I live under a rock, so I wasn't too up on the details of the March 21 shootings carried out by one Jeff Weise on the MN Red Lake Reservation, but a recent link from Stefan has piqued my curiosity with respect to the incident. Apparently, back in October (two days before my birthday, no less), Weise posted what might now be viewed as a prelude to slaughter -- a Flash animation depicting a gunman shooting down a handful of people before blowing up a police car and finally committing suicide himself. It's actually pretty well-animated -- though admittedly Newgrounds is filled with similar shorts -- but of course what makes this particular cartoon significant (and frightening) is that Weise actually more/less carried out the events depicted therein. According to folks assessing the situation after the fact, Weise's animations (another of which features a demonic clown), artwork, and fiction, which apparently depicted images of zombies and death, constituted definite warning signs and that, had they been properly addressed, this tragedy might have been prevented. And I suppose that in this case, that might be true.

But it bothers me, because it gives people yet another excuse to torment those who are different from them -- which is always among the reasons these shooters snap in the first place. Consider that Newgrounds probably has literally hundreds of gory flash animations by people who have not and (hopefully) will not go on to commit any violent crimes. The guy liked zombie movies and cited Night of the Living Dead as one of his favorite films -- will all of those who appreciate established horror classics now find themselves forced into counseling as a result of Weise's actions? And already the articles profiling Weise make mention of his gothic leanings and macabre taste in art as if they are harbingers of DOOM. (Also, this dude was 6' and 250 lbs.?! Why would a guy that big feel the need to shoot classmates who mistreated him? Methinks a thorough ass-whipping would have sufficed.) I'm reminded of the treatment I received in high school following the Columbine shootings, during which I spent a number of sessions in administrators' offices simply because I wore a black trench coat.

What should we do, then? It would be nice if we could simply look at people and discern the ones for whom these things are actually warning signs and those who simply have a twisted sense of humor or a dark muse, but we can't. Perhaps rather than prematurely accusing these solitary artists and treating them like criminals before they've committed any crimes, we should extend a hand of friendship in their direction. It doesn't even require any assumption of violent tendencies or troubled minds, because even the most sane among people can use a friend or two. So that's my solution, even though I'll surely be banned from Club Goth for voicing it. 😉

Anyway, contrary to many of the comments on Weise's animations to the effect of "I hope this dude burns in Hell forever" -- though the Hell that one animator envisions for him doesn't seem too bad at all (yeah, the film sucks, but Angelina Jolie is kinda hot...) -- I hope that Jeff has finally found some peace and put his issues to bed.

P.S. If anyone's come across any links to Weise's zombie stories, send them my way -- I'm kind of anxious to read them. Hey, do you think more folks would be more interested in reading my stories if I shot a whole buncha people? 😈

P.P.S. That's a joke, not a warning sign!

P.P.P.S. I found some here!