Peer Abuse: Another Blind Eye Turned

Well, here we go again……or that is how I am feeling anyway. Yes, another school shooting this past week and how many does this make now? I am losing count but can assure you that I know what is behind them.

Steven Kazmeirczak came into a lecture hall and killed five people and injured sixteen before turning the gun on himself. This occurred at Northern Illinois University. From what I have read, this young man was a good student. A very gentle boy who did have some problems at home after high school and was admitted to a psychiatric facility by his family. As a “B” student in high school, he was a member of the band and chess clubs. He got a degree in Sociology from NIU. Also, he had an “incompatibility discharge” from the Army and had concerns about this being a “stigma” on his record. It has also been discovered that he was on medication and stopped taking it a couple of weeks before the shooting.

Well, the “experts” have given their take on all of this. The same ol same ol….he had stopped taking his meds which caused this. Or better…..his social isolation and desire for attention created this. Yeah, that’s it! He was a loner and just wanted attention. A loner who stopped taking his meds and wanted attention….okay, America can live with this. Society can live with this. Its an attention grabbing thing so they get famous and make the six o’clock news. So, with that, we have our answers and everyone can go back to more important issues such as what time does “House” come on TV tonight. The things that REALLY matter. After all, this is just some stupid attention whore who wants his fifteen minutes and really is wasting everyone’s time here.
Folks, these experts and others are missing key factors here. What caused this young man to be on meds in the first place? It was reported that he was gentle by nature so what caused him to create such an act? Why was he discharged from the Army for incompatibility? As for this fifteen minutes crap, if he was wanting attention so badly and to bask in the limelight, why did he turn the gun on himself before making the six o’clock news?

You know, when it comes to these shootings, people are missing a key component. PEER ABUSE! The root of this problem is that the shooter has suffered daily abuse at the hands of his peers. Oh it eventually comes out that the shooter was bullied, suffered from social anxiety and depression, felt isolated and just snapped. After all, a person can only take so much abuse until they snap. Nobody around will help them. Sure, they went to someone and let them know that they were being tortured daily at school. However, they were probably told to “ignore it and it will go away” or “this is a fact of life. You are too sensitive. Stop being so sensitive and the bullies will leave you alone”. Nobody in authority to help so they take this into their own hands. I mean, nobody around them is helping and the problem is not going away so why even bother taking the meds in the first place? They are not doing their job because the problems are still existing. So yeah, he goes off his meds. He has had enough and he snaps.

This young man was in the band and chess club in school. Aren’t these areas considered places of “social suicide” to the repulsive high school culture? Only “geeks” and “nerds” participate in these activities according to society. These are the ones who are bullied on a daily basis for being such “geeks” and “nerds”. Yet, why are these experts missing this? Living with these stigmas daily and being tortured and harassed for having these interests is hell on earth.

I think its high time people really get educated. Look at the whole scheme of things here. To stop trying to avoid the problem altogether. Skirt around it and find other reasons and excuses for this problem of Peer Abuse. Did anyone ever think that these kids are going off meds because the problem itself is not stopping? If they wanted fifteen minutes so much, why are they not sticking around to bask in the glory? Did anyone ever bother to think that making the six o’clock news is a way to cry out for help and to show people that they suffered at the hands of their peers? A person can only take so much of “geek” and “nerd” on a regular basis. It breaks a person and their spirit to hear these things over and over and OVER again. Also, a gentle soul….that is so NOT acceptable because we are always taught that “big girls don’t cry” and “to be a man and toughen up.” These are the only behaviors that are acceptable so someone who does not share this temperament must suffer at the hands of his peers.

Peer Abuse is a serious problem in our society and the problem is growing worse and not better. Its time to crawl out of denial and really look at the core problem here. Start to treat this problem as a form of abuse and not some sick right of passage. Its time for America’s Dirtiest Little Secret to be exposed and known for what it really is and that is abuse. Peer Abuse.