I don't agree this was a gang rivalry (or clique, or whatever else you want to call it)... more a couple of frustrated kids who went off the deep end. After all, how many times have you seen gang members go on suicide missions committed to taking as many people as possible with them?
First off, I wouldn't call Littleton a "small town". It's just a suburb of Denver, and thus part of a much larger community, albeit smaller than LA or NY.
As for the motivations of the nut case killers versus the gangs, here's a stab at it...
Notice that most of the "nut case" school shootings over the past few years have occured in predominatly white, middle/upper class communities. As my boss, a former cop, pointed out yesterday, "gangs are easy to figure out; their motivation is usually based on survival". I am not defending gangs, but for a lot of kids gangs have become surrogate families where they have some sense of belonging and protect it.
As for the senseless killings by otherwise "normal" middle class kids, certainly the "cult of the individual" so prevalent in our society has something to do with it. If all you do is spend your time immersed in your own individuality, it's hard to look out and have any natural feeling of compassion for others. This isolation and competitiveness when carried to an extreme (as in most high schools) could certainly lead to the tragedy that happened in Littleton.
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I don't agree this was a gang rivalry (or clique, or whatever else you want to call it)... more a couple of frustrated kids who went off the deep end. After all, how many times have you seen gang members go on suicide missions committed to taking as many people as possible with them?
First off, I wouldn't call Littleton a "small town". It's just a suburb of Denver, and thus part of a much larger community, albeit smaller than LA or NY.
As for the motivations of the nut case killers versus the gangs, here's a stab at it...
Notice that most of the "nut case" school shootings over the past few years have occured in predominatly white, middle/upper class communities. As my boss, a former cop, pointed out yesterday, "gangs are easy to figure out; their motivation is usually based on survival". I am not defending gangs, but for a lot of kids gangs have become surrogate families where they have some sense of belonging and protect it.
As for the senseless killings by otherwise "normal" middle class kids, certainly the "cult of the individual" so prevalent in our society has something to do with it. If all you do is spend your time immersed in your own individuality, it's hard to look out and have any natural feeling of compassion for others. This isolation and competitiveness when carried to an extreme (as in most high schools) could certainly lead to the tragedy that happened in Littleton.
Just my 2 cents...