Recently I uploaded the video presentation that goes with my book. I presented this project for research class, and then went on to present it for the annual conference for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in 2014.
Here is the
link to the video: https://youtu.be/lZn-lJRb0OQ
This is a
transcript of everything I said in the video.
Slide 1
Bullying is
Russian Roulette with the Student Body.
In this video, I will be discussing five school shootings and the causal
factors leading to these tragedies. This
originated as a research project in graduate school.
Slide 2
As you can
see in the top chart, the number of incidents has steeply increased over three
decades, and the death toll rises even higher.
The second
chart includes data for school massacres involving firearms or other
weapons. The United States still has the highest
numbers even when compared to whole continents!
Slide 3
These were
my initial research points. The first
involves the concept of agency. Everyone
is responsible for their own actions, whether it’s the killer, bully, or a
lenient academician.
I believe
that school shootings are the result of a sociological chain reaction. I will explain this in Slide 6.
My third
point is the project title itself. The
empty chambers in the revolver are the innocent students, and the loaded
chamber is the potential killer. Every
time someone bullies, they risk bullying a potential school shooter.
Slide 4
Here are
the five incidents I examined.
Slide 5
Over time I
have made some observations and then developed hypotheses prior to research,
from which I could later determine accuracy.
The first hypothesis is the notion
that school shootings are the end link of a sociological chain of events. Part B refers to the fifth link of the
metaphorical chain.
The second
hypothesis is that people are abused prior to being interested in violent
entertainment in pop culture.
The third
is that Lonnie Athens’s theory of Violentization applies to school
massacres. The steps are Victimization,
Brutalization (That is an eye-for-an-eye mentality), Violence Performances, and
then Virulency, which is enjoying a violent reputation.
Slide 6
This is the
Chain Reaction Model. The links
represent people or institutions that passively accept unhealthy societal
norms. Examples include socially
accepted prejudices, derogatory jokes, fat shaming, bullying victims being
wimps, etc. Because these ideas are
familiar in society, school faculty turns a blind eye, and allows students to
bully. Some bullying victims are prone to
mental illness and may have familial problems as well. The recipients of abuse can either reject the
unhealthy norms or internalize them in Link 5.
Only a small percentage will execute a school shooting. The victim then becomes the victimizer.
Slide 7
The Rogue
Bull’s Eye Model is the fifth link in the chain. The morally gray outer ring represents the
distal factors that influence everyone.
The red ring represents the immediate environment. The people within directly affect the
potential shooter in the middle, who looks like an egg with his mental health
being the shell. All the pressure from
society and the immediate environment to accept the abuse weighs down on the
targeted person. Some shells are thicker
than others, but once the shell is cracked, everyone in the red zone is in the
line of fire.
Slide 8
Under each
precursor, I researched five school shootings to cross analyze them. Some are self-explanatory, others not so. Abusive faculty can be negligence,
favoritism, or bully-teachers. Bystander
Maltreatment can be passive onlookers or hecklers who encourage the
mistreatment. Family issues can be child
abuse, divorce, etc. I’m usually against
blaming pop culture, but I included it to be objective.
Slide 9
After a
thorough analysis, I determined the worst precursors to be mental illness and
abusive faculty. Bullying, Unhealthy
Societal Norms, and Ostracism were not too far behind. Teachers are responsible for disallowing
mistreatment and promoting a healthy learning environment. Moreover, once anyone commits mass murder,
every forensic psychologist wants to examine the perpetrator’s head, hence the
plethora of information on mental illness.
Pop culture was the most
internalized because it’s easier to relate to something that doesn’t harm
you. However, four of the shooters
internalized and engaged in bullying.
Slide 10
Most of the
school shooters were bullied whether verbally or physically. The most common reason for bullying was
clothing. Ostracism occurred the most in
middle school, and there was a recurring theme of rejection by females.
Slide 11
Under
abusive faculty, the biggest problem was negligence. The teachers were laissez faire. Friend-teachers can be just as bad as
bully-teachers, because the former wants to be popular.
There was
not much information on bystander maltreatment, because it is costly to
interview everyone who witnessed bullying and ostracism. It’s more cost effective to interview a few
people close to the perpetrator.
Under
family issues, the recurring problem was that the killer had a negative
relationship with his parents. Only one
had endured significant child abuse.
Slide 12
The most
common mental illness among the shooters was depression. Two shooters consistently took psychiatric
medications; Harris took Luvox, and Weise took Prozac. Cho took Paxil for only a year in middle
school, and one prescribed Ativan during college.
Four
shooters consciously repressed their emotions, and two were naturals at it due
to their disorders. Johnson had no anger
management skills, and he expressed anger right away.
In all
their drawings, the one recurring theme was people being shot. It doesn’t matter if someone draws skulls
like Weise or hearts like Klebold, the act of shooting someone was already on the
killer’s mind before the pencil touched the paper.
Slide 13
The
unhealthy norm that affected the shooters the most was infamy. Notoriety is easier to attain than fame. The media gives the perpetrators national
attention, and they go down in history, while the victims just get a little
memorial. Everyone recognizes Eric
Harris and Dylan Klebold, but do you remember Jack Pinto, or which shooting he
died in?
Three out
of five shootings were in environments that normalized bullying. All
the incident locations were public schools.
The perpetrators themselves attended public school. Two were home schooled for a brief period,
and Lanza went to parochial school for a year.
School
shootings could happen in any area regardless of socioeconomic status.
Slide 14
There was
no consistency in music tastes among the killers, but they tended to prefer
drama movies. The most common type of
video game was first person shooter, however few people research non-violent
games the perpetrators liked, giving a misleading impression. Cho’s favorite childhood game was Sonic the
Hedgehog.
Contrary to
stereotypes, six out of seven shooters were NOT goth! Cho and Lanza were known to dress nerdy. Eric and Dylan were not in the Trench Coat
Mafia; they were only friends with a couple members.
Slide 15
These were
the results of my hypotheses.
Slide 16
At the end
of this study, I noticed that shooters have five attributes in common. They have no long term goals, and the
massacre is their only dedication. They
tend to be misanthropes, and suicidal.
If you hate people in general, it’s easier to kill people you don’t
know. Also the perpetrator knows that
getting away with the crime is impossible, so dying at one’s own hand and not
by lethal injection is favorable. Also,
they are able to hide anger so people don’t suspect them. The last point may seem obvious, but it is
important to consider when assessing a potential killer.
If you
liked this video, you will probably like my book. Feel free to click on the link.
[End of Transcript]
Here is the link to buy or consider buying my book.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015Z9FNFC?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015Z9FNFC?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
©2015 Caroline Friehs
Originally posted:
October 19, 2015
