-
- When I was in high school... when we
all were in high school... there was a sick, twisted system long ago established
by which the gifted -- those who by nature do not meld with the "Borg"
of normative society -- were trampled, humiliated and slowly beaten down
psychologically, and often times physically, until we fit the mold or perished.
Some of you reading this were the instruments of that torment, and you
yourselves were guided and manipulated by peer pressures to do so. Adapt
or die. And some of you reading this are still struggling with well disguised
and hidden scars from those years. Adapt or die. Others... sloughed it
off, burying it deep in the subconscious.
Adapt or die.
-
- But some are not with us anymore. They
dropped a load of sleeping pills to escape it; they pulled the trigger
on Dad's 12 gauge in the garage seeking that perfect sleep; they wandered
off in a fugue state never to be seen or heard from again. All the while
the conformers, the normals, the happy-go-lucky cogs of the great Borg
went on morally blind to the incredible tragedy surrounding them and in
which they blindly -- or knowingly -- participated. No body count.
-
- For me, that horrible period of life
was more than 20 years ago. It was absolute hell then. It must be a sheer
spiritual apocalypse on the soul of teens today, as things have distinctly
gone from bad to worse. It has become hopeless and depraved, sending a
veritable few over the edge to grasp hard steel and cock back shotguns
to make it come to an end. An end to the system of pain, and as we've seen
in Littleton, and end to themselves as well.
-
- What we are seeing in Littleton, Colorado,
and in the past 10 years in various other schools around the nation, is
literally war. The geeks, the weirdos, the nerds, the outcast, the troubled-gifted,
the challenged and the general "breakfast club" is no longer
comfortable with crumbling into a million pieces and dissolving into the
background to appease the accepted and normative jocks, 'socies' and picture
perfect all-American jackasses soon to be our future political jackasses;
afflicted of soul and body for the rest of their lives, the outcasts are
fighting back. They have declared war on the normals and it's a real war,
with real blood and real guns. Its a unique kink in the process of social
evolution (or de-evolution), in a sense. Just so many decades of this can
go on before the free radical stops bouncing around and starts attacking
and creating a cancer that eventually kills the host.
-
- The question is, is it deserved? That
is not to say did any of these young people in Littleton deserve to die,
but rather: Is this war, this 'rage against the machine' deserved?
-
- I say yes. It has been a long time coming.
It is much deserved. Not the deaths, not the tragedy. It's horrific that
it has come to this! I have nothing but pity and sorrow for the victims
and their families. But on a raw-truth level, this sort of lashing out
is utterly predictable and sustained by a system even those parents participate
in, regarding it as "normal" and "good." We reap what
we sow. And I truly wonder how many of the people closely involved with
this debacle have any clue how much they themselves feed the beast. They
feed it when they hand their kid a charge card and tell them to go forth
and reflect what the many varied cliques demand in clothing, in music,
in style. They feed it when they buy into this disturbed system that creates
a hierarchy of acceptability and conformity, and in turn demonstrate to
their children that the 'way things are' is good... right... the 'way it
should be' because it has always been that way.
I've heard it so many times it makes me want to puke. "Well it was
good enough for me," says the parent from the previous generation,
who sloughs off this issue entirely, "and I turned out okay."
-
- Okay?????
-
- No. Wrong. You turned out completely
screwed up! If this is your perspective, you're part of the machine and
have been. You were 'absorbed.' You traded your soul for a piece of the
American pie, sold your birthright for a meal, chose conformity for the
sake of an easy glide, and now you can't see, can't hear, can't think for
yourself in the slightest. Its an easy road this way. Count the costs.
And the same old excuses live on...
-
- "It's my job."
"I was just following orders."
"Well, I survived it."
"What's wrong with the kids these days?"
-
- What wrong with them is YOU.
-
- It's all filtered for you and through
you. Living outside of this system requires daily fortitude and spiritual
upkeep. It is sacrificial. It is HARDER to live outside the system, where
truth can really be truth and lies are exposed, no matter what the cost,
ridicule, chastisement from the "world" at large. And most don't
want to sacrifice. So they don't. They join up. It's very subtle. It's
gradual. But its all consuming. And then, you're gone. The great dark-backward
has had its way with you and what's left is not a rock's throw from 'Stepford,'
repackaged for a new era so the seams don't show. And the beauty part is,
you don't recognize it. They took your ability to recognize it ages ago.
You gave it to them.
-
- Wake up, sleeper.
-
- This is the hideous, sinking, perpetuating
gearworks of the system, designed to keep the sparks of imaginative, creative,
unique life-force to an absolute minimum and populate the great gorge of
culture with a vast throng of media-manipulated, perfectly possessed and
automatonically controlled 'bots' who guarantee the survival of THE SYSTEM
into the next generation! It trashes people who are going to create new
people to trash, a cyclic, patterned process. Where and when will it end?
It ended in Littleton, in a blaze of blood and bombs when two (possibly
more, this story is far from over!) young boys decided "that was it...
no more pain", no more being crushed and ground down to a pulp. Time
for the crushing and grinding to reverse. Is anyone really shocked? Yes.
The normals are stunned and shaking in their boots. They can't rationalize
it because they gave up real rationalization many, many years ago.
