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23. 03. 09. - 11:00

Public could not be more wrong about reasons for Germany shooting

Comment by Thomas Hochwarter

"Keep your eyes open, observe what is happening around you – and say no to things that are not forbidden but which you don’t okay."

Those are the words of Germany’s Federal President Horst Köhler at Saturday’s mourning ceremony for the fifteen victims of the recent shooting in the towns of Winnenden and Wendlingen.

His statements only show how wrong the public is about the "reasons" for the massacre. Köhler hinted young people should avoid violent computer games, warning about them at some other stage of his speech as well. He could not have made a bigger mistake since those words confirm the public opinion that has taken shape over the past few days – if in doubt, blame video games!

Other factors, without a doubt, have also been discussed while violent "ego-shooters" dominated the discussion again. They, however are just scapegoats for what is really going wrong: parents with no idea of their pubertal children’s lives due to a lack of communication with and interest in each other (see the official statement by Tim Kretschmer’s parents, saying they had never noticed their son had any personal problems and had always known him only as a kind kid).

It was almost a fortunate coincidence that it has been learned that the killer was into opera and classical music (surprisingly, no comparisons to "Clockwork Orange" have been made) but did not like heavy metal – if this would have been the case, good old Marilyn Manson would have made the news again, apparently the only heavy-metal artist some news desks know of.

There should be no doubt about the fact that excessively-lax gun control laws lead to higher numbers of crimes committed with firearms. However, communication is the key. The tragic murders in Germany should be regarded as a last alarm bell ringing, urging us all to go back to trying to really listen to, and take care of, each other.

Austrian Times

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