MonsterDemonstrate, monstrance

Monstrum: omen

Monstrare: show, point out, reveal, advise, teach

Monere: to warn

The War Against Reality

A Youth Perspective on the Columbine High School Massacre

“Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.”

Jules De Gaultier

Celine Song, 2nd Year Psychology/Philosophy

Dylan Klebold & Eric Harris

Columbine High SchoolApril 20, 1999

12 VictimsSuicide

Seung-Hui Cho

Virginia TechApril 16, 2007

32 VictimsSuicide

“Children in the United States spend an average of between 3 and 4 hours per day viewing television” (Comstock & Paik, 1991).

“More than 60% of television programs contain some violence, and about 40% of those contain heavy violence” (Wilson, 1997).

“Video game units are now present in 83% of homes with children” (Roberts et al., 2005).

“An average child spends 49 minutes per day playing video games, and on any given day, 52% of children aged 8–18 years are playing video games. (Roberts et al., 2005).

“94% of the video games that are rated by the video game industry as appropriate for teens are described as containing violence.” (Haninger & Thomson, 2004).

Violencein

Media

YouthViolenceCAUSES

‘‘For some children, under some conditions, some television is harmful. For other children, under the same conditions, or for the same children under other conditions, it may be beneficial. For most children, under most conditions, most television is probably neither particularly harmful nor particularly beneficial’’ (Schramm et al., 1961).

Cases of Rape, Aggravated Assault and Indecent Behaviour Known to the Police in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1964-84 (Kutchinsky, 1991)

“Most other research data we have about pornography and rape suggest that the link between them is more than weak. And our knowledge about the contents, the uses and the users of pornography suggests that pornography does not represent a blueprint for rate, but is an aphrodisiac, that is, food for the sexual FANTASY of persons – most males – who like to masturbate.”

Fantasyis any product of imagination.

VS.

Reality Fantasy

“My belief is that if I say something, it goes. I am the law, if you don’t like it, you die. If I don’t like your or I don’t like what you want me to do, you die. If I do something incorrect, oh fucking well, you die. […] God I cant wait till I can kill you people. Ill just go to some downtown area in some big ass city and blow up and shoot everything I can. Feel no remorse, no sense of shame. […] I will rig up explosives all over a town and detonate each one of them at will after I mow down a whole fucking area full of you snotty ass rich mother fucking high strung godlike attitude having worthless pieces of shit whores. I don’t care if I live or die in the shootout, all I want to do is kill and injure as many of you pricks as I can, especially a few people.” – Excerpt From Eric Harris’ Notes

In English class, the teacher had the students read aloud and, when it was Cho’s turn, he just looked down in silence, Davids recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. Finally, after the teacher threatened to give him a failing grade for participation, Cho started to read in a strange, deep voice that sounded “like he had something in his mouth,” Davids said.

“As soon as he started reading, the whole class started laughing and pointing and saying, ‘Go back to China,’” Davids said.

"bizarre antics ranged from him making up an imaginary girlfriend - a supermodel he called 'Jelly' - to his more disturbing, real-life encounters with the young women he apparently met online and then eventually confronted in person, only to have them recoil from him."

Violencein

Media

YouthViolence

“The finding that alienation from peers was predictive of action or violent film view and use of violent media content in general” (Slater, 2003).

CAUSES

Thank You!