Chuck Colson, Goths, and the Colorado High School Shooting
I get this "news from a Christian perspective" thing from BreakPoint, where Chuck Colson pointificates on various issues from what he perceives to be a Christian perspective. As you may have gathered already, I myself am an atheist and a former Christian. I still like to keep up with what the "other side" is up to, though.
On the BreakPoint e-mail I got for April 22, 1999, Chuck Colson was talking about the recent high school shooting in Colorado, and about midway through his rant, he takes it upon himself to take the Goth subculture to task in light of this tragedy with the high school. Apparently he thinks Goths' fascination with death, as well as the dark cloths they wear and what he claims is a desire on their part to dress up like vampires is just wrong. In his own words:
"What happened in Littleton was proof, if we needed any, that there is such a thing as raw, unadulterated evil. And our kids are especially vulnerable to it. In fact, the darker parts of youth subcultures, the music and the sick films, actively encourage kids to embrace evil.
"One of these is the so-called 'Goth' subculture, which the two young killers in Littleton were a part of. Goth adherents are fascinated with the darker side of life. Their clothes, music, and literature seem to be an inversion of traditional values. Members often set out to look like cadavers and vampires.
"Now you'd think that this would set off alarm bells with responsible adults. But too many adults regard Goth culture as just some sort of adolescent phase. They take comfort from people like David Mandel, a psychologist, who told Nashville Scene Magazine that the Goth movement was "not sinister, but tongue in cheek," and insisted that devotees "find beauty in dark things much the way others find beauty in bright and happy things."
"This kind of gibberish is nothing more than a rationalization to let parents off the hook for not teaching right and wrong to their kids. In
their haste not to seem judgmental, some parents make excuses for, and dismiss, even the clearest evidence of moral perversion.
"As a result, we've plunged into yet another round of pain and grief."
Now, being an atheist, I probably am already by default one of the "bad guys" in Chuck Colson's view, or at least very questionable, so it probably shouldn't suprise me to see him spout off meaningless drivel, and it doesn't suprise me. However, this kind of bullshit quoted above really pisses me off, especially sandwiched in as it was between Chuck Colson's rants that people, "particularly Christians," need to work to avoid tragedies like what happened in Littleton, Colorado, from happening again, and how "Only the Church understands that what's really going on is a spiritual war for the souls of our kids," and that it needs to "take the lead in breaking this evil cycle."
Maybe the Church could start by being a little less paranoid. Chuck Colson's ignorance of the Goth subculture, his eagerness to see the Devil under every rock, and his delusions of grandeur are appalling. Vampires are a popular icon in the Goth subculture, and many might like to dress in such a way as to resemble vampires. Some even believe they are, though that is a topic for a different rant, or maybe something for you to do a little Internet searching on your own about. The main link for Goths in terms of dress, though, aren't vampires so much as dark clothing. I don't think the Goth subculture is "tongue in cheek," either. The Gothic dress, clothes, etc., represent genuine interests.
What does this have to do with anything, anyway? And since when did Goths represent an "inversion of traditional values"? Their interests might be different enough from the mainstream to warrant the label of "subculture," and might question some traditional values held by the mainstream, but not to the point that we have to worry about a bunch of pale-faced vampire imitators gunning down high school students. If that were the case, we'd have more definate cases of that than a couple of seriously disturbed high school students and word of mouth from their surviving classmates. I certainly don't recall anyone claiming vampires wore trench coats before now.
Goths aren't the only ones who might be in a position to question some of the values, tastes, or interests held by mainstream society. I question it every day, not only as a moody young person (well, 22-year old) who likes dark music, dark colors, and vampires, but also as an atheist, ex-Christian, zoophile, nonconfirmist, etc., etc. Homosexuals still have to challenge "traditional values" in their pursuit of complete acceptance by the mainstream. So do bisexuals and people living the polyamorous lifestyle. Then there are people in minority religions, such as Wicca and other forms of Paganism and Neo-Paganism. Fundimental mainstream Christianity is not the champion of the world, and Goths aren't a bunch of young people out to ruin basic human values. They're simply people drawn together by common tastes and mindsets, who want and deserve acceptance and probably just to be left alone. This seems to be awfully hard for some among the Christian fundimentalist mainstream community to do, despite fundimentalist Christianity's similar preoccupation with death.
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