later, he was just continuing the cycle of violence, feeling that they only way in which he could reconcile his submissive past was by causing harm to others

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(Fast 84-85). In his mind, Wayne was simply the good guy who after years of being defeated by the bad guy finally gets his chance to strike and display what true power really is. This reveals that Wayne thinks he is reenacting the socially accepted good versus evil, underdog versus evil empire, scenario that is accepted in our country today. It his triumph over his father who never thought he would amount to anything in his life. Thus, the myth of redemptive violence that was formulated by Walter Wink in his Facing the Myth of Redemptive Violence plays a crucial role in motivating school shooters to shoot their peers. Wayne feels that he is proving to his father, who in this case is the bad guy, that he can accomplish great things. Abuse from parents is not the only thing that can cause a child to disconnect himself from society. A personality clash or talent level deficiency between the family and the child is another flashpoint for causing a disconnect. Oftentimes the kids who commit school shootings are not good students in a family of straight-A students, or an anti-social kid in a social, outgoing family, or an athlete in a family of theatre geeks. These differences cause a child to feel as if he or she does not even fit in with his or her own family (Fast 17). When a child feels he or she has no support group to fall back on after a rough day at school or a bad sports practice, he or she will begin to feel isolated and slip away from society (Bender et al 105). The kid will begin to feel as if he or she is an embarrassment to his or her family and must do something to show that he or she is more powerful than his or her parents think. In the case of Kip Kinkel, who shot up Thurston High School in 1998, this feeling of disconnect from his family was the root cause of his rage. To everyone in the town, the Kinkels were described as a nurturing home and the ideal American family with intelligent, athletic kids, a nice house, and tremendous manners (Lieberman 52-53). Unlike the case of Wayne Lo who was beaten by his father, Kip was never physically harmed at home, but instead cared for deeply. Kip, however, was discovered to have

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dyslexia in the third grade and thus did not perform well in school like his other brothers and sisters, causing him to spend a tremendous number of hours attempting to fix an unfixable problem (Lieberman 48). As most reasonable parents would do, Kips parents did not mind his poor grades and did not inflict any harsh punishment because they understood his issue; instead it was Kips self-inflicted mental abuse that began to drive him away from society (Lieberman 49). Kip saw himself as an outcast from his own family, and thus interpreted nurturing from his parents as actions meant to mock him, causing him to seek redemption and show how smart he truly was. There are many people who do, however, disagree that parenting can cause a child to commit such terrible actions, and rather abuse at school is the more likely factor. Adolescent psychologist Ralph Larkin argues that school abuse has the most powerful impact because it is out in the public and not behind closed doors, thus the shame is done for more people to see (Lieberman 187). Private ridicule is not as powerful because not enough people see it for the child to feel ashamed about his or her actions (Larkin186). While the logic presented does in fact make sense, Larkin forgets that shooters are oftentimes shy and internalize their feelings in belief that if a thought pops into their head, someone will hear it (Kiilakoski & Oksanen 35). Thus it is not necessary for the abuse to occur somewhere in which the childs peers can see it happen. He or she may feel as if his or her peers already know the issue, making it feel like every look his or her way is like a knife cutting into his or her brain. Many also may argue that if it were the parents causing the most harm, why is it that these kids do not exact their revenge on their parents for redemption, rather than the many innocent kids who have caused no harm to the child?

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The logic behind the shooter choosing the school as his or her intended place of destruction is one that has puzzled many. There have only been 245 deaths in or around schools from1992-2002, which pales in comparison to the number of deaths that have occurred in other locations (Lieberman 297). It seems as if the only instances of death at schools are those in which a student brings a weapon and kills his or her peers or faculty members. The motivation behind why the shooter chooses this as his intended location is rather simple. The shooter is looking to redeem himself and show his power after suffering abuse at the hands of his peers or parents. He realizes that the easiest way in which to make headlines so that all can see that he is not weak is by shooting a school, in large part thanks to the excessive media coverage of these events (Lieberman 298). In the case of Kip Kinkel, had he simply killed his parents, he would have never proved to them that he was smarter than they thought he was. In smuggling a concealed weapon into school, Kip could prove to his parents that he was intelligent enough to carry-out tasks that they could not accomplish themselves. Therefore, while the imagined abuse occurred at home, causing harm to his parents does not prove the point that Kip was intending to, so he harms his peers at school. In addition, the school is the shooters personal stage or social theatre where he or she is most known, thus it is the place where he or she can most easily publicize his power and cause the most damage (Lieberman 301). Lastly, if the child had been bullied by his or her peers, he sees the school as an opportunity to become a classroom avenger, one who stands up for all the kids who have been bullied, showing that good can triumph over evil (Lieberman 302). If the bullied child was to commit this act elsewhere such as a mall or grocery store, he or she would not be achieving true redemption and thus the school is the only logical location for him or her to cause harm.

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While the mind of the school shooter has yet to be fully understood by anyone, it is clear that we are making progress in better analyzing the minds of these troubled teens and not just labeling them as the bullied psychotic killer. Pop sensationalism in the media, the myth of redemptive violence, and abuse in the home all have a major impact on the mind of the shooter causing him to either feel supported in the dark feelings he or she possess or drives him to feel disconnected from society. Until we can further pursue these concepts in studies and educate school faculty as well as the general public on the psychological development of school shooters, we will never be able to eradicate the issues absolutely. Also, helping to alleviate the pain that these children feel and ensuring that all children have a social circle that he or she can lean on, cannot be solely dealt with by the school faculty. It is vital that parents and rest of society better understand the underlying causes of school shootings so that they can be a part of the solution. It is imperative that factors that play a role in the shooters feelings of depression and isolation are fully explored; otherwise, the cycle of violence in pain in our schools will never end.

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Works Cited Bender, W. N., T. H. Shubert, and P. J. McLaughlin. "Invisible Kids: Preventing School Violence by Identifying Kids in Trouble." Intervention in School and Clinic 37.2 (2001): 105-11. Web. Fast, Jonathan. Ceremonial Violence: A Psychological Explanation of School Shootings. Woodstock, NY: Overlook, 2008. Print. Hunt, Albert R. "Politics & People: Teen Violence Spawned by Guns and Cultural Rot." The Wall Street Journal 11 June 1998, Politics & People sec.: A23. Web. Kiilakoski, T., & Oksanen, A. Cultural and peer influences on homicidal violence: A Finnish perspective. New Directions for Youth Development, 2011(129), 31-42. Print. Larkin, Ralph W. Comprehending Columbine. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2007. Print. Lieberman, Joseph. The Shooting Game: The Making of School Shooters. Santa Ana, CA: Seven Locks, 2006. Print. Wink, Walter. "Facing the Myth of Redemptive Violence." Ekklesia. Web. 29 Sept. 2011.<http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/cpt/article_060823wink.shtml>.