-
- Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols in my
time was singing, "Anger is an energy!" and "I am an Anarchist,
I am an Antichrist!" as a powerful downbeat on a podium for change,
a throbbing mantra echoing out to all the disenfranchised, neglected, trampled
kids. The gleam in his eyes across that broken, tormented face was intense,
hypnotic and resonating. Generation X now has the blood of Nirvana's Kurt
Kobain for a psychic ritual baptism, and the rites of passage are piercings,
scarifications and tattoos declaring their divorce from the system. Hurt
yourself before THEY hurt you.. and it won't hurt anymore. Control the
hurt. Control pain. This is the solution when you're out numbered and know
you cannot control the system. Sadly, they simply joined the 'other' well-crafted,
perfectly controlled and manipulated hand of a multi-armed cultural diety.
They have escaped nothing. When the wiles of youth wear off, the scars
and holes and markings will be there to forever remind them of what happened.
A stigmata of the machine. We have yet to see the end result of this particular
schism in society. Brace yourselves for this one to explode.
-
-
- In Littleton, that control took another
course, however. It didn't parcel itself into thrashing guitars and strobes
and acid house and now well established alternative-scene self-therapy
(I hope everyone reading this realizes that that is precisely what we're
seeing in the X generation and the music world now... ad-hoc, self-generated
therapy for dealing with the madness of this culture and society. When
you look at it, realize this fact. They are having to do it themselves,
because no one else is going to do it for them. No one gives a damn. And
it beats killing people, no?). It broke out with gritted teeth; with Network's
prophetic "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
into the hard reality we now hardly make contact with today, thanks to
the glitz and glimmer of cathode-ray visions and videodrome-like fantasy
worlds which we've adopted into our lifestyles without any thought to its
power over us. For the mature and rational, these things are not a danger.
They can be simple entertainment. For the rest of the populace... they
are simply elements of mind control. The New World Order is succeeding
in its design to twist us and shape us as it sees fit. And if that sounds
like paranoid madness to you, then you're already dead. Another one for
the pile.
-
- They don't train police officers and
airline pilots using simulators for nothing! The idea is to wrap that virtual
reality around the subjects' skull until he or she is perfectly programmed
to respond to the situation given. Taking the abnormal situation and making
it normative, as though fully experienced and logged to the memory; this
is the very design. These kids in Littleton have grown up with their sensory
mechanism entirely dominated by a programmable emotional matrix. From the
music to the movies to the video games, they have been slowly "implanted"
with very powerful, ultra-realistic impulse driven scenarios. Substitute
jocks and socies for zombies and enemy space craft. Plastic reality. Plastic
morality. Bang bang.. zap... kill 'em all an let God sort 'em out. Training
ground for the mentally ill.
And heightening this mind control is a diet of absolute trash, speeding
up the system with Jolt and Surge cola caffeine bombs, maltodextrins and
complex sugars and God only knows what else, from habit forming molecular
stimulants like excitotoxins to appetite triggers and flavor enhancers
as well-crafted in the laboratory as any pharmaceutical dispensed by a
physician. A multi-million dollar industry thrives on the casual addictions
of our mouthes.. our ears... our minds. A society completely drugged, bugged
and programmed.
-
- It's going to happen again, folks. Again
and again. The blood is going to flow as high as a horses bridle eventually.
Are we going to wake up from this catatonic nightmare and put a stop to
it? Or will we simply nod, fold our hands and submit to the NWO and everything
it has designed for us? Its not just the kids in school, this effects EVERYTHING.
Will we keep believing that NATO is stepping in to stop 'ethnic cleansing'
like a knight on a white horse, while it bombs the hell out of northern
Serbia, and Belgrade, all the while the REAL battle is 150 miles south
where the KLA is desperately trying to fend off Milsovic's Serbian-nazi
forces? Not a single bomb has been dropped to aid the rebels. Not one.
Will we continue to listen to psychotics in government, backed by billionaires
and corporations, propping up one cloned leader after another?
-
- Recently a massively popular hit song
was spawned from a newspaper columnists' "good" advice, beginning
with sunscreen and roaming through a dozen other categories. It's the first
thing I've seen in alternative culture media that had any merit whatsoever.
But it didn't go far enough.
-
- Well, in light of recent events, I have
my own:
-
- Trust me on this... Homeschool your kids.
It's worth making less money for one of you to stay home and deal with
it. Sacrifice the commercialized lifestyle you think you should be living
for honor and dignity and truth. That's really living. You don't need that
new DVD system, you need to spend time with your kid and show them that
you love them. Teach them. Discipline them. He or she doesn't need to see
what's on the DVD disc anyway. Throw it away. Stop eating crap. Stop eating
it with your eyes, your ears, your mouth and your soul. Stop listening
to the system, from either side... it's all lies and deceit. Read 1984
again. It's time. Pay attention to the lyrics of the songs your kids are
listening to. Watch the movies they watch. Turn off. Tune out. Drop In.
Get Real. Stop lying to yourself that you went through it too and it's
just a phase. It's not a phase, it's a phaser, and it is set to stun first
and kill second. Don't believe everything you read, but read more. Read
what THEY tell you not to read. Instead of TV, watch reality. It might
surprise you what goes on out there. Watch your kids. Closely. But most
of all, trust me on this... homeschool your children. Don't give them over
to the machine. They're too precious.
