[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 59 (Wednesday, April 28, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE GOTHIC WILDERNESS

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 28, 1999

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member commends to his colleagues an 
excellent editorial questioning some of the values reflected by parts 
of the entertainment industry which appeared in the Omaha World-Herald, 
on April 23, 1999.

                         The Gothic Wilderness

       One of the television networks, at some point during the 
     seemingly endless picking over of the tragedy in Littleton, 
     Colo., brought to the screen a young woman who had some 
     connection or other with the gothic subculture.
       She was asked about the awful events at Columbine High 
     School. Was it not possible that the killers, Eric Harris and 
     Dylan Klebold, were acting out the themes of popular lyrics 
     or video games?
       The goth girl, as might be expected, came off as 
     disbelieving, almost contemptuous of the idea that anyone 
     would be so stupid as to kill because of a song. Her comments 
     echoed the responses of others, including people in the 
     entertainment industry, who scoffed at the idea that there 
     could be any connection between their art and the orgy of 
     violence that Harris and Klebold unleashed at the Denver-area 
     high school. People, like, have a right to their music. 
     Artists, like, have a right to be controversial.
       Certainly it would be difficult to prove that any 
     particular set of lyrics or any particular video game was 
     directly responsible. Harris and Klebold are dead. Even a 
     society that has convinced itself that a goofy cartoon camel 
     creates an irresistible desire in teen-agers to smoke 
     cigarettes doesn't have the ability to read the mind of a 
     killer beyond the grave.
       Nonetheless, isn't it about time that someone had the 
     courage to speak up, like the lad who saw the emperor's 
     nakedness for what it was, and say that the saturation of 
     young minds with symbols of violence, Santanism and death is 
     manifestly unhealthy? Won't someone, anyone, give parents 
     permission to pull the plug on video games that involve 
     slaughtering hordes of electronic adversaries like mowing 
     down so many high school students in the cafeteria?
       A newspaper columnist found these lyrics in the work of a 
     group admired by Harris and Klebold: ``Kill everything, kill 
     everything--bomb the living bejeepers out of those forces--
     kill everything, kill everything--bomb the living bejeepers 
     out of those forces.''
       Maybe such ravings--and some are much worse--don't cause 
     anyone to become a mass murderer. But can it possibly be 
     healthy to entertain oneself by fantasizing about slaughter 
     as a remedy for the petty annoyances of life?
       And what of the people who profit from such art, defend it 
     and produce it? Words have meaning. Even if it can't be 
     proved that Harris and Klebold weren't motivated by the 
     bloody images that seemed to so entice them, can the 
     producers and disseminators of those images be admired as 
     just more artists pushing the edge?
       The industry claims to occupy the moral high ground, 
     wearing the mantle of artistic freedom, failing to 
     distinguish political satire and social alienation from 
     pathological homicide.
       Its spokespeople, like the goth girl on the television 
     screen, demand to be tolerated, or at least left alone. But 
     surely there is at least some moral culpability when the 
     entertainment industry saturates the culture with images of 
     mass murder and some misguided slobs in Colorado try to act 
     them out.

     

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