There have been many
school shootings all over the world for the past one hundred and
fifty years. While I cannot deny that they are on the increase in
nominal terms, both in frequency and in death toll, if one considers
the population growth over that time frame and measure incidents per
person it would be a more more stable figure, it may well even be in
decline. The frequency has remained more constant over the time
period and it tends to be the death toll which is rising which could
be attributed to technological developments just as easily as social
ones. Even if school shootings are on a relative decline it is not
fast enough. Each has had the impact of a once in a life time tragedy
such as the Twin Towers yet the memory of Dunblane was still vivid
when Colombine occurred. Being British our media is highly focused on
UK and US events but the rest of the world has had its fair share as
well with Germany having two double digit death toll school shootings
since the new millennium. The Sandy Hook shootings in the latter part
of last year being from America were getting a lot of media attention
which brought the memories and feelings back yet again. It is
profoundly sad yet also exasperating. Most crimes are unpleasant,
most tragedies seem cruel and senseless yet most crimes have motive
and most tragedies have at least an explanation. Where one cannot see
motive or reason there can be no solution and this was how I felt
about school shootings.
The school shootings
where a single person was shot are more likely to have been like any
other shooting and with much of the same fathomable motives, just
located at a school and so bolstering the figures. It is the
incidents where people indiscriminately shoot at anyone that are most
concerning as they are so abhorrent yet so seemingly insoluble. While
struggling with the problem as to why people would commit such a
atrocious act it hit me like one of those hidden image visual tricks
that you stare at until you lose focus and a three dimensional shape
emerges from the page. The problem itself was the reason, it is
simply because it is so atrocious that people are drawn to it, like
climbing the highest mountain. Shooting up a school indiscriminately
is about the most damaging, inhumane, immoral and cruel act that can
be easily achieved by people without control over armies or munitions
stock piles. It is an act of individual terrorism against society
that lashes out hitting everyone around them. Should a person become
removed enough from society to feel both isolated and persecuted then
they could harbour enough hatred to take action and would not be
fettered by morality, only motivated by impact. It is because schools
are such an obvious target in terms of ease for effect that they are
a social weak spot which means that there will be those that try to
exploit it. Does this mean we need to increase security in schools?
No, probably not, it would be very hard and expensive to make it
effective and would then only shift the most viable targets to
shopping precincts or theme parks.
It is not helped that
the media lay all the cards on the table and show the world what a
devastating blow it is to society. This in effect showcases the idea
to others, which is the best solution I can find as to why there are
so many recurrences of school shootings. Does this imply we should
censor the media? No, probably not again. Censorship is an ugly
business and in these situations it would seem to somehow deny the
grief of those who lost people. Censorship is also more likely to
make people mistrust and fear the state which in itself would help
create an environment where people are more likely to want to damage
society. While advertising the idea of a school shooting is not great
it is far better than the alternative which is a world of more
secrets and less freedoms. Free speech, as with any freedom, comes
with dangers and responsibilities which we have not yet mastered.
This however is no reason to about turn on an important principle.
It is all to easy to
blame the media for many of the modern social ills but one of the
downsides of a democracy is that you must reap what you sow. The
media only provide what we want, capitalism ensures this, if media is
successfully pandering to our more base interests then it is we who
are weak and immoral and not them. The media may help to enable us
and our morbid lusts but we the people are very much the primary
enabler in that relationship. To solve the media problem we need to
go far deeper and improve the whole of society so that they no longer
are able to sucker us in with sinister details, tribalism, figures to
hate and sensationalism. I am not suggesting that in an “improved
society” such events as school shootings would not be broadcast due
to a lack of interest nor am I suggesting that it is immoral to take
an interest in a horrific event. I believe the opposite in fact, that
open information and an empathic sharing of grief is a great aid in
the healing and improving process both on a personal and social
level. I am simply trying to illustrate that the media, while far
from helpful, is not a single solution to stopping school shootings.
One area I do still
hold the media both responsible and in contempt is factual accuracy
or simply the reporting of opinion as if they were facts. In the
recent Sandy Hook school shooting a major American news network
suggested that Star Craft II could be in part responsible for the
culprits actions. The idea that any game really makes people more
violent in real life is fairly thin and frankly laughable but the
idea that Star Craft II is making people more violent is like saying
the same about chess. The painful irony is that Star Craft is
preventing far more school shootings than it is inducing. Criminal
satires that are said to glorify violence such as Grand Theft Auto
tend to be light relief played casually or with friends in private.
Star Craft however has a huge community and following. It is a way
young people can meet and interact with like minded folk and share in
something where they are accepted. There are professional tournaments
going on all over the world and conventions where players can
transcend the online communities by seeing each other in the flesh.
There are big stars and the all important fans and then there are
sponsors who provide the money to fuel much of this. Unsurprisingly
it is both quite a geeky community and quite a young one too however
this makes them highly accepting of others and the perfect
environment for the more disenfranchised youths in society. Most
people are entirely unaware that all this goes on and would be amazed
at what they found if the delved into the hidden worlds of the less
mainstream social communities. Players winning hundred of thousands
of dollars and being revered like sports legends complete with
thousands of people looking unusually comfortable in themselves.