-
-
- Addendum
-
- U.S. President Bill Clinton used his weekly radio address
today to talk about
- the Littleton killings. Clinton said Americans should
use the tragedy to end the
- "culture of violence" and he asked Congress
to pass two pieces of legislation
- that will tighten guns laws. (excerpt from http://www.sightings.com/politics2/viscious.htm
)
-
- -- What? Tighten GUN LAWS?
Guns are not the problem here, and Clinton knows it. How many people in
school who did not fit the mold did Mr. Bill crush and gring under his
ultra-achiever ladder climbing boots? Culture of Violence?? That culture
is merely a reflection of emotions deeply rooted in the true problem.
A nauseating attempt by the President to whitewash the situation ---
-
- On the day following this piece, the email is running
squarely in support of this viewpoint with dozens and dozens of comments
from people who relate to the pressures, abuse and torment these two boys
experienced, having experienced it themselves, bringing the situation in
Littleton to this tragic end. Only one dissenting email has arrived, thus
far. In several IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channels on US.UNDERNET last
night, I noticed the general sentiments of IRCers was also dramatically
focused on the blame being shared by the students who pushed these two
kids to this extreme. You can just beat a dog so many times before it bites
back. This is NOT the sentiment or viewpoint one will find reflected in
the slightest in the national media, and especially in the grotesque round-the-clock
coverage provided by cable news channels like MSNBC.
A few emails have suggested that government mind control is involved. It
is certainly not beyond my scope of belief to exclude that distinct possibility.
When I say "New World Order" that of course includes the blackest,
darkest possible scenarios and conspiracies. There are those that simply
refuse to look squarely at the evidence regarding government conspiracy
down through history, and for these people, who refuse to enlighten themselves
to the facts and will not take the time to unmask the bellowing wizard
to know the truth about the man behind the curtain... there is no hope.
But for those who have been enlightened, who have forced a hand through
the veil and discovered there is more here than meets the eye, kudos!
You're on the road, you're aware, awake and that puts the great and powerful
"them" in a position to work some serious overtime to construct
a new mask fashioned just for you. And it will likely fail. You will see
with new eyes, hear with new ears. You will digest everything that comes
down the pike through a BS filter and survive this idiotic game.
Thanks to all the non-sleepers out there that took the time to email support.
You're the only reason the NWO isn't flying a flag of complete victory!
-
- - Neff
(often & erroneously called "Jeff".. but that's ok :) )
-
-
- UPDATE
-
- Now the unique -- and predictable --
emails start to come in! The ones from the people who are more than likely
psychotic bullies themsevles. And, of course, the blind of society who
say "Who me? I'm at fault?" And, the ones from those who think
I am labeling the two trenchcoat killers as "heroes."
But the hundreds of emails in support of the views herein expressed, even
in part, are clearly written by people who know better, who know what I'm
saying. They know I'm not blaming movies, or TV or Jolt Cola... they see
the big picture. It's not a question of nature over nurture, nurture
over nature... it's bigger than this. And we know it. Having experienced
the power of the force of society against us, we know of what we speak.
I will continue to post these incredible emails that always seems to reflect
a very personal understanding of the kind of crushing power the "normal"
society has inflicted upon them. These are the voices of the survivors
of the FIRST crime, the crime being ignored by the media by and large,
that resulted in another crime in Littleton. And again, I thank
all of them who have written with personal experiences! We cannot forget
who the FIRST victims were. The two boys... and everyone who has shared
the affliction of being outcast, for whatever reason.
-
- -Neff
-
-
- Comments (will be posted here newest
to oldest)
- (Email Addresses On File)
- Received 5/4/99
(note: we have continued to receieve dozens
of emails in support of this issue/essay. Space requirements have limited
the number we can post, but ALL of them are appreciated. Less than 1% have
been negative.)
-
-
- Subject: Homeschooling/Littleton
-
- Someone sent your piece to me for my
comment (to them) and I surprised them by agreeing with you about the superiority
of home schooling and staying outside of the current government school
systems. This was the first time I saw you writing, and I thought you
may need some support. In the very early 70's, I worked as a postdoc in
a lab affiliated with the Psychology Department at the University of Wisconsin.
Their work was studying the effects of rearing conditions on later socialization,
and I was able to help with various analyses of the work. Of particular
interest were findings that infants reared primarily with peers and in
prolonged isolation from parents had significant socialization problems
later as they matured. When they became "teens" some ( not all)
reacted in day to day confrontations with "explosive, unpredictable
murderous aggression", and some even killed their mates. Some females
killed their infants. This work was done in Rhesus Monkeys because, then,
it was not ethical to isolate human children from their parents for sufficient
lengths of time. Later, we came to believe it was unethical to do the work
in monkeys. Nevertheless, the work was done to determine how human children
might react to long daily periods of isolation from parents. The problem
desperately needs to be re-addressed today in retrospective analyses, using
children kept in daycare, head-start, preschool, and then in merged kindergartens
with before and after school care. In the early 70's we spent 10's of
millions of taxpayer dollars to conclude that the best place to educate
and raise young primates is in the family unit. If they are "warehoused
with peers" for most of the day, such as in the monkey equivalent
of some of our modern institutions, a proportion became maladapted.
-
- So you see this is why I believe that
home is the best place to educate children. My prescription to correct
and prevent the future occurrence of violence in schools would be to homeschool
until about age 10, then in small homeschool groups, perhaps with older
teens of role model quality until 15, and then, perhaps at 16 to 18, in
larger numbers of same age peers in High Schools if the teen desires it.
