Manson’s off the hook. But we aren’t.

Andrew Gumbel’s article The truth about Columbine discusses Columbine, a book written by Colorado-based journalist Dave Cullen, which reveals the truth of the Columbine massacre as as attested by “tens of thousands of official official documents and other evidence that has at last seen the light of day after years of suppression by the local authorities.” Gumbel reports that much of what the public (including the students at Columbine High) understand to be the truth of what happened that day, and the reasons for why it happened, is based on reports by the media. And the media was “simply wrong”. Gumbel tells how Cullen’s book reveals that “Harris and Klebold had plenty of friends, did pretty well in school, were not members of the Trenchcoat Mafia, did not listen to Manson, were not bullied, harboured no specific grudges against any one group, and did not “snap” because of some last-straw traumatic event. All those stories were the product of hysteria, ignorance and flailing guesswork in the first few hours and days”. There was a public uproar over the fact that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were racists who targeted evangelical Christians and jocks in their murderous rampage, when in actual fact their ideology was far more inclusive. They hated everyone. In his journal, Harris states “I fucking hate the world”. Slightly more sinister. Most of us heard the second-hand (third-hand, fourth-hand…) story of Cassie Bernall, who was asked at gunpoint if she believed in God, and was shot dead by a laughing Harris when she answered yes. A best selling book has since been released, co-authored by Bernall’s mother, in which her daughter is elevated “to martyr status far beyond”. The fact of the matter is unveiled by Cullen: “Bernall, it turns out, was shot and killed outright. She was a recent convert to evangelical Christianity, after a deeply troubled early adolescence, and perhaps for that reason her story became confused with that of another student. It was Valeen Schnurr, who was asked, by Klebold, if she believed in God, and answered yes. She was then spared”. It was a coincidence that it was on Hitler’s birthday that the killers imposed their hate on the school they attended. Although Harris, in his journal, stated an appreciation for Heinrich Himmler’s genocidal tendencies, the April 20 date was a fluke. Their attack was planned for the day before but the drug dealer from whom they were to receive their weapons did not deliver on time. Harris and Klebold’s had visions of grandeur that included blowing up the entire school, a sure way to eliminate all 2000 students and their teachers. Their bombs did not detonate. Not only did the killers fail to meet their objectives, but “Everything about the Columbine disaster is tinged with failure. The county sheriff’s department knew Harris and Klebold had been making pipe bombs and threatening their schoolmates. They applied at one point for a warrant to search Harris’s house, but the warrant was never executed. The school, meanwhile, failed to recognise the danger, even though Harris spilled much of his venom on his publicly accessible website, and even though Klebold wrote an essay two months before the attack about a man gunning down innocents and enjoying it. Klebold’s teacher was deeply concerned, but the authorities ultimately bought his explanation that it was “just a story”…and the Swat teams were so hesitant to swoop in mid-killing that they ended up compounding the disaster, allowing a PE teacher to bleed to death when early intervention would almost certainly have saved his life”. Following years of lawsuits, the bulk of the withheld investigation documents were finally released in 2006. A deposition of the parents of the two killers, taken over several days in 2003, will, however, remain under seal until 2027.

The natural reaction to the media’s role in propagating incorrect information is to demand that they be held accountable. I argue that it is all of us who should be held accountable. It is no secret that the media is a tool of sensationalism and propaganda, and yet we, the public, take its word as truth – when it suits us. It is much easier for us to understand and explain the hate felt by two adolescent boys by calling them bullied goths who listen to Marilyn Manson, who love Hitler, who hate Christians and over-achievers. We easily accept that they wore trenchcoats as a symbol of their ganghood, rather than as a way to hide the mass of weapons they hauled into school on April 20. We succumb to the fear, paranoia and hysteria fuelled by media reports. Reports based on gross misconceptions. These misconceptions become the Raison d’être. The justification for judgement and blame.

We call ourselves a free people. We like to believe that we live in an age of enlightenment, intellectualism and development. Alan Moore’s comic book series V for Vendetta depicts a futuristic Britain, ruled by a fascist party called Norsefire, existing in a world that has been largely destroyed as a result of a nuclear war. V is a revolutionary anarchist who, dressed in a Guy Fawkes mask, begins an elaborate, violent and theatrical campaign to bring down the totalitarian government. In the film version V hijacks a television station and broadcasts the following speech:

Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquillity of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, whereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone’s death or the end of some awful bloody struggle are celebrated with a nice holiday. I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, think, and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well, certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now High Chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence.

Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you’ve seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.

V for Vendetta is a warning. Moore understands the danger inherent in the use of fear as a means to control. He understands the damage that can be wrecked by such a tool. He depicts a world that has succumbed to media-propagated fear. He depicts the future of an apathetic people.

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