Seattlest: Victim ID'd In Tukwila Shooting

TroyJMorris

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:32:20 -0800

"There was no word on whether police think it was gang-related" doesn't always mean it wasn't. It's not whether it was gang-related or not, it was whether it was related to the music or not. Which police don't believe it is. I grew up in Tukwila. For 18 years I sat there and watched a lot of stupid people do a lot of stupid things for stupid reason. Music was never one of them. You can argue the violent aspects of hip-hop's culture, because it's there. Just as the overt-drug use in Rock and Roll culture is there. But to say that a type of music is inherently violent is I think the argument popping up and the argument the author is hoping to address.

WhiteStripe

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:48:34 -0800

Great, we solved it! Evil poor people are to blame for violence. Good job. I guess we don't have to talk about this until the next shooting.

vanderleun

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:02:23 -0800

Actually, the correlation between shootings and evil is probably a lot more spot on.

jwhieger

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:39:33 -0800

I once read somewhere there is a correlation between poverty and violence. That sounds about right.

WhiteStripe

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:33:30 -0800

Hip-hop causes shootings like skyscrapers cause terorrist attacks. It's ridiculous to hold any aspect of art responsible for the behavior of fearful, weak minded people. Art can trigger the entire spectrum of emotions, which is part of its function. It is entirely up to the individual how the emotion presents itself. But people will not question the motives and psychological development of the shooter. Abuse, failure, fear, greed, jealousy, rage... these are some causes of violence. But now if caught, we label the shooter as crazy, throw him in an institution that gives even less shit about him than the one that developed him into a skillful shooter. Individulas are responsible for their behavior. I am not blaming the system. However, our lives are encompassed not within one system but rather a plethora of overlapping systems (and values) within families, cultures, occupations, TV channels, communites, religions, states, nations ... the list could go on forever. Instead of forgetting and crossing our fingers, why don't we wonder what combination of systems and values (or lack thereof) generated a response so intense that a human being, at least for a split second, thought that murder was just. If we see patterns and commonalities in violence, we have already taken the first step to further understand ourselves. Society at large understands that the victim and shooter cannot be saved. Blaming art (or any one thing at all) is shallow, thoughtless, immediate gratification and much more fun than studying ourselves. If we stop answering questions so quickly with headlines and consider the overwhelming amount of difficult questioning that is necessary to better our species, we won't have to work so hard wondering why and fixing people because we will have already begun to address the problem.

raincitysun

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:57:26 -0800

"There was no word on whether police think it was gang-related" doesn't always mean it wasn't.

Katelyn

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:11:53 -0800

I guess you could say that music falls under freedom of expression, yeah.

vanderleun

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:09:55 -0800

"the country's most important values: our basic need for security, freedom of expression, right to bear arms, and the transcendental power of music to change lives and speak truth." Don't think the fourth has quite the stature of the first three.