In my experience, the home school is definitely superior to today's government
schools for socializing children. l fear we are just now beginning to
see the start of a major epidemic of middle school and high school "explosive,
unexplainable" teen aggression.
-
- If this topic interests you, Dr. Harry
Harlow and his group wrote extensively about the work in the 60's and 70's.
It makes interesting reading. For your information, Yes, my work influenced
me. My wife and I home schooled, some years ago. Then, it wasn't cool
and we received considerable scorn and concern from my colleagues and threats
from the state. Since I am still employed and not eager for this kind of
publicity, should you do anything with this e-mail other than delete it,
I would prefer that you not publish my name and address.
-
- FYI, I received my Ph.D. in Comparative
Psychology and Psychopharmacology 1971 followed by 2 years of postdoctoral
training in Neurophsychiatry. I have worked for 26 years in Psychiatry
Departments, the Pharmaceutical industry, and as a Consultant to the Biotechnology
Industry. When I retire, I may even become a social activist.
-
- My Reply:
-
- Barry,
-
- Thank you for the excellent feedback
and information. And I know what you mean about scorn regarding homeschooling.
We homeschool our daughter and receive nothing but outrage and problems
and upset from family and friends, who carry on with the tired old line
"it (public school) was good enough for me, and I turned out ok."
And I have to boldly point out to them that, no, they did NOT come out
ok. They came out a complete mess, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.
-
- In the best of homeschooling situations,
I believe you're correct. As the child gets older they should be introduced
into small groups, very well organized and overseen by older homeschooled
students -- a community school. Sadly, alot of homeschooling parent's don't
have access to this. Alot of people who homeschool give in to the pressure
when the child is 14 or 15 and send their homeschooled kid into the public
school system, as if High School as an experience were utterly necessary.
It simply isn't it. There is nothing unique in the socialization process
that takes place in high school that our daughter has not already mastered
at age 13 through normal social interaction by way of our introducing her
to a myraid of life experiences. What she has missed is being overcome
by peer pressures to act like an idiot, waste precious years, strive for
popularity (the kindergarten of corporate ladder climbing) and the abuses
from various sources (often teachers and administrators as well). Many
people believe homeschooled kids are too sheltered from the "real
world" but nothing could be further from the church. The same psychological
and social interactions that take place in a school environment take place
in a family and a community, apart from school. There has yet to be a study
showing homeschooled children entering teen or adult life with deficits.
On the contrary, all the studies show them as being well rounded, emotionally
stable and intellectually fit. Thanks again, Barry! -Neff
-
- Comments (will be posted here newest
to oldest)
- (Email Addresses On File)
- Received 5/1/99
-
- Subject: a reply to your Littleton article
-
- James,
-
- I thoroughly enjoyed your article "The
War On Individuality Comes Home - Littleton Shootings Predictable."
Your analogy of modern mass society to the assimilation of the Borg is
quite apropos.
-
- Another analogy to the current situation,
which I have always found insightful, is from the 1950's movie "Invasion
of the Body Snatchers." In this movie, plant pods came down from outer
space, and grew perfect replicas of people, which killed the real people
and took their lives over. The Pod People had no emotions and no souls.
They were incapable of love. They merely mimicked humans.
-
- Something like this is happening today.
Look on the streets of any big city and you will see them. Suits and ties.
Briefcases. Manicured. They work in hives like bees and do their works
of death in destroying the environment, designing and manufacturing weapons
of mass destruction. Mammon is the acknowledged ruler. They are rewarded
with large amounts of money and have their $600,000 houses and Saabs. They
relax by making large purchases in shopping malls, which were built after
clearing a wild area, which once had trees, birds and wildlife, and is
now a sterile paved-over area. An artificial environment which has replaced
the God-given environment the planet was created with.
-
- These people are interested only in maintaining
the status quo. Love, truth, God are extraneous factors which must be excluded
in order to preserve their way of life. Their opinions are moulded by mass
media and TV shows where the anchorman tries his best to look and behave
just like they are.
-
- Now the training ground for this unholy
situation is the public school. Aspiring Pod People congregate in cliques,
identify people who have any trace of intelligence, creativity, or nonconformity,
and ridicule, harass, and take every measure to destroy their tender psyches.
Other Pod People include teachers and administators who used canned curricula,
and perpetuate a classroom environment in which all traces of spontaneity
are blotted out.
-
- All this makes the life of the geek,
the weirdo, the gifted kid, a hellish nightmare. Since there is no recourse
in the school, mass media, or culture for their feelings, they develop
some kind of private world where their thoughts and feelings are considered
valid. The lucky ones endure and survive. Others are destroyed.
-
- But thank God that even a hellish nightmare
is better than being a Pod Person! For some, this terrible experience serves
to crucify them to the world, and God preserves them long enough for the
Truth to enter into them, and they discover the evil in the world and avoid
being swept up in it.
-
- Psalms 65:5 By terrible things in righteousness
wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of
all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea...
-
- That is what it was like for me in high
school in the late '60s - early '70s. I was a skinny, pimply-faced egghead
with thick glasses, who absolutely dreaded going to school, hated the taunting
and emotional destruction, most of all hated having to look at all the
pretty girls who could not even bear to look at me, and who always ended
up with Pod Guys.