Although I am not really involved in the Star Craft scene I have been
fortunate enough to be involved in a very similar one for a card game
called Magic the Gathering. Being a part of the Magic scene is one of
the most instrumental and significant parts of who I am, it provided
valuable support and experience and it allowed me to meet some of my
dearest friends. There are huge cultural benefits to being part of a
global scene as well, especially one that is friendly and accepting
by nature. I am not good in social situations, the less well I know
people and the larger the group the worse I find the experience. At a
Magic tournament I am surrounded by hundreds, perhaps thousands of
other Magic players and I am completely at home, able to hold a
conversation with anyone as if I had known them all my life. Having
personal experience of how such a community helped me in so many
aspects of my life and knowing that it has done the same for so many
others makes me highly defensible when they are demonized or
stigmatised by more mainstream culture. It is not only morally
unsavoury to implicate things we know very little about in atrocities
but it is very damaging to the growth of the communities. If parents
see media coverage condemning an activity they are far more likely to
stop their children from getting involved. This will deny them the
opportunity to find alternate communities within society that might
best suit them. This in turn could lead to them becoming the kind of
isolated disenfranchised individual that could massacre a school.
As a society we are
rather hypocritical when it comes to the youth, either we forgot what
it was like being young or we convince ourselves times have changed
enough that children need treating very differently. We try to shield
the young from drugs and sex and other dangerous freedoms however we
do relatively little in the way of alternatives. Being young is about
trying things and making mistakes so that you may be a wise and
sensible adult with valuable life experience. In the early teens we
go from being children to wannabe adults. You see this transformation
in many animals too. We poke around trying out grown up things for
size trying to gauge where we fit in to the world and what sort of
person we are. As a society we seem to quash many of the
opportunities teenagers might have to do much of this valuable
growing.
While I offer no single
solution to preventing school shootings I strongly believe that the
various non mainstream communities represent one of the best buffers
we have against it. They are less known and harder to stumble into
than the more obvious communities within society and need all the
help they can get in promoting their existence and benefits. The
internet is helping many of these communities grow but there are also
some concerns that the internet is contributing to the feeling of
isolation within society. The kicker for the gaming communities is
that they encourage events such as tournaments and conventions where
people travel too and meet in person. They get the best of both
worlds, lots of people with lots of connections all without distance
constraints from the internet complete with real social intercourse
and cultural experience all with the protective fall-back of the
activity in question. They are the the kinds of community that are
most likely to be suitable for those feeling isolated within a more
mainstream environment and therefore are more important than things
like baseball clubs and school discos for preventing internal attacks
upon society. The
cultural idea of the geek has changed, or more the emotional response
the concept of a geek evokes. Within my lifetime it has gone from
being a label that comes with some stigma to being an acceptable
norm. While the geek might be recognisable based on appearance
cultural acceptance has not gone quite as far as the activities of
the geek, or other similar term. Most would probably say that geeks
do stuff on computers which might well be accurate but is hardly
specific. It is no longer the label of the geek that comes with
stigma attached but rather the activities that they are more likely
to do. The media rather than fuelling current popular opinion on
games would be doing society a big favour if it kept to facts and
relevant information. Perhaps even going out on a limb and showing
what a positive force these underground communities can be for our
under catered for youth would be one of the best things a media
outlet could do to make up for years of blame.
The internet has helped
bring small pockets of gamers together into large worldwide
communities but it is also having some rather significant effects on
the physical world. It is changing our town centres, certain shops
are becoming obsolete and others are taking their place. I have
spoken a lot about the merits of having activities suitable for
youths and promoting underground communities. One of the best places
for both of these things is the local games shop which not only sells
a wide array of different gaming products all with their own
associated communities but also serves as a meeting and mingling
place for people of all ages. They are typically places to play games
first and shops second, often they have back rooms or upstairs where
tables and chairs fill the room purely to play games. They provide
real social interaction and activities within a safe environment and
serve as a gateway into bigger more global communities. Games shops
offer society a service by providing what is essentially the
equivalent of a pub or bar for gamers. The internet however is a
better place to get gaming products from and so these shops are
losing business. Games are not consumable like alcohol. If the shop
fails then with it goes the places to meet and socialise. Personally
I think such places are so valuable to society that I would subsidize
them centrally to ensure people always had a local games shop to go
and play games in regardless of where people bought their games. As I
am not in charge of government spending I instead vote with my wallet
and support my local business. I buy all my games from my local shop
instead of online in the hope it will keep its doors open till 10pm
most nights, have enough interest to keep putting on events, to keep
its store copies of games up to date and have enough floor space to
allow for at least thirty gamers to freely play games. One of the
best instances to shop local is the games store because of all the
incidental benefits that they bring with them and so I dedicate this
article to Clifton Road Games for helping to improve society and
preventing acts of social terrorism.
