Quote:
| Society is not an entity that can be changed without changing the individuals in that society. |
Very true. It might be a little more complex than that in reality (institutional forces and all that), but there's no argument that any changes need to start with individuals and that 'society' is not a concrete entity seperate from the individuals that constitue it. (Although, I do have that wonderful scene from
The Life of Brian running through my head: "We're all individuals," "You're all different," "We're all different," "I'm not," "Shhh, Shhh")
Quote:
| This won't be popular-but I blame the parents. |
Yes and no. Yes, the parents definately must share some of the responsibility. There's no question about that. Possibly even the lion's share.
No, they are not the only ones to blame. If anyone entertains the possibility of blaming Klebold and Harris, then they must also blame the other students -- those responible for the alienation. If Klebold and Harris are old enough to be responsible for murder (which I think they are), then other students are old enough to be responsible for creating the environment that produces murderers. But that might involve blaming the people who were most directly and badly effected by the shootings, which is never going to be a popular move.
Then there is the third group, which is more complex. All the people who sat around and watched things like this happening. They may not have actively done anything to alientate the soon-to-be killers; but nor did they do anything to alieviate or mitigate this. Basically, they stood by and watched it happen. Because they didn't care, because they didn't want to be next, because they thought it was a normal part of growing up, because they didn't pay attention enough to notice. This means blaming almost every individual in the community to some extent
In the face of understandable anger and horror, it's very difficult to look at one's-self as being culpable.