-
- I look back on it now and say "Thank
God!" The Pod People, along with their father the devil, rule the
darkness in the world, and tear the earth up and devour it for their own
profit. Thank God that He has shown me this! Littletons are minor compared
to the spiritual carnage.
-
- Daniel 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth
beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from
all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down,
and break it in pieces.
-
- Daniel 8:24-25 And his power shall be
mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and
shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy
people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in
his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall
destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but
he shall be broken without hand.
-
- Galatians 1:4-5 Who gave himself for
our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according
to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
-
- "ranter"
-
- Thanks Ranter... and I couldn't agree
more!
- -Neff
-
-
- Subject: war on individuality
-
-
- Finally someone who understands what
I've been trying to say!! People are over looking the real cause of this
thing. Guns are not the cause of the shooting. and more gun control laws
won't fix anything. Just as black trench coats weren't the cause and not
allowing children to wear them won't solve anything. The fact is, is that
these children who went into the school and killed 15 people, were outcasts.
In not conforming to the status quo, they were picked on and persecuted
by the children as well as the teachers and parents who did nothing to
stop it. The fact is, is that there is no acceptance of people who are
different in today's schools. I'm not talking about skin color and ethnic
background, I'm talking about the way people choose to live and even the
way they dress. I'm having flashbacks to the days of the Salem witch trials.
And the sad thing is, is that this incident did nothing to solve the problem.
The people who caused these two individuals to go on a killing spree still
do not get why they did. The two kids saw this as their oppurtunity to
say "Hey!! Stop messing with me!!" No one is going to talk down
to you when they have a gun pointed at their head are they. The to kids
saw this was the only way to achieve thier freedom from persecution for
being different. And now what is worse is that those same types on people
who tormented those kids for being different are now blaming those of us
who are different, mainly those who were black, and are going so far as
to threaten thier lives, push them down stairs, wrongly accuse them of
crimes, and all and all double up thier efforts to abuse them physically
and emotionally. And the same parents and teachers who let this go on then
are letting it go on now. They look the other way and say as one principal
told one of my friends "Normal people shouldn't be exposed to your
type of lifestyle" what is wrong with this picture. Most of the people
I know who wear black or dress gothic are some of the nicest and accepting
people I know. All they want to do is make it through the day living and
let living. Thats all they want is to be left alone to live their life
as they see fit without being persecuted. The same thing happened to me
in school as is now happening in schools across the country. When I was
in High school, I was what you could call a hippie. I had long hair, wore
tye dyed t-shirts and just wanted to live my life the way I saw fit. I
may not agree with the peoples views who went to my school, but hey, thats
how they wanted to live their life.
But guess what, we differed in that viewpoint too. Every day I had to be
on the look out for people who wanted to beat up me or my friends. If they
didn't out right physically attack me, then they did it verbally. They
made it known that they thought I was the lowest piece of crap on the face
of the planet. One of my friends got suspended when some one started a
fight with her. the day she got back three different people started out
right attacked her with no provocation, and she was then expelled, the
others got ISS. One of my other friends was almost physically attacked
by several people at once. He went to the pricipals office and the others
were brought to the office for questioning. Later the principal told my
friend that they people he identified said that they didn't do anything
and that they had witnesses(friends) to prove it. One principal said "Well,
kids are cruel sometimes". I beg to differ. I nor my friends were
ever out right cruel to people. You know why, because we were taught respect
for the rights of others. They point is, is that schools and children are
pointing their finger at the goths because they were black, when they should
be thinking about what they are doing to cause such anger to rise up in
normally peaceful kids. Its not just gothic people who are persecuted,
the only thing that is a requirement is to not be of the status quo. In
otherwords anybody who is differents is persecuted. this needs to stop.
If we call ourselves a free country, why don't we start acting like it.
-
- Raymond
-
-
- Comments (will be posted here newest
to oldest)
- (Email Addresses On File)
- Received 4/29/99
Oops! The Generation Gap is Showing. Another Creation Of The System to
Divide And Perpetuate The Problem!!
(This letter was received today
and I felt it deserved the title above!)
-
- Hi!
I just wanted to share a little different opinion on the Littleton Issue.
First of all, you were, as you said, in high school 20 years ago. You don't
have any right to report about what's going on in todays high schools!
It's so different now, I am a senior in high school, whose best friend's
cousin was killed at Columbine High, right now and as most high school
students disagree with your views completely! You guys act as if those
boys always constantly got picked on day after day and just sat there and
listened. You are so wrong. Obviously, your brain is the one that is messed
up. Those boys retaliated, every single day, sometimes even starting the
toture on others themselves. The truth is that Eric and Dylan didn't get
picked on half as much as they picked on others.You talk as if the cliques
in high school are awful things. Yeah, they aren't that great but life
has been like that forever. Think of the war or the roses.
All of you that seem to think, Oh god this was bound to happen are right
but it is not because of the Jocks or the cheerleaders or anyone else,
it is because obviouusly those boys could pick and nag and offend others
with their Nazi racist attitudes, but when someone talked to them like
they talked to others they couldn't handle it. They inevidabaly were weak
and ignorant to the realization that these are the 90's and this is America.
You don't go around speaking German, Heiling Hitler , building pipe bombs,and
acting like you are superior to everyone else. Eric and Dylan suposedly
complained that they were sick of all the people treating them like they
were far less superior than anyone, then you tell me how they managed to
walk in a school, act as if they were God and start choosing who they thought
needed to die! You make me sick and I wish you could know the pain that
having to deal with a problem like this in TODAYS high school(not 20 years
ago) is like.
