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WHEN a great tragedy strikes, it is only natural for those directly affected to seek some ready explanation to hold onto.
Unfortunately, ready explanations do not always tell us the full story and they should be treated with a degree of scepticism.
Following the tragic killing of a 16-year-old pupil at a Krugersdop school on Monday, just such a ready explanation has been offered.
The blame has been placed at the door of the death metal band, Slipknot.
This band is one of many which seeks attention in the crowded music marketplace by projecting a dysfunctional, violent persona.
It is the sort of music you would play if you were a teenager wishing to shock your parents.
Generations ago, it was sufficient to play the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to achieve a reaction of disgust from an older generation.
Subsequent generations had to amp it up a little, so to speak, and they did so with the likes of Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper, who famously bit the head off a live chicken on stage to the delight of teenage boys.
These days it takes a lot of very hard work on costumes and lyrics to draw the ire of parents who have seen it all.
Death metal bands like Slipknot and the slightly more cerebral Marilyn Manson are the last refuge of the rebel, so to speak.
But not even the most grotesquely costumed death metal band with lyrics writhing in the crypt can drive a child to kill.
The music is an outlet for anger that has its origin in real life.
Instead of seeking to blame the music, the video game or the movie, parents should look more critically at the environment in which their children are socialising and being educated.
There will be no easy answers, but it is much more useful to seek the truth than to find a ready scapegoat in music.

Related posts:

  1. Don’t blame Slipknot and Satan for your failings
  2. Slipknot: Check out this really pathetic video
  3. Slipknot killer gets 50 years
  4. Music video released on The Times multimedia portal
  5. Slipknot frontman speaks out on killing of school boy

 

Comments

 

SKULLBOY

August 19, 2008 at 7:15 pm

Actually, Alice Cooper never bit the head off of a chicken. Also, why would you only assume that teenage boys attend or attended his shows?

 

Steven

August 19, 2008 at 9:40 pm

Good point Skullboy. Alice Cooper never tortured any animal on or off stage. As usual, the press decided to make the whole thing up, which inevitably launched Cooper’s career in a way. This reporter should do his homework before publishing anything.

 

Xavier

August 20, 2008 at 12:09 am

Let’s give Ray some credit here, by applying some simple rationale and stepping back and admitting that this problem is more complext than it is being made out in the rest of the press, we should cut him a little slack. I mean, the Sowetan had a headline, “Slipknot are an eerie bunch.” Or how about Die Burger talking about “Satan moord” which will undoubtedly get the torches of the religious right lit. But hey, let’s jump on a slight factual inaccuracy on an editorial which is one man’s opinion, and unlike Die Burger’s “Satan Moord” doesn’t purport to the gospel truth. The issue is deeper than Alice Cooper, chickens and even the horned one.

 

Tau

August 20, 2008 at 9:09 am

The blame on Slipknot(even though not true) is expected. It sells papers and brings in viewers for news on tv. The editor in a newsroom would twist your arm off and slap you with back hand if a journo didn’t put the emphasis on Slipknot.

 

Ray Hartley

August 20, 2008 at 10:21 am

Xavier – Thanks, I needed that.
Tau – Actually, The Times has gone out of its way to NOT blame the supernatural for this killing.
We wrote a story (on page 3, not page one) under the headline: The devil didn’t make him do it. Then today, we published an editorial to the same effect.
Skullboy – Alice Cooper may or may not have killed the chicken. That wasn’t the point of this article … :)

 

Katie Possum

August 20, 2008 at 12:06 pm

I was the kind of teenager who listened to death metal and alternative stuff. In fact I am still pretty partial to it.

I had Manson cds galore, as well as slightly less controversial ACDC, Nirvana, The Doors. I thought I was terribly edgy and misunderstood.

But all the death metal in the world was not going to create a monster of a well adjusted, loved and confident teenager.

That is the bottom line of the Columbine killings (that they tried to pin on Manson), and it’s the same here.

 

Spectre

August 20, 2008 at 1:31 pm

Check it out people, metal aint to blame for this. It\’s not the musician\’s fault that the kid is messed up enough to kill somebody with a fricken sword! I\’ve been listening to metal for 5 years and never actually wanted to kill anybody. As usual, people are just pointing the finger at something they don\’t understand. If people allow things said by musicians to affect them so intensely then those people are really stupid. most death metal lyrics are pointless rantics of crazy people and should be ignored. Who CARES if alice cooper bit off a chicken\’s head.

People die all the time but as soon as the word music is assoscitaed with it, there is a big deal out of it. all the public attention around this has nothing to do with the murder, it is all just an attempt by people who don\’t like Metal to try and give it a bad name. What right do you (public) have to say what is bad? do you not indulge in alcohol? Do you not indulge in lust? do these things not cause more violence and murders than music does? You Hypocrites! get a life.

 

Dave Richman

August 20, 2008 at 2:31 pm

After all the total garbage that’s been spouted about the incident, it’s refreshing to finally read some balanced opinion on the matter. I’ve been listening to metal for…. sheesh… the best part of 40 years, without ever feeling the urge to hack people to bits. I don’t particularly like Slipknot myself, but my kids do, and as far as I know, they are not about to arm themselves to the teeth and go on the rampage. How do I know this? Because I actually TALK to my kids. I pay attention to them. So if my hulking great son all of a sudden started dressing like a buffoon and buying martial arts weapons, I would kinda notice and take action to adress the situation. Also, my kids know right from wrong. It’s something they’ve been taught from an early age. It’s not rocket science…. basic parenting!!!

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