The Trench coat Mafia Opinion MANY FACTORS CAUSED OUTBURST OF VIOLENCE

There is no single factor that caused the outburst of violence on 20th April 1999, in Littleton, Colorado. Blaming a single factor as the cause of the Columbine High School massacre is as ludicrous as a nation blaming an economic crisis on one person alone. There were many contributing factors that led to this massacre, and with that, an array of warning signs, all of which were ignored by most people.

If people were searching for a sole factor to blame, it would be most appropriate to blame the lack of awareness of the Columbine High School community. The killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, talked about their love of guns openly at school and wrote death poetry during their English classes. Can't anyone see that such behaviour can lead to nothing but darkness? The group Harris and Klebold belonged to, theTrench coat Mafia, told classmates of their plans to carry out a massacre at school, but fellow students jeered and dismissed their comments as empty threats.

The preferred attire of the Trench coat Mafia were black trench coats, sunglasses and army berets. This code of dress was designed to stand out from the rest of the students, and to attract attention to them. This was not a wise decision made by the group as it attracted more abuse from students and became clearly recognised as 'misfits'. This worsened the communication gap between the group and other students. The school should have identified this problem and attempt to rectify the situation.

The group's alienation from the rest of the school community made most people think that they were outcasts and soon became inferior and the butt of jokes. This proves that bullying cannot be denied a part in the cause of this massacre. Bullying lowered the self-esteem of Harris and Klebold, who eventually resorted to violence, thinking that it would be the solution to their problems. However, If the 'misfits' were not jeered at but were accepted, they would not be misfits, and peaceful co-existence as civilised human beings would have been achieved.

'Seek and ye shall find'; stated Sophocles. Harris and Klebold did accordingly and proved this statement true during their search