You are talking as if the people that are involved and help out their community
and play sports are the bad guys and they deserved to be killed, while
the real bad guys who shunned everyone that didn't go along with their
facist views should be praised for finally doing something about it. I
know that there are cliques and I personally do not belong to anyone of
them but I know people from many groups and have had relations with some
and there is not any reason for hatred of this magnitude to go on in any
school, no matter how much you get picked on or who you are.
Thanks,
Lindsey
-
- My reply is as follows:
- Lindsey,
-
- I do appreciate you're viewpoint. I know
that someone who is presently IN high school is apt to think that someone
my age cannot possibly know what it's like, and has no right to speak out
on the issue. But actually, Lindsey, the old sayings are very true... 'the
more things change, the more they stay the same.' Granted, some things
are drastically different today, but the core of things remains the same.
The nucleus of the problem has been around a long, long time: human cruelty.
Oh, and I certainly count Harris and Kleibold in that list... their cruelty
is hideously evident!
-
- What we're examining here is what drive
Eric and Dylan to these, as you say, "Nazi racist attitudes."
That's a vitally important issue. Why is it Lindsey doesn't have these
same attitudes? What is it in your life that makes that different? You
know?
-
- When you say they "couldn't handle
it," one must ask, WHY couldn't they handle it? It's not JUST what
happened at Columbine that brought this about, but a lifetime of problems
that rendered Eric and Dylan incapable of "handling" whatever
it was that was making them so angry.... so angry to do THIS incredibly
horrible thing, to so many people.
-
- Lindsey, I'm not saying that people that
play sports and who are popular are the 'bad guys'. If you read my essay
again, I'm saying that we are ALL bad guys in the sense that we allow people
to be humiliated and tormented by accepting that "the way things are"
is normal, when it's not normal. I don't say that ANYONE deserved to be
killed, Lindsey. I simply stated that this reaction is predictable, and
that based on the crushing pressures and abuses put upon some kids, throughout
their lives (not just at Columbine), a reaction of some explosiveness...
a biting back... is deserved and long overdue. Not the murder of people!
But SOME response that says "enough is enough." In this case,
Eric and Dylan were obviously well past that stage... they were looking
to form a holocaust of abuse of their own upon people they PERCEIVED as
their enemies. I don't say what they did was right. I feel nothing but
sorrow for the people who lost kids in this incident. But I am saying,
it should have been expected and it's clear everyone was going along thinking
people like Eirc and Dylan wouldn't matter and would fade away. Think again.
The worst happened. The system failed. And that system involves everyone,
from the whole of society to the mayor to the teachers to the counselors
to the students.
-
- Let me ask you a question: Let's say
you were raised in a home where your father ignored you, unless he was
insulting you and batting you around the room, taking out his own frustrations
and problems on you. He beat your mother... he beat your brother's and
sisters, too and they all suffered the same verbal brutality and insults
and abuse as you do. Let's say your mother has descended into a deep depression,
withdrawn from it, feeling she has no answers to the situation; attempts
to get help have failed. It is a household of fear, continually, night
and day. Because of your home environment, you are psychologically set
up to deal with things very differently than your peers. You have tons
of repressed anger. You're different. Very different from the kids around
you. No one seems to understand you but other kids who are growing up in
similarly secret horrible homes. At school you are an outcast. Few like
you. You want to be liked so desperately, but it seems nothing you do fits...
you're a round peg in a square hole, and you're reminded of that every
day, in subtle ways that build and magnify, year after years. A punch here...
an insult there... a continual battering of your self worth builds from
grade school through high school. By high school, you're so screwed up
you don;t know which way to go, what to be, how to do anything and you've
given up trying. You can't seem to get any help... teachers aren't listening,
there's things you can't tell... you're trapped.
-
- Lindsey, can you imagine this kind of
life? Can you imagine not having the ability to DEAL with, to HANDLE it
anymore? You're suicidal, depressed and suddenly one day, you trip over
the edge into psychosis. And now you're lost. You no longer see reality
at all. All you see is blind rage.
-
- There were kids like this when I was
in school, too, Lindsey. I know people who have been killed. Girls who
have been raped. Kids who committed suicide. Lives that have been destroyed,
by the same system of "everything is ok and how it is is normal"
mentality, same then as now. And I know kids in school today who are just
as messed up. I deal with them all the time.
-
- You say "there is not any reason
for hatred of this magnitude to go on in any school, no matter how much
you get picked on or who you are." I'm sorry Lindsey, that's simply
not reality. Maybe you're one of the blessed and fortunate ones who will
go on to a sparkling and exemplary life, and that's GREAT. But there are
those who can't handle it. You can't see into someones SOUL and know their
pain well enough to determine if this is true. Some people are just crazy...
chemically imbalanced. But others have been pushed and shoved and crushed
and insulted and beaten, physically and mentally and spiritually for years
and years, and then they show up at your high school and are expected to
just "handle it" ??? No. It doesn't work that way. Some people
are broken. And it doesn't help when the ones who are not broken, such
as yourself, brush them off as nutcases. I'm sure that's precisely what
happened here. Eric and Dylan, early on, long before they got to Columbine,
were brushed off. Very sad. They are victims too, Lindsey.
