- Can somebody tell me why “the teenager was a loner who usually wore black” is a relevant piece of information in the Minnesota school shooting story?If I hear the term “trenchcoat mafia”, or that he liked to play violent video games, I’ll freak out.
- Can somebody tell me why we should give a single solitary fuck about Camilla what’s-her-pickle becoming the Queen?
- I have a lot more to say about Terri Schiavo, just like everybody else in the world. When I have time, and have calmed down somewhat, I’ll spout it out just to lower my blood pressure.
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Skirl | Dan Dickinson 
“The teenager was a loner who usually wore black” is relevant. The “loner” bit certainly is. There’s nothing wrong with exploring the association between social alienation, even if it’s being a solitary goth, and subsequent extreme antisocial behaviour. I know your worry: that people generalise and start banning black T-shirts. Although that’s a slippery-slope argument, it’s certain that some people will react that way. But that unavoidable generalisation shouldn’t stop the search for indicators, or similarities between this and past tragedies. You can’t let PC-ness make assumptions and put blinders on the discussion.
As for Camilla becoming Queen, it matters to some people for one of two reasons: [1] Many people still feel an emotional attachment to Princess Diana. [2] There is a long-standing tradition that the King, as head of the Church of England, may not marry a divorcee. Of course not everyone takes it so seriously.
Loner, yes, I understand. That wasn’t the point I objected to in the statement (though I guess there’s no way to know that unless you’re me). My main objection was to the “who usually wore black” part. From news coming out now, it’s obvious he was a disturbed kid. But the black clothing thing touched a nerve with me; in high school, a couple of my friends — far from model students, both of them — were accused of satanic worship. It was ridiculous, of course, but one piece of evidence that accusers brought up was all the black clothing that the two kids wore.
Much worse is the case of the West Memphis Three (www.wm3.org), where Damien Echols’ wardrobe was actually presented as evidence of Satanic Worship at his murder trial.
It just bugs me; talk about his posts on a nazi web board. Talk about the highly disturbing flash animation he created. Talk about his father’s suicide. Talk about the fact that he has access to several guns, including automatic weapons. Leave the color of his clothes out of it; we may as well revert to studying the shape of his brain pan to determine his criminal tendencies.
As for Charles & Camilla, perhaps I should have phrased the question this way: “Why should I give a single solitary fuck about the monarchy?”