Making Sense of Murder: AlterNet Readers Discuss the NIU Shooting

By Tana Ganeva, AlterNet. Posted February 20, 2008.

The shooting rampage at Northern Illinois University has prompted the customary barrage of speculation about the gunman's motives and the larger forces that made the shooting possible. All of the usual explanations are being trotted out: easy access to guns, gun-free zones, faulty medication and violence in the media.

In "Northern Ill. University: Was the Killer Crazy, or the Campus Hopeless?" Mark Ames proposes an alternative way to make sense of the tragedy. Ames argues that school and workplace violence is rooted in the economic and social problems faced by most Americans. Seemingly senseless rampages like Kazmierczak's are symptomatic of the hopelessness and dissatisfaction pervading small towns like DeKalb and schools like Northern Illinois University.

Ames' article has sparked a vigorous debate among AlterNet commenters. Many readers accuse Ames of making unfair assumptions about "second-tier" universities and glibly knocking life in "middle America." Other readers point to a culture of entitlement that sets up most Americans for disappointment. Still others bring up issues that Ames fails to address, such as a lack of adequate care for the mentally ill.

Not surprisingly, some of the most vehement objections to Ames' article come from students, staff, and alumni of Northern Illinois University.

Reader commonsense1 defends NIU as " ... a proud place with faculty that comes from many of the best businesses in the Chicago area ... " and points out that "A perusal of an NIU alumni magazine [shows] the many great things NIU graduates have done and are doing."

Timemachinist, an alumni of the graduate program in history at NIU, describes the faculty as "accomplished, stimulating, challenging, inspiring and available for one-on-one discussions. Timemachinist continues his critique of Ames by arguing that the article "mocks the satisfying and beautiful lives of [NIU] students and graduates, and apparently measures us by the same exact elitist standard it seems to blame for the deeply evil action of an individual."

Reader leebee also critisizes Ames for placing the blame on NIU. "It is with great sadness and anger that I read the scathing comments about a university I love and have wonderful memories of ... I never had an allergic reaction to the lovely cornfields, and I never smelled anything offensive." The problem, argues leebee, is a sense of student entitlement. "In too many students, there is a sense of unhealthy entitlement, a lack of commitment to learning, a disrespect for faculty, a willingness to project blame onto other people and other circumstances. Don't blame NIU. Look at who and what you are."

NIU alumnus Aquafunkapus, a "proud graduate of NIU," criticizes Ames for implying that " ... this crime was committed due to the fact that these people went to a 'crappy' college in a 'dirty' town."

Many readers not personally connected to the university also echo the sentiment that Ames is unfairly critical of so-called "second-rate" colleges. Reader Lonl states, "Everybody doesn't get to go to Harvard and Yale, yet any number of people who have not still make immense contributions." Lonl goes on to make the undeniably valid point that " ... one need only to witness our current POTUS to see how awful some grads from top-tier institutions can be."

Rwday argues that second-tier universities serve a valuable function, since "not every student has the ability or interest in attending the top colleges. Lots of students derive great satisfaction from their attendance at these schools, far more than the number who find them hopeless and wastes of money and time, and infinitely more than take a gun and start shooting."

Reader upperaccess finds that "the author has some genuine insights but loses credibility with his elitism. So the college is in a rural area where job opportunities are limited? And, horrors, there's a nearby pig farm? What, not many grads become CEOs of Fortune 500 companies? Ooh, no wonder it spawns mass murderers!"

An interesting counterpoint is provided by Heid, who argues that Ames is bringing needed attention to the unfair advantages enjoyed by elites. "Those at the top of the social hierarchy do not suffer from the same stresses. They know that they're going to have interesting work. They know that they're going to have work, in fact -- assuming they want it. They know that they have access to the best of everything, whether its jobs, clothes, food, travel, whatever. In other words, their advantages result in a lack of stress that everyone else must live with."

See more stories tagged with: school shooting, steven kazmierczak, mark ames

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