-
- This "old fogy" wishes you
the best in life... and I hope you make it through everything with a sound
mind and spirit. I hope all the parents make it through... I know they
have it the hardest and will for years. But try to realize, Lindsey, things
aren't that much different from when I was in High School. God, could I
tell you stories! Next time you see someone being berated for being fat,
or being ignored because they don't fit the mold, ask yourself... how long
has this person been suffering this being an outcast? Try to empathize
with their pain. And befriend them. Make them a warm place in a cold world
in your life, no matter what it costs you. If it costs you every friend
you have, because they are snobs or think themselves better than that person,
then DO IT. Lose those lousy friends. They're plastic!
- And another real gem...
-
- Subject: Shootings
- I almost puked when I read your statement
regarding the Colorado high school shootings. I did puke when I seen you
quoting the bible. So it is the "rage against the machine" ehh?
So we should feel pity for these sorry excuses for human beings that murdered.
Oh, its not their fault. It is the fault of the system. Why don't you go
to some third world country and then try and give your pathetic viewpoint.
You and your type are wallowing in self pity and can not face reality.
You don't know what it is. You think you know, but you have no clue. You
hide behind your shell of bible scriptures and give us your lukewarm bullshit.
If anything, you want to blame someone? You should look in the mirror.
I myself was made fun of constantly and ridiculed and poked and prodded
at. I am a man now and I look back and consider what it meant if anything.
It doesn't mean jack shit. You know why I am a survivor and not some fool
wallowing in self pity? I am a realist and I realize that I am a better
human being than those who made fun and that gives me comfort. These people
who kill to vent their anger and frustration are people that are the lowest
of low and have the mental capacity of a cockroach. They, their offspring,
and your type are the ones that cause the machine. Get off your knees and
praying to your God that doesn't listen and do something for yourself.
Those kids and their type are like a virus. I'll tell you what the cure
is. The cure is do something for yourself and not to rely on others. I
have visited this web site for almost two years. I think today was my last
time. I already know what kind of reply of you have. It is based on nothingness
and self pity. When people go quoting bible scriptures it shows their arguement
is based on confusion.
(unsigned)
-
- Reply:
Fascinating hatred for all things spiritual and religious! Insults toward
myself and my God fall on seriously deaf ears. God answers my prayers,
and I'm sorry you haven't opened up to receive that blessing.
You really think you're a 'better' human being that those who preyed upon
you in school? That very notion is the problem... it's the very
notion that fueled Nazi Germany. No, you're no better. You may have been
less of an ass, but you're just a human being like they were/are. I'm glad
you're a survivor. Now, the issue we're dealing with HERE is the ones who
are not surviving it, will not survivie it and the future kids who will
continue to experience it. Don't you think Eric and Dylan developed a sense
of 'superiority' like you express, when they finally realized they were
self-empowered to DO something about their hell? The "pull yourself
up by your own bootstraps" mentality doesn't offer many answers. In
fact, it often feeds into the very thing we've seen go on a rampage and
slaughter dozens. No, I have no self pity, sir. And I'm far from confused.
Comments (will be posted here newest
to oldest)
- (Email Addresses On File)
- Received 4/28/99
-
-
- Subject: Another 2-cents...
-
- My husband has already written, but as
I read you postings I have to respond as well. I grew up in a monstrous
house, so at the time I went through the school system, I thought the treatment
I received at school was a "normal" way to treat me. I can resonate
with many of the others writing and have used my own paths for coping and
escaping the jail sentence of my youth. The Class Ring salesman played
this movie that said these were the "best years of my life"..
that was just one of many times I thought of suicide. My running joke of
the time was "stop the world I want to get off"...Thank the Lord-who-is
that I have learned different and have had some wonderful healing to my
heart... Here is a theory why my generation tended toward suicide and this
one seems to like the mass killing approach: My generation was the first
fully disposable generation (I say that like a mantra). We could be eliminated/avoided
by abortion, birth control, nuclear war or moved about like a checker board
with daycare, divorces, and adoption take-backs, and besides we are just
the ameba that evolved into a human shape ("we're just animals")...
however, we had the remnants of the social norms left over from the 50's
and 60's so we didn't tend to shoot, knife, etc... Our destruction tended
to be internalized. How many people from the age of 20-35 are on antidepressants???
In therapy?? How many suicides, alcohol related deaths, drug-burnouts,
underachieving dropouts??? Now however, this generation and the one coming
up next have NO social norms to hold them in check. And we are all working
so hard on ensuring their self esteem and self expression... well there
is a problem when the self to be expressed is homicidal... They have all
of the "normie" versus "geek", the fully disposable,
latch-key, dumbing down, the evil governmental and societal mechanisms
AND no conscience. I work "inside" the system and tend to think
of myself and an undercover rebel... I work with several of the parents
your article was aimed at, and yet they will never read or listen to you.
Sometimes I get so discouraged because I worked so hard to survive the
school experience, just to find the same basic environment at the work
place... ugh! I am not part of the machine, but dare not incur too much
of their wrath because I have to support my family... oh the balancing
acts I must do. At least I am an adult and can cope with the evil around
me. Thank God for my wonderful husband who takes such good care of our
little one and teaches her with sound wisdom. May the fight go on. But
it would be nice to see our side win once in a while...
