As if the Littleton tragedy wasn't enough the media has just continued to make people victims with their poor reporting. The worst culprit of this is the 20/20 report from the night after the shooting.
BRIAN ROSS (VO) It's what's known as the Gothic Movement, violent and black
STEVE RICKARD Black relates to the dark side. Gothics usually dress in all black. They a lot of times put white makeup on their face to appear dead.
Violent, want to look dead??? I've been a club kid for the past 13 years and have never come close to a fight in a Gothic environment, however when ever I go into a "regular" club I see plenty of violence and have come very close to having to fight!!! And as far as looking "dead" there's a big difference between going for a fair/light skinned look (as opposed to the fake bake leather look) and trying to look dead.
BRIAN ROSS (VO) And for the last seven years, Steve Rickard of the Denver Police Department gang unit has been trying to spread the word of how the so—called Gothic Movement has helped fuel a new kind of teenage gang—- white suburban gangs built around a fascination with the grotesque and with death.
BRIAN ROSS (VO) And Rickard, in a telephone hookup between Denver and New York, says school officials later told him among those who may have been in his audience were members of the so—called Trench Coat Mafia, for whom the black coats are what colors are for the Bloods and the Crips are of the big cities. (interviewing) So, like the colors of the Crips and the Bloods, the black trench coat is that Same kind of emblem?
A gang, okay raise your hand if you remember being jumped into the Gothic Gang. You know I don't care if people avoid me because they don't know what I'm about, that's human nature, but to have the public told I'm part of a gang!! This is as irresponsible as to say all black teens are in either the Crips or the Bloods!!
BRIAN ROSS (VO) Riddle's son, David, and his girlfriend, were convicted on charges of attempted murder. They were proud, self—proclaimed members of the Gothic Movement, and like the students involved in yesterday's shootings, focused on white extremism and hate.
STEVE RICKARD And what was interesting to me about this kid, in his living room, he had about a six—foot wooden end table that was carved with various signs, like anarchy signs and Nazi swastikas. He had written about killing somebody and plunging a knife in their body and letting the blood run over his hands and how that made him feel so fulfilled.
White extremists, hate... Ya, white extremists in eyeliner and skirts, I don't think so. As a general rule it's hate everybody equally until they give you a reason otherwise. And we all know this isn't the "we want you dead" hate, but the "leave me the hell alone unless you can prove you're worth knowing" hate. I'm just as weary around a group of white teens or frat kids as a group of black teens there's no racial difference to it.
BRIAN ROSS (interviewing) Where are those kinds of ideas coming from, do you think?
STEVE RICKARD I think in his case, you can trace it right back to Marilyn Manson.
Now I'm pretty indifferent to Marilyn Manson, but come on, a single performer is responsible for such actions, WRONG.
BRIAN ROSS (VO) Marilyn Manson is a man once called Brian Warner who combined the names Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson for his stage name. His violent, controversial music performances have made him a prominent figure among Goths, as they are known, a rebellious role model for the '90s.
Okay everyone repeat after me.... Marilyn Manson is NOT GOTH!!! He is a shock rocker, little more than a cross dressing Alice Cooper. Nor are his followers "Mansonites" Gothic. They share a similar belief that society is really screwed up and people aren't willing to face it. However MM and his followers feel an aggressive, in your face approach can change things, often embodying these things and becoming the monsters so people will take notice. Where Gothic don't feel people will change and choose instead to set themselves apart from this screwed up society. Now this is nothing against Mansonites and the such, I respect their approach however they are a smaller group and aren't as picky about who they call one of their own, this coupled with the aggressive nature of their scene can lead to these type of tragedies when those who are mentally unstable enter this lifestyle. But this isn't the fault of any musician or subculture, a person who is predisposed towards this type of behavior can just as easily hook up with any aggressive environment and do the same. Not to mention racism is no more a part of their subculture than any other.
Not to mention goth has been around way longer than MM most people would say Gothic started as a spin off of punk in the late 70's but I've even talked to a few older people who were teens to early 20's during WWII and tell me about being basically Goths back then, there was a small subculture of teens and college students that I believe they said were called "death children" for a period after WWII that adopted basically a gothic style as a reaction to all the horrors they say from the war as well as all the people who came back permanently scarred from the war. But people were too happy because the war had ended and things were looking up so it never became a very big movement, unlike current times when things just seem to keep looking more hopeless.
STEVE RICKARD In the Gothic Movement, they have what's called "the blood sports," where they're involved in self—mutilation in some cases. A lot of young females slice themselves with razor blades. Don't ask me to explain that because I can't. I know that they're—they're mixed—up kids.
Hello, cutters and self mutilation are in every environment, people who are in the alternative subculture just don't tend to hide the wounds and scares as much. I've got a cousin who is a cutter and she looks like a cross between Alanis Morissetteand a Spice Girl, hell Princess Diane was a cutter!
I find all of this to be completely irresponsible on the media's part. They are making targets for the public to take out their anger on, and now I blame them for any hardships Goths have to endure as a result.
But it doesn't stop there, they want to blame guns and make it a political issue. It was already illegal, punish the people who made it possible for them to get the guns, punish the parents who can't even tell when their children are building bombs in the house. They also want to blame games and movies, get real I played violent video games all the time and still watch an average of two horror movies a week and you don't see me going postal. It's simply a fact, THOSE KIDS WERE FUCKED UP!!! Nothing more!!! Sure the parents should have known their kids better, sure these kids shouldn't have had access to the guns, but their are countless teenagers with the same problems, the same opportunities, and the same access to weapons and bomb making that don't do it. There was that extra catalyst of something being wrong in these kids heads that would have been there no matter what anybody had done to prevent it...
