r1
CONTACTING US
NtWSKUUM:
(541)346-5511
E-MAIL:
ode<®oregon. uoregon.edu
ADDRESS:
Oregon Daily Emerald
P.O. BOX 3159
Eugene, Oregon 97403
.nit cui imn. www.uureyuii.euu/~oae
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Teri Meeuwsen
Youth violence requires broad approach
No one cause or solution can be
highlighted in cases such as the
Thurston shooting
The storm is passing.
With a tremendous roar, the national
media and the pundits they like to quote
descended May 21 upon Springfield,
drenching us with their vision of the “big story. ”
Not to be left behind, local media responded in
kind — The Register-Guard still dedicates four or
five stories each day to the "Thurston tragedy."
Now that they’re gone and the collective wisdoir
of every hack advocate and lobbyist has departed
with them, maybe we can finally think about the
situation with a clear head. What an unusual ap
proach that would be.
We don’t know what would make a student kill
his parents, carry three guns to school, and begin
shooting random people eating breakfast in the
cafeteria. More important, our desire to explain the
shooting is limited.
The violent events at Thurston are tremendously
significant to the community, and many people in
the area are probably asking themselves, their fami
lies and their children some critical questions
about personal views and behaviors. As a newspa
per, however, it isn’t our job to dissect every aspect
of this particular case or community.
What concerns us is what makes this case truly
upsetting — not that it was a stunning and rare
event that briefly brought the attention of the na
tion’s media to Eugene — but that it was part of a
common and dangerous trend of youth violence.
This violence isn’t isolated to the schoolyard
and it usually doesn't receive more than a passing
mention in the press. For every Thurston shooting,
there are dozens of young people who die in the in
ner city.
Even as crime rates decline across the nation,
levels of youth violence continue to rise. There are
many people who are interested in explaining this,
and those people were out in full force during the
media storm surrounding the Thurston shooting.
It shouldn’t take an event such as Thurston for
the media to ask for explanations for youth vio
lence. Conversely, people shouldn’t rely on events
such as Thurston as an excuse to provide explana
tions.
Too many of those explanations had little or
nothing to do with the specifics of Thurston.
While we cannot view the events in Springfield
as isolated, it's important to recognize that there
are aspects of the shooting that are unique to the
individuals involved and the community they
live in.
Those unique aspects were largely ignored by
the pundits who weighed in with their profound
understanding of why violence happens. Instead,
every person had an agenda that went along with
his or her answer.
Some of those agendas are admirable. The shoot
ings could not have happened had the suspect not
had easy access to a gun, as gun control advocates
are keen to point out. But the gun didn’t leap into
someone’s hand and start firing itself— it took a
combination of other factors to pull the trigger.
Even those groups we support do themselves
and the anti-violence cause a disservice by making
Thurston into little more than an opportunity for
an advocacy lecture. Gun control, improved
schools and stronger communities are important
for stopping all violence, but none of these factors
alone or in combination can adequately explain
what happened in Springfield.
When advocates rely on isolated events such as
Thurston to push their agendas, the debate over
youth violence becomes distorted. The majority of
violent juvenile crime happens in cities and yet
rarely is mentioned. