Texas student kills self after holding class hostage.

May 15, 2001 9:12 PM

Texas student kills self after holding class hostage. I brought that up in order to bring this up: the Colorado Governor commissioned ten people to get together and write up a 200 page report about what actually happened at Columbine, and then tell everybody what we're supposed to do about it. I'm reminded of that scene in The Matrix when Neo notices DeJaVu the black cat. And for those tired of talking about this pathetic school shooting crap, I can sympathize. Here's a cute story about Thud the dumb grey cat.
posted by ZachsMind (22 comments total)

When I was a high school student several years ago, I heard about a similar suicide which occurred in a high school on the other side of town. I lived in Arlington Texas which is only an hour or so drive from Ennis. No hostage situation at the Arlington high school though: the kid allegedly walked into his classroom just as the tardy bell went off, he walked up to the front of his drama class as everyone was settling down and before even the teacher could do anything, he pulled a gun out of his coat pocket, announced, "this is life" and blew his own head off.

The thing is, this is not a new phenomenon. The answers are not gun control or banning video games. School suicide is simply a symptom of a much deeper cultural disease. I don't think people want to look deep enough to find the real cause. I don't think we as a culture and a society have the guts to learn the truth.
posted by ZachsMind at 9:15 PM on May 15, 2001

Sounds a little like a certain Stephen King novel. I always knew reading was bad for kids!
posted by kindall at 9:35 PM on May 15, 2001

Zach, what do you think the truth is?
I think the problem isn't that we're afraid of uncovering some awesome and frightening truth, but that we're going to, ya know, pull back the curtain to find.....nothing.
posted by Doug at 9:46 PM on May 15, 2001

jeremy spoke in class today
posted by deathonion at 9:50 PM on May 15, 2001

LOL on Thud. Everytime I see one of those stories about cats stuck in impossible situations and people trying to rescue them, it usually brings to mind the scene in Police Academy where Tackleberry is asked by a little old lady to rescue her cat.
posted by MAYORBOB at 10:03 PM on May 15, 2001

Doug, no one knows what the truth is. I could do little more than guess and won't waste time with that. However, I WILL guess that the answers that panel of ten volunteers comes up with in their 200 page report this Thursday are most definitely not the answers.
posted by ZachsMind at 11:27 PM on May 15, 2001

Personally, the look on that's cat face scares the hell out of me. Hasn't anyone seen Pet Sematary?
posted by ttrendel at 12:01 AM on May 16, 2001

Wow, how long ago did the Columbine shootings occur? And somebody finally figured out it would be a good idea to investigate the possible causes? No wonder I am constantly amazed that the human race has lasted this long. And it's a good thing it was limited to 200 pages because then they'll know when to stop writing...

...yeah, this really sends a message out that society cares and will not tolerate this sort of behavior. It says that we truly care about our youth and the things that are troubling them. Sheesh! If it weren't for sarcasm I'd be speechless concerning this farce!
posted by RevGreg at 12:18 AM on May 16, 2001

The governor of Columbine said he started this volunteer board five months after the shooting and they're only now turning in their homework. It'll be ready for public consumption this Thursday, but we already know what it's gonna say. It's gonna place the blame of the Columbine shooting on the shoulders of the police, the school, the parents, fellow classmates, the proliferation of guns and the deteriorating fabric of society... Everywhere but where it belongs.

Now don't get me wrong! I'm with Dr. Phil when it comes to understanding enabling factors that contribute to accidental death and the same is true for juvenile delinquency, but in the end the choice to get those guns, take them to school, shoot at other human beings and then themselves fell squarely into the hands of those two kids. Not society. By the way, ABC's local affiliate wfaa channel 8 has a cute "full coverage" report on the web. Look around you'll find their handy dandy depression screening test. It told me I was clinically depressed. Duh!
posted by ZachsMind at 2:33 AM on May 16, 2001

The fabric of society is deteriorating? What fabric? Which part is detriorating? If you're gonna say shit like that, proove it. It's a myth that depresses people and makes them not care, and when you repeat it then it says nothing to me but a sign that you're not paying attention to much of anything except the rest of the chickens with their heads cut off. It's ridiculous.
posted by techgnollogic at 3:19 AM on May 16, 2001

When people talk about the fabric of society deteriorating they're probably referring to all those depressed people that don't care.
posted by andrew cooke at 4:18 AM on May 16, 2001

deathonion beat me to it. damn.
posted by dogmatic at 4:19 AM on May 16, 2001

Techgno, you obviously weren't paying attention to what I was saying. I was listing all the factors that I allege will be in that 200 page paper. Factors which are frivolous and have been thrown about endlessly for years. We already know what the paper's gonna say.
posted by ZachsMind at 4:39 AM on May 16, 2001

Thank you ttrendel. I thought that it was just me. If you look at the cat, it appears like it is trying to look into your soul. It has a strange shaped face too. I like cats, but this is pure evil. Of course it will survive the fall, it is one of the undead.
posted by Stretch at 5:40 AM on May 16, 2001

Just my view.

I like Doug's answer. I'm not quite sure it's the best answer, but it's interesting (to me, at least).

If the curtain is pulled back and they find a reason, they (being the powers that be) could all point their fingers and say..."This is it! If we tackle this, then we won't have to worry about our kids anymore.", in the same way video games and violent movies are approached.

If they find nothing, there's no subject to point a finger to. There's no huge underlying reason as to why kids are doing it, they just are. That might be scarier for parents to realize than anything else. Personally, I think there is a reason, whether it's abuse of some sort or bullying.

It sounds like Night of the Living Dead, really. "Why are the dead rising?" "Uhm....we don't know, they just are."
posted by Cavatica at 5:48 AM on May 16, 2001

I know we're not supposed to self link.. but I have written a relevant essay to this topic... I posted it last night on my webpage... If anyone wants to flame me or hate me for posting a link to my own content.. sorry... but it's not a commercial site, so I don't stand to gain anything by you viewing it...

http://twiggy.dhs.org/prose.html
posted by twiggy at 6:09 AM on May 16, 2001

The latest rumors are that Toonces has been cast as Thud the Cat in the latest NBC drama "Mother May I Catch That Kitty".
posted by fluxcreative at 6:47 AM on May 16, 2001

Yay, more kitties on the Web!!! Please post more kitties!!!

Thud...lololololololololol



there, have I gotten in my daily dose of annoying forum poster behavior....oops, no wait.....

Bush Sucks!

Thank you and goodnight!
posted by briank at 7:03 AM on May 16, 2001

But seriously (since I can't tell if ZachsMind is being serious with this thread or not).....

If you're so insistent that this is a foregone conclusion, Zach, what sort of discussion were you hoping to get on this? Do we really need to chase our tails around the flagpole about all of the ills of modern society once again? Or is this just a strawman to give the political flamethrowers post-fodder for the day?
posted by briank at 7:07 AM on May 16, 2001

That is a beautiful cat. I think it was probably a wonderful human being in a past life and the reward for years of giving and helping other people was being reincarnated as this lovely gray animal. It fell from a great distance to symbolize that it is in fact an angel and it is a true blessing that it came into the life of these lucky people...
posted by bargle at 1:02 PM on May 16, 2001

Zachsmind: oh, ok. i may have jumped the gun a little... it's how you presented all those false causes that threw me off. Althought none of them actually caused the incident, the "deteriorating fabric of society" is the only one that doesn't actually exist. I thought you were saying the fabric of society is deteriorating, but that it doesn't cause things like this to happen. Follow me?
posted by techgnollogic at 1:31 PM on May 16, 2001

briank: You should be ashamed.
posted by harmful at 1:48 PM on May 16, 2001