A grizzly anniversary

[norsegirl]

Media vultures all seem to be enjoying the 10th anniversary of the Columbine High massacre today. I was annoyed by one reporter's comment that the shootings were committed by two seniors who "saw themselves as outcasts". Question to all the outcasts out there... did you "see yourself as an outcast" or would you say you "were an outcast". Is your social status something purely in your own mind, or did others outside your head share the assessment of your social standing? Seems to me saying they "saw themselves" that way absolves everyone around them of any possible guilt, like this was all in their head, and there's no way that the way others treated them could have lead them to that conclusion. Heaven forbid that when everyone treats you like an outcast that you identify yourself as one.

And no, I'm not saying that this is an excuse for what they did, I'm just saying that pretending that the way everyone treated them had no influence at all on the eventual outcome is pretty short-sighted and frankly, dishonest.