Music, Society, and the Columbine Tragedy

Violence, it is the last resort of the oppressed. Since biblical times, it has also played the lead role in many events, starting with the murder of Abel by Cain. Religious wars, that still exist to this day, have broken out across the world due to oppression. The act of showing furious outrage has become part of the human nature, yet it has drawn a fine line between what is morally right and what is wrong. Within the past couple of years though, that line has blurred significantly. What was once considered as intolerable behavior has become an everyday occurrence, and we are bombarded with it on a daily basis. One can not pick a newspaper up without noticing an article about murder or an abusive child care worker. Violence has reached the level where we, as human beings, are not bothered by it anymore, although cartoons and video games depict it, and movies are based on violent behavior. One can even claim that violence has corrupted the music industry because bands such as Vicious Circle, Moral Anxiety, Bone Orchard, and Simple Aggression are writing music that youths are attracted to. The names of these bands, alone, are enough to make the light-hearted cringe. However, in the wake of the recent tragedy that transpired at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, people have been placing the blame on heavy metal music, rather than the true catalyst of the event. It is wrong to single out an entire genre of music and put words in people's mouths because Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the gunmen in the incident, apparently listened to metal. There are many factors that could cause an event of this magnitude, but music is not a true catalyst. The general population is trying to patch society's holes, rather than attempting to cure its ills by pointing fingers at things they don't understand.