Ten years later...it's just gotten worse, really.

[hollybrooke]

It's been ten years since the Columbine High School massacre. This happened not even two months before I finished my senior year. After it happened, I remember a lot of us in my senior class just dropping whatever petty problems we had with each other, but you know....sometimes an event like a massacre happening is too little, too late.

Since this has happened, it seems like there have been more reports of trouble with teenagers popping up in the news, and I'm not just talking about events like what happened at Columbine High School. I'm talking about cases like those teenage girls in Florida inviting the other girl over to severely beat the crap out of her, and taping it and posting the footage on YouTube. I'm talking about a parent posing as a kid on MySpace to degrade another teenage girl and drive to committing suicide. And more recently, I'm talking about the parents who are blaming a school for not intervening in a bullying situation that drove their own son to suicide.

News like this just really, really upsets me. Why the hell are today's adolescents so cruel and petty an--dare I say it--brutal? It seems like it's just been getting worse since the Columbine High School massacres ten years ago. I thought we'd all take something from that and learn from it. Apparently, we haven't. Teenagers are worse than ever now, and I'd never thought I'd hear myself saying it or see myself typing it on a computer screen; it makes me feel, well, old.

Who do we pin the blame on? The schools for turning a blind eye to what's going on in between classes and not cracking down on bullying? Poor guidance counselors? Video games? (That's a laugh.) Cliques? Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace? Cell phones and text messaging? Celebutards like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan for glamorizing being a "mean girl," and the media outlets/paparazzi who feed into all of their hype? Or flat-out bad parenting?

I don't know...I just don't know.

Comments

[jadore-histoire.livejournal.com]

After it happened, I remember a lot of us in my senior class just dropping whatever petty problems we had with each other

I was in 7th grade, and the Conflict Resolution group in our middle school held an assembly where they talked about being nice to each other and if you ever have problems, to get help from somewhere, then lit candles for all the victims. Everyone hugged and cried together. Then a couple of weeks later, went back to teasing and bullying me.

One thing I've learned is schools try and stay out of things like this. You complain to a guidance counselor or something, the only answer I ever got was "Try and sort it out yourselves," or "Aw, you don't deserve to be teased!" and leave it at that. I also wish schools would take a harder stance on bullying, because it really does mess with kids :(

[promisemewings.livejournal.com]

One thing I've learned is schools try and stay out of things like this. You complain to a guidance counselor or something, the only answer I ever got was "Try and sort it out yourselves," or "Aw, you don't deserve to be teased!" and leave it at that.

Agreed, and it was like that when I was still in school, too. It's this sort of treatment from guidance counselors anymore in schools why that one kid committed suicide after the incessant bullying and why the parents are pushing forward with suing the school for not really doing anything about it. I know guidance counselors can't take the place of parents helping an adolescent with their problems, but parents don't exactly know how to handle stuff like that on their own either.

[unhearted0x.livejournal.com]

I agree, even though that I'm 16 it is obvious to me that some people my age are just... "brutal". At my time in highschool people have been disgracefully beaten, and recently there was an "insident" with some boys torturing and slaughtering a lame, in which they video recorded.

I dont know what is it, but there is something that is effecting people my age. It's terrifying to think what OUR children are going to be exposed to D:

[xpirate-queenx.livejournal.com]

I don't want to be one of those "America is doomed! Video games and MTV are destroying our culture!" people, but we as a society have drastically changed. We have been exposed to violence more than ever. Seeing a murder victim or brutal gas station robbery on the evening news have become the norm, and no one's really bothered. We're constantly exposed to it, yet punished when we use it as a solution.

What happened to meeting someone out in the parking lot after school? Someone got their ass whooped, the cops weren't called, and it was eventually forgotten about by all involved.

We just don't have the same morals we used to. Girls aren't ladies and guys aren't gentlemen anymore.