- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
I despise the tendency for society to rail against creative media in any form when somebody goes nuts.
The Columbine shooters wore trenchcoats and had guns, much like The Matrix. The Wachowski Brothers imagined a terrifying scenario where many people died by the hands of two karate-chopping individuals and turned it into a gazillion dollar idea that redefined movies. The two shooters at Columbine simply took that same thought and turned it into reality.
Should the Wachowski Brothers be punished? Should The Matrix be destroyed?
Now we have Seung-hui Cho, who from appearances seems to have watched far too many John Woo movies. His creative writing depicts scenes of throwing darts at his enemy's eyes, which is as tame as Rice Crispies compared to Stephen King or any sadistic slasher flick. His teachers did everything they could to alert authorities, but Cho was an uncategory.
Should we ban graphic violence in creative writing? Ban guns? Ban ignorant bureaucrats?
I say a mandatory psyche test to buy a gun to eliminate the nutbags who give guns a bad name.
