<—– YES…. THE marilyn manson is actually more than a shock rocker. our class was watching a documentary by michael moore ( director of farenheit 9/11, bowling for columbine, and sicko) bowling for columbine to e exact. this film explores the issues of gun control, violence, etc. in america. as the title suggests, it is centered around the events of 4/20 at columbine high. it was said that the murderers at that high school listened to marilyn manson all the time. as we know it… manson is a SHOCK rocker who often writes, performs, and sings questionable music laced with violence, death, and suicide. many people say that the media is what influences students into what they think and do. in this case, manson became their scapegoat. i don’t totally agree with what he says or does, but in this documentary…he made a pretty good point. we usually expect SHHHHHHOOOOOOCCCKKKKK rockers to be dim witted and not very bright when it comes to topics such as these. think AGAIN. while moore was interviewing manson about how he felt about being used as a scapegoat for the negative influence of the media in children’s lives, manson answered with really eye opening responses. responses you would expect a philosophy professor or theologian to say. his responses were presented in a very educated and thought out manner which was surprising. buuuuut, this really stuck out at me:

moore: if you had anything to say to those students that mudered at coumbine, what would you say to them?

manson: i wouldn’t say a sngle word to them. i would listen to what they have to say because that’s what no one did.

WOW. we all know that these kids were troubled and needed someone to listen to them. manson got that…but did we???? he saw that this could have been prevented if someone took the time out to listen to their problems. we NEED to listen to what people have to say. if someone at school, IFFFFFF, said, “i’m going to commit suicide.” we probably would have said,” yeah that’s great!” seems cruel right??? the thing is, we’re NOT listening. so we’ve missed the point ENTIRELY. if one of the world’s most controversial artists can see what we can improve on….why couldn’t we???? for goodness sakes! he PERFORMS WITH A KNIFE!!!! now….i have some respect for this fellow.