Is V is for Responsible too?

This is somewhat of a sensitive subject, so, I have to touch on it. About a month ago we heard in the news of a man that entered a school board meeting and held people hostage, ultimately dieing with what appears to be an attempt to kill others but in the end, only himself. This may be something of a stretch but when I heard the details of this story, the largest school killing spree came to mind, Columbine Massacre. Although, the only thing that appears to be linking the two (Columbine High School Massacre and the Florida School Board Shooting) together is possibly the word "school," I would like to set that aside the locations of the shootings which is completely arbitrary to the connection that I am trying to make. The word school only helped me think of the reason in which I see a connection. It will take a moment to understand, so let me set this up right with a bit of context.

When the shooting at Columbine happened in 1999, out in Colorado, it was the most shocking story since the JonBenet Ramsey bullshit and the everlong OJ Simpson trial. But, here have a couple of pimple-faced nerds planning an ultimate revenge on their peers whom have possibly bullied them or whatever. (What they did was insane and shitty, and I speak for everyone when I say that I hope they are getting constantly raped in hell for it.) Now, the media went crazy with this story. They tried to explain the situation by looking for a reason or cause for it all, when in reality, if you are someone trying to mass murder people there probably isn't much of a reason or a cause other than you are a crazy person - I mean, they certainly weren't defending themselves. But, then came the media saying they were influenced by the music of the dark, eerie, scary, transexual-like Marilyn Manson. Now, Marylin Manson doesn't produce the the kind of tunes that I like to grab and earful of, but clearly the media was shifting the responsibilities of actions of the two turdish high school seniors onto MM. And simply put, "When a dude's gettin bullied and shoots up his school, And they blame it on Marilyn." (Thanks to Eminem, for the clarity of his words) So, this transpired a whole fight against Marilyn Manson and generally any music artist that speaks his/her mind whether or not he/she is fully in their right one (mind, that is), while also bringing up issues over gun control.

So, when I read the papers last month and heard about the ex-convict, whose wife was recently fired, that held a school council board meeting, I was blown away by the details of the account. This man, I don't know his real name and do not feel like looking it up to break my stream of thought here so we'll call him Chucky Cheese, went to the meeting armed with a gun, a bullet proof vest, and a can of spray paint. Yes, a can of spray paint. He used this to draw a big circle on the wall with a equally large "V" inside of it. Chucky Cheese then let a large amount of the innocent go freely while he discusses his wife's loss of a job. The circle with the "V" in it looked very familiar at first and I couldn't quite put my finger on it, until I read about how that symbol was featured in the widely popular movie "V is for Vendetta" which is also a comic book by the way, but anyway. Now, at this point, a feeble, old woman tries to save the day by sneaking through the doorway and swinging her empty purse at the 250lb Chucky Cheese. Seriously, old lady? (That detail has nothing to do with the point of this, but I had to bring up how dumb it was and looked in the video. Fun Fact: she sold the purse on EBAY for $13,000) So the story of Chucky Cheese holding up a school board meeting ends with the firing of his own gun... at himself.

The two Columbine losers only listened to the music of Marilyn Manson, so why was his name all over the news like he possessed the students into mass murder? Why was he to blame for this? It's not like his lyrics described a situation like this and tempted people to go out and do it. Now, going back to Chucky Cheese at the school board, who was obsessed with V is For Vendetta. Why wasn't this movie or the filmmakers to blame for this incident? The guy spray painted the V sign on the wall and was clearly influenced by the movie to some degree. I'm not saying this movie should be on trial for the incident or even blamed in any way, but I think this goes further into something else. We have Marilyn Manson, a guy people were just waiting to have a reason to chew out and "V is for Vendetta" an internationally recognized comic and film that moved the hearts of many. The difference I believe I see here is that the movie V is something the people like and so the people will protect it and say "Well, Chucky Cheese was just a bad guy." But, what about the Columbine clowns, were they good guys that were turned to the darkside by the maniacally-evil Mr. Manson? I say, no and that they were even more kicked in the head than Mr. School Board Cheese. Chucky missed a shot at point blank. You don't miss that shot unless you want to.

By now, the point is hard to see, but, I feel as though the media is playing favoritism with the arts here. "V is for Vendetta" walks freely while Marilyn got reamed. Now, again, I'm not saying either movie or music should be blamed for these incidents other than the two kids and Chucky Cheese. Ultimately, they were the ones committing the acts, but there is a distinction I would like to make and that is V is for Vendetta was clearly more of an influence than Marilyn Manson in these two instances.

However, Marilyn Manson and "V is for Vendetta" are not on trial here, only the absent-minded media.

Bonus: Check out what Marilyn Manson had to say about the Columbine Massacre in the only documentary Michael Moore made that was worth seeing "Bowling For Columbine"
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrHFB2KP8fc )