Columbine really threw everyone for a loop. Parents accustomed to blaming youth violence on subjective poverty and race previously contained in the urban ghettos, didn't understand it. Here were two kids raised in seemingly wonderful upper middle class white families, attending one of the nicest schools in the world (with enough video cameras to capture the whole event). Who do you blame? They tried to pin it on video games and Marilyn Manson the musician and finally their parents for not 'seeing it'. The truth is much scarier, and so nobody really takes a deeper look. Time we take a look under the carpet and see what's been piling up.
I found it really interesting that the media focused on the fact that the 2 boys were from middle class backgrounds. i think this aspect did scare middle america. I can see why. But when you really think about it this argument can become a way to vilify any "troubled teen" who is not from a poor background. The same idea was purpetuated in the British version of Brat camp. Even when it was glaringly obvious that some of the kids really did have nutbar parents and that there could have been many contributing factors to some of their issues.
While there have been links between property crime and poverty for a while, and it is easy to see that the strong social stresses that come with poverty can contribute to some crimes, social class has rarely been a factor for mass murderers and serial killers. Look at Ted bundy.
Mike males once pointed out that there would quite rightly be an outrage if Sam burkowitz was referred to as a typical Jew or Myra hinley as a typoical woman but it was perfectly acceptable for the media to refer to these 2 boys as typical teens.
