"There is a virus loose within our culture" said Governor Bill Owens of Colorado. He went on to say that this virus threatens America's youth. We must be inclined to agree with him as there is definitely some corrupting influence for these violent acts of aggression which have been acted out by America's youth as of late and as exemplified by Littleton.
Those in Littleton as well as the world are born into this all encompassing virus, which colors the way we look at life; it teaches us that a square peg should fit into a round hole so long as it rakes in profit. This virus infects us, from the time of birth, teaching us that we are only worth the amount of money we have, the clothes that we wear, or the cars that we drive. This virus spreads like a river that has broken its banks, bleeding the youth of authenticity as all of our relations with other humans are distorted by it and the eddies of perversity it creates.
This virus which drives companies to any extreme necessary so long as it grabs the attention of consumers and more importantly their pocket books, no matter what latent effects these extremes might have on young minds. Moreover, it puts profits before people and consequently it corrupts relations between friends, family, and yes, schoolmates.
President Clinton went so far as to say, "we need to understand who and what feeds and profits from this dark subculture…." Well Mr. President, it is assuredly big business who "feeds and profits" and furthermore who creates these tragedies by their tactics of exploitation. There are children who kill other children for sneakers because those sneakers are worth more than another's life to them. We know that there is some thing wrong with our culture . When an individual's whole life is seasoned with this plague that distorts and perverts "man's relation to man", we must sadly expect the type of tragedy that occurred in Littleton to happen again as it has surely happened before.
America has, at last count, bombed four different countries this year, Iraq, Sudan, Yugoslavia and Afaganistan. As the youth of America watch these images of violence, acted out on CNN and the other major news outlets, as they observe the behavior of our so-called leaders, we no longer have to wonder what lessons they learn.
The bourgeois news agencies are seemingly overjoyed at the scent of blood or controversy as it knowingly hikes up ratings and subsequently profits, as they scurry like rats in search of food trying to out "scoop" one another; once again we must know what lessons are being learned by America's youth from the behavior of those in power.
We should not blame guns, music, trench coats, or the Internet for the terrible tragedy that befell Littleton. Furthermore, these reactionary calls for banning a plethora of variables, which are nothing more than symptoms of this "virus" and that may or may not be directly attributed to the Littleton massacre, can and will only exacerbate the tension that America's youth feel today. The solution is not going to magically reveal itself after the application of a few bandages on what can be considered symptoms of this virus. In the end there is only one place blame can truly fall and that is squarely on the shoulders of this virus that plagues humanity – capitalism - and those who purport its validity as a paradigm, i.e. the bourgeoisie.
We can only anticipate this type of tragedy to increase even more within capitalism as its death throes are making its inevitable demise visible through incidents such as this. This incident is nothing more than a symptom of the virus, which plagues our children, our society, and our future.
The youth of America are wondering why this must be so, out loud and with their actions. Littleton is only a symptom and yes Mr. Governor, there is a virus that is affecting our children and that virus is capitalism. The Littleton tragedy happened because of capitalism and for no other reason. This should be obvious to all.
Kristopher Marc
April 27, 1999
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