The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 2 of 9)

ignoring part of a story that conflicts with its long held world view. I mean, for God's sake, does the name Walter Duranty mean anything to anyone? As for the Times accepting any responsibility or culpability for spurring people to perform acts that are beyond the pale of civilized discourse, when has the New York Times admitted that it has made a mistake in this area? The answer is, of course, only when it has been caught out red handed so to speak and had no choice but to accept the responsibility for the error. The acknowledgement of the mistake will appear in very small print on page C 51, directly beneath an ad for a mattress sale, and next to one for a tire sale. After all, this is the New York Times . br> -- Joseph Baum br> Garrettsville, Ohio /p>

A very well presented and thought out article. I think you make a very good point. Fame has a lot to do with these maniacs and their actions. It influenced Lee Harvey Oswald, the Columbine shooters, and I'm sure many many more.

But let's be careful with the hunt for influencers or motives. I enjoy violent films, and have played many extremely violent games, including the Doom first person shooter that was trotted out around the time of Columbine as a possible 'motive'. I've been trained in the martial arts, and have more than a passing acquaintance with guns. Granted, I don't listen to violent inspired music very much, but I have never, not once, had the desire to go shooting people at random.

'Violent' films such as those of Quentin Tarantino and many others bring in large box-office products. Violent video games go flying off the shelves. Yet, most people (well over 99%) do not go out and start shooting people at random. These occurrences are increasing, and think you've hit the reason for that right on the head. The desire for fame, and the immediate search for 'motive' and rationality behind the acts.

Irrational acts will always conform to popular ideals of the time. Senseless acts of random violence are nothing new to humanity, or even America. And they always follow general mold. These molds change over time, they adapt to new ideas and new weaponry. If anything thing, random violence has started to go down over the past couple of centuries as we used to accept fewer rationalities. Obviously, the more rationalities we accept, the more of these violent acts will occur. The Middle East, anyone?

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Religion, Islam, Constitution, Iraq, Iran, Russia, Israel, Pakistan, Africa