Tuesday, February 19. 2008Mysterious Question, Obvious Answer
Big Mouth has a morbid obsession with school shootings for a few reasons: 1) because every kid in America has thought about exacting vengeance on his/her high school tormentors; 2) because the ultimate blame for the shootings is often placed on the shooters' consumer identities (their music, clothes, entertainment choices) and means of expression (their writings, drawings, fashion) rather the availability of guns, high school and bullying culture, the average American's love of violence, or on the shooters themselves; and 3) because the phenomenon is -- with few exceptions -- so uniquely one of young, white, American men but is not associated by the media or society as crimes of racial/ethnic or patriarchal/masculine origin. And, finally, aside from all these intellectual reasons, there is of course a question that always springs to my (and others') forebrain(s): Why did he/they do it?
Well, McInerney shot King because he was gay. Oh, right! That's why. Obviously, he shot the kid because he wore nail polish, high-heeled boots, and went to meetings at the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance. No need to plumb McInerney's psychology or figure out what music he listened to and what movies he watched. He killed a gay guy with gender expression outside the norm. I mean, King didn't deserve to die, but dressing like a girl in high school -- wasn't that kind of asking for it? Why no profiles on McInerney? Is it because he was 14 or because he didn't listen to death metal? Perhaps it's because we don't need signs or reasons for an attack on a gay kid, nor do we need to know how different the shooter is from an average American. You don't need a reason to understand the shooting of a queer, and the average American's attitudes toward queers are no different from this shooter's. That's certainly what's implied by this media blackout, isn't it? Look, I don't think for a second that music or clothes make a killer. I also realize that there are plenty of bipolar folks in the world that wouldn't hurt a fly. It's not that I want these connections to be made; it's just that they always are except when it's a gay kid getting killed. How can we not see the silent implication here? No one needs to question the mysterious motives behind this shooting, because obviously the queers are asking for it. Trackbacks
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When the victim is a gay kid no one interrogates themselves about motives, social factors or conditions, or even right or wrong. Where's the need? The kid was gay. He's dead. We're used to it.
(I made a comment to another topic, but here's my two cents):
The kid was gay. We got the message. Now, that's ONE silent implication... what is also on my "foremind" is why was he put into Casa Pacifica (if you don't know, that's a Child Care and Development Center for Troubled Youths)? Could it be because he was gay? (Doubt it, because his parents weren't against him on it.) But why was there no mention of that either? No one knows I guess...or no one wants to take the time to look into it. I'm not implying that it was right of the newspapers to not mention this tradegy because he was gay. that's downright intolerable to me. what i am implying is maybe there's more reasons (along with being gay) that might cause them to not publish anything. I'm pretty sure Pacifica gets funding from local newspapers (like the Ventura County Star -- but i wouldn't quote me, because i haven't been volunteering there for awhile and have no access to this kid's file nor donor information). shed some light on this? comments? |
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About Big Queer |
Last week, tragic school shootings were once again U.S. headline news. First there was the murder of Lawrence King by his 14-year-old classmate Brandon McInerney (
Clicking and scanning report after report of both incidents, Big Mouth has found media coverage in the two shootings to be fascinating. Notably, the New York Times hasn't reported on the murder of King at all. Meanwhile, Kazmierczak's profile has been studied and restudied in depth -- in typical school shooter reporting fashion -- by the NYT and everyone else. Kazmierczak was on anti-depressants, his girlfriend said he didn't seem like he was planning anything, he played violent video games, he was bipolar, he had ooky tattoos -- all of these things have been pointed out as "signs" or "reasons" that Kazmierczak was disturbed. They are offerred as evidence to support him as different from the average American and therefore capable of such violence. And as for Brandon McInerney... uh... well, he did it because... uh...
