"no friends, all enemies."

More on the William Freund thing, focusing on his Aspergers autism, and some of his internet activity. SA, thankfully, hasn't been mentioned. Nor have the other less-than-mainstream communities he visited prior to the murders, except for an autism site. Apparently, he asked them for help. When he came to SA, all he asked for was information about ammunition.

It's been a few days since the incident now, and although internet communities are still talking about it, mainstream media seems to have let it go. Hallelujah.

Or course, it never occurs to anyone that the reason things like this and Columbine happen is because of the marginalization and torment of kids who are different. School is hell if you're ugly/disabled/socially awkward/poor. By the time some of these kids finish, the only world they see is a hostile one where even the teachers dislike them.

It's hard to move into the world with anything other than rage and hopelessness if you never found a niche in school. As an adult, you know that the bad things eventually blow over. As a kid, if your whole world has been a bad thing, you don't have any sense that it will end with anything other than death.

Maybe I'm reading way too much into the issue--I'll admit, it bothers me. A lot. Columbine bothered me a lot too. Maybe it's partly because I read Frankenstein recently. Regardless, it seems terribly unfair that flaws in society create these monsters, and instead of trying to help those that can be still helped, we heap them with hatred and mistrust. The result is an ever more hostile world for misfits, a few of whom may break and decide that going out in violence may be the closest thing to respect they'll ever recieve.

something truly awful

I really, really want this to be a hoax.

For those of you not familiar with Something Awful, be aware that following either of these links goes to a place that is irreverant, profane, and often extremely funny. It's safe-for-work in the sense that you won't accidentally hit nudity, but it's not exactly safe-for-you if you're easily offended. Or really, if you're offended by anything at all.

As for the issue, assuming that this isn't a tasteless troll, it's ugly. People died, and that's horrible. But our sub-culture is probably going to get blamed, and that's a whole different type of ugly. Just like Columbine, where newscasts highlighted the fact that the murderers were gamers, and just like Jack Thompson, who blames everything violent since the crucifixion on us.

The people at SA who are involved, however peripherally, pretty much all feel terrible about it. Hell, I'm not even a forum goon, and I feel terrible about it. However, if SA can be considered responsible, they are less so than whoever sold that boy his gun and ammunition; a merchant who almost certainly will be attributed no blame by the media.

And though they may have done nothing to result in their son showing sociopathic/suicidal tendancies, I have to ask--where the HELL where his parents?

As a last thought, depending on the media spin of the ignorant, this may end up being blamed on his autistic characteristics. If so, the mentally disabled are going to get pissed on the same as the internet community.

Peachy fucking keen.