joan davis fan
04-12-2002, 12:21 PM
I was watching the news the other night. This happened in a town not far from where I live.
A 17 year old boy ( senior in high school ) played football, already got accepted in college, was a straight A student, had a part time job, parents well known in the community ( both work for the local school district ) .
Last week one night about 1am, this boy for some reason sneaked out of the house. Was driving down a road in one of the many neighborhoods in the area. Noticed a house was dark, stopped his car and got out and for some reason decided to break in the house. He did NOT know the man and woman and their 5 year old son who lived in the house.
After spending several minutes drinking beer and vodka, he discovered the sleeping husband in bed ( the wife was somewhere else in the house ). He tied the husband up and when the wife saw the strange boy , he too tied her up ( after he chased her ).
Then according to tv, he turned on the stereo in the bedroom and blasted the tune by Linkin Park called "In the End". As he was singing along he stabbed the husband to death ( he was stabbed well over 10 times ) and he then stabbed the wife several times too. All the while the boy kept singing "In the End in doesnt even matter ".
The wife somehow managed to escape ( she survived by the way but is still in the hospital in that town ). The little boy stayed in his bedroom in his closet because he was scared of the loud music.
That may have saved his life.
The wife called 911 and within minutes the county sheriff arrived and arrested the boy. The only thing the boy kept saying was the lyrics from the Linkin Park song, didnt say nothing but the entire time he did this horrible act. This according to the local tv news here.
Of course the entire town of 30,000 was shocked over this but it has rasied a debate about how the media's influence over kids. In other words many many folks blame Linkin Park as much as the young man himself over this death. According to this boy's parents their son ONLY listened to 2 songs all the time. Over and over and over again with "in the End" being on of the time. In a composition to school he called the band his "heros". Even got tattooed just like some of the members Linkin Park.
Already many of the local parents got the local rock station there to stop playing "In the End" and POD's "youth of the Nation" the other song the boy was heavily into. However efforts to get "fey" the local music store there to stop selling those songs- that didnt happened.
Much has been said over the years about how much the media has influence over kids, but I just dont see how a single song can drive a young man into doing such an act like murder.
This reminds me of the Judas Priest case years ago. 2 young guys spent an afternoon smoking pot, doing other drugs and such while listening to a Judas Priest album. Went someplace , pulled a gun and shot themselves in the head. One died while the other died years later- he was disfigured as a result. The parents of both boys blamed the band and later on tried to actually sue Judas priest for causing the death. Of course what the parents didnt say at first, that both boys had histories of drug problems, one I remember reading tried to kill himself a few times in the past and spent time in mental hosptials. No wonder Judas Preist got off the hook.
It always gets me whenever a child does wrong a lot of times the parents blame everyone and everything but themsleves and their child. If a child does drugs, steals whatever, beats up others but just happens to be a fan of Garth Brooks ( an example ) to blame Garth Brooks , to me thats nonsense !!!
A 17 year old boy ( senior in high school ) played football, already got accepted in college, was a straight A student, had a part time job, parents well known in the community ( both work for the local school district ) .
Last week one night about 1am, this boy for some reason sneaked out of the house. Was driving down a road in one of the many neighborhoods in the area. Noticed a house was dark, stopped his car and got out and for some reason decided to break in the house. He did NOT know the man and woman and their 5 year old son who lived in the house.
After spending several minutes drinking beer and vodka, he discovered the sleeping husband in bed ( the wife was somewhere else in the house ). He tied the husband up and when the wife saw the strange boy , he too tied her up ( after he chased her ).
Then according to tv, he turned on the stereo in the bedroom and blasted the tune by Linkin Park called "In the End". As he was singing along he stabbed the husband to death ( he was stabbed well over 10 times ) and he then stabbed the wife several times too. All the while the boy kept singing "In the End in doesnt even matter ".
The wife somehow managed to escape ( she survived by the way but is still in the hospital in that town ). The little boy stayed in his bedroom in his closet because he was scared of the loud music.
That may have saved his life.
The wife called 911 and within minutes the county sheriff arrived and arrested the boy. The only thing the boy kept saying was the lyrics from the Linkin Park song, didnt say nothing but the entire time he did this horrible act. This according to the local tv news here.
Of course the entire town of 30,000 was shocked over this but it has rasied a debate about how the media's influence over kids. In other words many many folks blame Linkin Park as much as the young man himself over this death. According to this boy's parents their son ONLY listened to 2 songs all the time. Over and over and over again with "in the End" being on of the time. In a composition to school he called the band his "heros". Even got tattooed just like some of the members Linkin Park.
Already many of the local parents got the local rock station there to stop playing "In the End" and POD's "youth of the Nation" the other song the boy was heavily into. However efforts to get "fey" the local music store there to stop selling those songs- that didnt happened.
Much has been said over the years about how much the media has influence over kids, but I just dont see how a single song can drive a young man into doing such an act like murder.
This reminds me of the Judas Priest case years ago. 2 young guys spent an afternoon smoking pot, doing other drugs and such while listening to a Judas Priest album. Went someplace , pulled a gun and shot themselves in the head. One died while the other died years later- he was disfigured as a result. The parents of both boys blamed the band and later on tried to actually sue Judas priest for causing the death. Of course what the parents didnt say at first, that both boys had histories of drug problems, one I remember reading tried to kill himself a few times in the past and spent time in mental hosptials. No wonder Judas Preist got off the hook.
It always gets me whenever a child does wrong a lot of times the parents blame everyone and everything but themsleves and their child. If a child does drugs, steals whatever, beats up others but just happens to be a fan of Garth Brooks ( an example ) to blame Garth Brooks , to me thats nonsense !!!