We Need To Teach Boys Not To Shoot Up Schools

By Anne Gus

I was browsing some totally kickass, progressive sites such as xoJane and Jezebel, sipping from a morning cup of steaming empowerment, when I, like, saw this click bait article from one of those websites that’s totally just trying to get clicks by using outrageous headlines. Anyway so I clicked the article, which was problematically titled “Which school shooter are you?” and did like the test thingy.

I was totally horrified at the result. It said I’m Adam fucking Lanza, WTF!? He’s not even one of the cute ones, he looks like a total dweeb. I called Holly cuz I was so angry at that stupid website, and I was almost, like, crying so I needed support. She comforted me and said I was the totally haaawt Jeffrey Dahmer (I think he was the one at Virginia Tech?), and that made me feel so much better (thanks Holly-booboo).

Well, anyway that’s besides the point, all this got me thinking about Columbine school shootings and all that stuff. It’s like a current issue too cuz the 15 year anniversary is coming up in like a week or whatever. Ever since that happened, like, almost 15 years ago, the problem of School Shooting-culture has grown immensely. Some people still try to deny the existence of a School Shooting culture, but they are clearly deluded. Everyone knows that on today’s college campuses people are living in daily fear, being part of a society that normalizes shooting up schools.

I’m not gonna, like, write an incisive and deep journalistic piece (like I normally do) on this topic. Instead, I’m going to, like, take you on more of a philosophical journey where I just give you like a number of thought-provoking statements about the culture that we’re all totally part of, inviting you to reflect upon it yourself. Check your privileges at the door before you embark into the mind of Annie G. Here we go.

We live in a world where:

Boys aren’t taught to not shoot up schools.
Boys think they have the right to grab a gun and shoot up a school whenever they want to.
Policemen are way too investigative and ask too many questions of witnesses rather than punishing the suspected boy immediately.
Where victims are blamed because they bullied the shooters.
Where many are shamed into not reporting a suspected upcoming school shootings.
Where school shootings are normalized and excused in pop culture and media.
Where shooting up schools is glamorized.
Where the definition of a school shooting is too narrow. It doesn’t have to be a semi-automatic rifle, if you use firecrackers or a nerf guns, it’s still a school shooting.
Where schools shootings are trivialized. “Boys will be boys”.
Where explicit school shooting jokes are allowed to be made by comedians.
Where we teach students to be careful rather than teach boys not to shoot up schools.
Where we still think school shootings are only being committed by psychotic and mentally unstable teenage boys, when everyday, normal men do it just as often.
Where we still think school shootings are preventable, something that puts blame to the victims.
Where we still don’t always consider our friends, sons and fathers as potential school shooters.
Where we try to prevent bullying as a precaution, something that puts blame on the victims.
Where tasteless jokes such as, “Your room is a mess, it looks like Columbine in there” is common jargon among boys.
Where we still think school shootings are rare events, the result of mental instability or evil, rather than the result of a School Shooting culture that teaches boys that it is okay to shoot up schools.

That got you thinking, huh?

We must find a way to end School Shooting culture. Thoughts? Tweet under #ColumbineCulture.