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RE: Violence in Colorado
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<TITLE>RE: Violence in Colorado</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>I guess I'll throw in my 1-2 cents worth. Although no explanation of which I'm aware is complete, a reading of Garbarino's "Raising Children in a Socially Toxic Environment," couple with his book due out May 7 entitled "Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them" provides numerous useful insights.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>L.W. McCallum, Ph.D.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Jaeke Professor of Family Life</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Department of Psychology</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Augustana College</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>639 38th St.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Rock Island, IL 61201</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>(309)794-7373; Fax (309)794-7431</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Email: PSMCCALLUM@AUGUSTANA.EDU <<A HREF="mailto:PSMCCALLUM@AUGUSTANA.EDU";>mailto:PSMCCALLUM@AUGUSTANA.EDU</A>> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Homepage: <A HREF="http://www.augustana.edu/users/psmccallum"; TARGET="_blank">http://www.augustana.edu/users/psmccallum</A></FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>-----Original Message-----</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>From: LUCIEN X. LOMBARDO [<A HREF="mailto:llombard@odu.edu";>mailto:llombard@odu.edu</A>]</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 1999 10:13 AM</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>To: Child Maltreatment Researchers</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Subject: Re: Violence in Colorado</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Just some quick thoughts to share:</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>>From the preliminary reports on the Littleton slaughter (it </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>certainly doesn't do to call it an incident; and tragedy is an after </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>the fact judgment, appropriate certainly but not descriptive of the </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>what was happening as it was happening) a "culture of difference" and </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>"odious comparison" seemed to be at the center of the dynamics </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>shaping the interactions between the students who carried out the </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>slaughted and their victims. </FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>This morning's newspaper (draqwing on the Washington Post and </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Associated Press reports reports the folowing:</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>"A dedication to the Trench Coat Mafia in the 1998 Columbine yearbook </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>list 13 members and carries the following message: 'Who says we are </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>different? Insanity's healthy!REmember rocking parties at Kristen's, </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>foosball at Joe's and fencing at Christopher's. Stay alive, stay </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>different, stay crazy."</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>On student at Columbine was quoted as follows:</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>"I never saw them threaten anybody or bully anybody, but we avoided </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>them because they were different, 'she said'. Anyone dressed in </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>blackyou're scared of because it signified Gothic or death." </FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>A facinating book with a very appropriate title in light of your </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>question is Peter Gay's THE CULTIVATION OF HATRED: THE BOURGEOIS </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>EXPERIENCE VICTORIA TO FREUD. NY W.W. Norton, 1993. This is an </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>historical account of how hatred of the different was "cultivated": </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>that is nurtured and helped to grow by a variety of forces at work in </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>the 19th century society of Europe. As Gay writes in his </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>introduction:</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>"In carrying on their heartfelt disputes, Victorians developed what I </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>call alibis for aggression: belief, principles, rhetorical platitudes </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>that ligitimized verbal or physical militancy on religious, </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>political, or best of all, scientific grounds." (p.6).</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Deborah Tannen's THE ARGUMENT CULTURE (Ballentine, 1999) documents </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>many of the same processes at work, cultivating hatred and difference </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>and legitimizing aggression and violence in our contemporary culture. </FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>This is the world we present to children.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Difference + justifications+an age at which people struggle with </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>identity + a perceived lack of salient alternatives in which to forge </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>identity + weapons and explosives availability = a pretty potent </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>growing medium for violence. </FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Lucien Lombardo</FONT>
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