Placing Blame on the Parents of Adolescent Deliinquents
Placing Blame on the Parents of Adolescent Deliinquents
There are, without a doubt innumerable accounts, whether reported or not, where some aspect of the media has been blamed for the occurrence of some grave adversity. Although previously investigated bombastically, the Columbine shootings continue to be examined since its 1999 occurrence. Any other event could have served just as exemplary as the shootings at Columbine work to do here. It may seem a tired issue to raise at the conception of my thesis, however this event will never lose the enormity it divulged.
“On April 20, 1999, two students walked nonchalantly into Columbine High School at 11:15 a.m. and fired shots from a multi-gun arsenal and lobbed homemade bombs throughout the school. At the end of the rampage, 12 students, one teacher and the gunmen were dead.”
Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the so-called outcast Columbine students who killed a dozen classmates and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves, were tagged as members of the school's “goth” community and were said to hate jocks, targeting them among their victims. Further fueling speculation, after the two students opened fire on their school, an angered populace quickly pointed fingers of blame at bands such as Rammstein, Marilyn Manson, and KMFDM. A similar shooting in a Californian high school was blamed on a rather popular band called Linkin Park. Song lyrics, music videos, and television are also blamed for suicides and intense depression. Many stories of students committing acts of suicide while listening to Marilyn Manson, Staind, and other such bands run rampant through the minds of a heavily prejudiced people.
The debate over the influence of the media in American culture is one of the hottest topics among policymakers, educators, and prevention professionals. With numerous studies done on the subject, it would seem plausible there is a solid conclusion as to whether or not media causes us to behave in the manner reflected on the screen, in music lyrics or in music videos. However, this is not the case; direct causality seems to elude researchers and academicians. However, few dispute that media and advertising have some effect on all of us. The question at hand is how much does the media effect youth culture? Most everyone seems quick to point the finger at the media when any quandary arises relating...