People kill people, not music

Little over 10 years ago, Marilyn Manson was hung out as the scapegoat for why two teens killed 13 people and injured 24 more at Columbine High School in the United States.

Today, it appears that Pittsburgh-punkers Anti-Flag supposedly “inspired” a gunman to kill six people outside of a Safeway in Tucson, Arizona, as part of an assassination attempt on U.S. congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot point blank through the forehead and has miraculously survived.

Let’s ignore for a minute the fact that the article and bold allegation in the story’s headline comes from a news source that I hope most rational people don’t take seriously. I’ve never heard of World Net Daily before this, but I’m sure it doesn’t even register on most of the world’s must-read news websites.

Still, it’s baffling how some people can strain so hard to formulate excuses to pin what happens in these type of circumstances as anyone’s fault but the person who pulled the trigger.

Especially when it comes from a supposed writer with Harvard PhD credentials.

It’s even more disappointing that the band has had to defend themselves over such ridiculous accusations. For fuck’s sake, this is a band that released a special EP in 2007 to benefit victims of violent crime. The disc was released in response after Chris Barker’s (the band’s bassist) sister was murdered.

When we as a society, and as media, stoop this low, we disrespect the dead and dishonour their memories. What happened, happened, there’s nothing we can do to change it. The world keeps spinning around the sun.

People kill people. Not video games, not music. Let’s prosecute the people who commit these heinous crimes and not the music.