by Adam Mcculley

Created on: April 29, 2008

In order to understand the "wave " of campus shootings, and it's possible precursors, we must first try to grasp a few important facts....this means a bit of number crunching, a bit of comparison, and a steady tracking of said phenomena over an extensively traceable period of time.Sooooo..we'll put the bravado and commentary on hold, roll up our sleeves and jump in.

I am currently a proud citizen of the beautiful state of Virginia. According to the VA state law-enforcement database, in 1993 the incidents of violent offenses in schools was about 13 per thousand children. That was 15 years ago. A good place to build a statistical arc of youth violence. But hold on, this arc is more of a steady diagonal line, going down,down,down, as incidents of violence have decreased in a stable, predicable fashion, since our starting point. In late 2007 the number sat at 4 incidents of violence per thousand students. (RE: VAsafeyouth.org). I am also a gamer, and avid movie-goer,Particularly horror flicks. The bloodier, the better. I need not tell you, dear readers, what you already know. Hollywood and Silicon-Valley up the ante almost weekly, nay, daily in the shock, violence, and bloodshed department. Since 1993, our statistical highpoint, video game and cinema technology has exploded exponentially. The reigning tech-wizards that produce such entertainment have entered realms of depravity today, that can't even compare to super NES of 1993. Yet youth crime has steadily DECREASED by over 50%. I bet if all denizens of other states do some checking, you will find the same trends. I did. I checked Massachusetts, California, and Texas, as well as my own home state. All show a steady decrease in youth violence in the past 15 years. So how can we reconcile these two facts? Youth violence is going down, the entertainment industry is pouring it on like never before. Maybe we can't reconcile these facts because their is no logical connection.Maybe video games and movies don't factor in to such an equation. VA tech was a horrible thing. 6 people died. A big chunk of America is scared and confused. They want answers. Should we give them easily digestible ideas, in the form of sound-bytes, and slogans, instead of those dry, not-so-sensational numbers that tell the true story? Will we find a safe intangible to beat up on...yet again? I think this happens because of pride and pettiness. I think kids keep shooting up the schoolyards (In decreasing numbers) because we; The all knowing grown-ups

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