On April 20, 1999, two Columbine High School students walked into their school in Littleton, Colorado, shot and killed thirteen people, and injured twenty-three others before turning the guns on themselves. The massacre shocked the country into a wave of introspection and accusation. Just who or what could have led these young men to commit such a gruesome act?
Fingers flailed and landed on a skinny man caked in face paint and dressed in gothic garb similar to that favored by the murderers. He also had a few hit albums under his black leather belt, but that didn’t stop critics from blaming Marilyn Manson for influencing the teens to kill. Pundits and politicians, including Senator Joe Lieberman, attacked Manson, labeling the artist a “shock rocker” whose band was the “sickest group ever promoted by a mainstream record company.” Manson fought back with a piece in Rolling Stone: “When it comes down to who’s to blame for the high school murders in Littleton, Colorado, throw a rock and you’ll hit someone who’s guilty. … when these tragedies happen, most people don’t really care any more than they would about the season finale of Friends or The Real World.”
In 2001, the band’s “Fight Song” video, featuring goth kids battling jocks, was alleged to be a commentary on the tragedy. Manson replied to the rumor: “People will put into it what they want if it helps them sell newspapers … Flak isn’t my job.” True. Now that he’s divorced from burlesque babe Dita Von Teese, his job consists mostly of feeding tabloids news of his romance with 19-year old actress Evan Rachel Wood. Even when it’s just about sex, Manson’s still scandalous.
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3 Responses to “#47: Marilyn Manson Blamed For Columbine Shootings”
i sujest to watch Michael More’s bowling for columbine specially now that in april next year will be the 10 th aniversary of that massacre…. or visit http://www.maggotweb.co.uk/columbine.htm
You see, we all have to blame someone for something. Although it may be true that he is a shock rocker, and he is gothic, we cannot point fingers at anyone but Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. They both stated that they hated Manson, and the only thing that could have linked them to Manson was the fact that they both wore black that day. They did it because they didnt care about anything and they wanted to be down in history for being the best school shooting in America’s history. I think that because most people do not agree with the hypocrisy that Manson is pointing out, that he should not be put to blame, but as always American Christian views have led us to believe that we must blame something for someone’s problems. Manson is just a normal person like us all, except he is who he is, and not someone else. If anyone is to blame, it is America as a whole. Watching murders and sex on the television, the news, and magazines is what causes more violence as a society. Think of the middle ages, we had much less violence than we do now, because most people couldn’t hear of the other things that people were doing and so they didnt want to try any thing that could have gotten them killed. Now because Manson sings his songs and the parents think that he is “sick and grotesque…should be stopped”, we have all decided that Manson is “Satan”. He is not Satan, he’s just pointing out the American hypocrisy. Look at his name, “Marilyn Manson”. From Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson. “Olivia Newton Bundy” From Olivia Newton-John and Ted Bundy. These names are to show how America glorifies sex icons and murderers.
Marilyn Manson is not to blame for peoples stupidity. Anyone that blames Marilyn Manson for columbine is simply using him as a scapegoat. If people had brains they would stop blaming rock and roll artist and look at the real story itself.