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What happened in Littleton this past week is a sad thing. I watched the newscasts with a dying hope for our future, not only because 13 people were murdered in a quaint suburban high school, but because of society’s foul accusations. I don’t claim to justify the acts of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, but at the same time, I refuse to look at the events as though Columbine High School’s community was the only victim. Eric and Dylan, despite their radical ways, were victims of society, a fact that too many wish to disbelieve. Of course, it’s much easier to blame someone else.

The media has shown us a grim image of two racists, sporting nazi apparel and an interest in death. They’ve blamed everything from Marilyn Manson and the Church of Satan to Hitler himself. And it’s not just the media. The police have even connected the travesty to Vampire, a popular roleplaying game. This is certainly not the first time people have thrown guilt in the direction of a game. It happened in Michigan some years back, and the shadowy image of the devil’s perversion has been cast upon roleplaying games ever since. Do people really care that such games bring about creativity and logic? Of course not. Do they care that the Church of Satan doesn’t even worship Satan? Of course not. Why bother learning the facts when it’s easier to make up scapegoats. Blame a dead man; it’s all Hitler’s fault.

You know whose fault it really is? Yours. You and your intolerance of those who are different. Call Eric and Dylan racists; you do a nice job of ostracizing those who wear black, or who don’t look and dress like the vast majority. I’ve seen it in high school, and I see it here at RIT. Had people not ridiculed the Trenchcoat Mafia, this may never have happened. If people had actually tried talking to these kids, tried to understand them, then 15 people need not have died. Go ahead, call them freaks. Just realize that what you reap, you will inevitably sow.

Our society needs to be more open to other people and their beliefs. We have to learn to educate ourselves before we criticize. And above all, we have to realize that difference is not bad. Popularity shouldn’t be judged by the hat you wear or the label on your clothes.

I thought that an event like this would have opened people’s eyes, but I was wrong. Does it take a bullet to wake you people up?

(Note: This article was originally printed in Reporter magazine (04/30/99) without the title shown here. An elderly female reader who read the op-ed piece was overhead saying that the author should be shot.)

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