-
- Thank you for your gifted, insightful,
dare I say Prophetic article. Speak on, we are listening!
-
-
- Subject: *LOVED* the "Individuality"
article! - how coworkers responded
-
- Hi y'all,
-
- I'm sending this quick note to both James
Neff & Jeff Rense. Not only so I won't get my J's mixed up. ;)
-
- I've written some similar personal notes
to Jeff and yes several were as angry if not more so than what James wrote.
It's about time someone had the guts to say it like it is -- in public.
-
- I just had to send James' essay to several
people at work today. I got nothing but flak & misunderstandings back.
-
- First, the essay is considered "politically
motivated" so our d.p. director would not allow it to be posted on
an internal state agency-wide news group. Totally expected, these people
are part of the "they", if you get my drift.
-
- Second, several people thought _I_ was
going to "go postal" -- me, myself.
-
- Third, there are the people who say "just
do your job, it's not worth a heart attack worrying about it."
-
- I expect nothing will change in the near
or far future. Not around here, anyway.
-
- Y'see, at 42yo, I still consider myself
one of those 'geeks' that continue to get trampled on. I've been working
for over 22 years as technical support for our mainly mainframe d.p. shop,
what used to be one of the best state D.O.T. agencies in this country.
-
- It's not "one of the best",
not even in the top half IMO, any more. And I've been highly vocal about
how things have gotten worse. It's due to one simple thing, and boy do
I have the proof: the bosses really don't want your input, despite their
advertising an "open door policy".
-
- James' article hit all the nails squarely
on the heads -- his article directly applies to all governmental agencies
and private businesses, not just schools and general personal attitudes.
It really does have such a far-reaching scope.
-
- Jeff may remember my trying to get the
bosses to listen to cost-saving ideas. Today for the Nth time I asked one
higher-up, "Why won't anyone discuss these ideas?", after he'd
(supposedly) read James' article.
-
- I still cannot get even a simple reply
to that question. I mean there hasn't been any -- "they" are
ignoring me completely, again/still.
-
- VERY DEFINITELY something is going on.
The silence proves it. It's quite deafening.
-
- It's almost time for SOTR to start. Thank
you for reading this.
-
- -- Paul Seniura (in OkC)
-
-
- This email has been posted with my
replies:
-
- Subject: Re: Comments on your article
about Littleton tragedy
-
- > Hi James: > >
- You do a great job for the "Sightings"
web site, and I >really like the show and Jeff Rense.
-
- thank you
-
-
- > But your article was really a pathetic
rant about the >situation in Littleton, CO. You were venting your anger
about >so many things that are related and unrelated to that tragedy,
>you were trying to sum up your views about all the "evil"
in >the world, and somehow justify the murders in one fell swoop, >and
in my opinion the article was totally unbalanced.
-
- perhaps it was, but the majority of people
responding resonate with it...
-
-
- > I must agree with Brenda's comments
that we need someone to >calmly address the problems, if that is even
possible. Your "rebuttal" >to her was rude and inappropriate,
filled with yet more accusations, >that she didn't read your article
carefully, citing more "proof" of >your points with quotes
from the New Testament, etc. Baloney, it is >*not* justified to read
your rant carefully because your tone throughout >expresses the same
message, over and over, and if that isn't hate, I >don't know what hate
is.
-
- Sandy... HATE is now defined as expressing
ones opinion fervently and repeating it many different ways so that many
different types of people can comprehend it??? Interesting! You're forging
a unique new world with this line of thinking... but not one I want to
live in. Hopefully I'll be long dead by the time you and Brenda have some
control on our world. I do not mean to be rude, I mean to be blunt and
frank and direct. I think the incredible mass of emails pouring in (more
than 100 a day) supporting this piece, and 90% of them with personal reflections
on the issue, demonstrate that somehow you don't understand what this is
about, at least not on a personal level. And that's ok. I'm sorry that
like Brenda you see what I say as "hate," but I'm not surprised...
today good is bad and bad is good.
-
-
- > I grew up in the so-called "evil"
system you decry so >vehemently, and while it wasn't the greatest way
to be "educated," >nothing is accomplished addressing the
problems the way you do. >And nothing justifies murdering people.
-
- You and Brenda both have this problem
with the english language, you interpret rather than read. Where do I justify
murder? Not once. Read it again. The murders were predictable... the response
was deserved in light of the years of abuse these kids have received. But
I don't justify the murders in the slightest and you know it. Your response
shows me that you have not personally experienced the level of hell these
kids did, or the many people who have written in their response with personal
stories. I'm glad you escaped it! You're fortunate. But you really should
try to relate.
-
- > I fully expect yet another rude
rebuttal to my comments, >that will accuse me of not reading your article
carefully, and >citing this and that to "prove" how right
you are. I'll have a good >laugh if you do, because I know what to expect!
-
- Straw man arguments. Familiar with that
term? Set it up, knock it down. Make it impossible for a response from
the opponent. The vast number of people who are responding to this essay
know this tactic very well, too. They're used to that kind of head game.
Are you really THAT desparate to cling to this line of thinking and way
of life? I'm not being rude... I'm not being mean... I truly give a damn
what you think and why you think it. I wouldn't waste my time doing extra
work to make this important issue a debate here otherwise. But I honestly
do not understand your reaction, or how you can define expressive language
as "hate" or how you can play straw man games on an issue of
this magnitude.
-
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