Littleton Blaming Game

Thank you, Mr. Rosenberg, for putting into words the feelings I have been trying to express since the blaming game began for the Columbine High killing spree. (“Littleton and the Rush to Judgment,” May 3).

All three points you made about so-called conventional wisdom were right on the money. That Klebold and Harris were seriously messed up individuals, I do not doubt, but blaming their actions on the movies they watched, the games they played, the clothes they wore, or the fact that they were outcasts seems to be missing the point entirely.

People who empathize with “The Basketball Diaries” more than “Titanic” do not do so because violence is somehow more persuasive, but because they do not “come to it with a clean slate,” as you say.

Similarly, I don’t think the fact that they played violent video games late into the night led them to violence; instead, it was just one outlet for an already violent attitude. Obviously, it was not enough of an outlet.

Finally, the sudden media-approved castigation of outcasts, especially in the high school setting, is extremely disturbing to me. Have people forgotten what it was like to be part of the outcast group, to be the accepted target of continuous bullying, intimidation and humiliation?

To blame outcasts for being outcasts in the first place is the final insult, but it is unfortunately too often the stance of the high school administration, and now the media have taken up the cry.

In all, then, it seems like conventional wisdom is turning common sense on its head in the Littleton case. I fear that the result will be preventive measures, like the Denver school that banned trench coats, that ignore the underlying problem.

Klebold and Harris were obviously extremely unhappy; they openly exalted the most vile dictator in recent world history, showed extreme signs of alienation and anger, and nothing was done about it. And nothing will be done about it, except more blaming of the effects rather than the as-yet unknown causes.

ANDY GOLDMAN

Placentia

The answer to the question Howard Rosenberg poses is simple.

Many of us were shaped by positive role models in the media. If I admit Superman, Capt. Kirk and Mike Nelson (“Sea Hunt”) influenced me, will Rosenberg admit Leonardo DiCaprio (“Basketball Diaries”) may have influenced Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris?

ROBERT SCHMIDT

Culver City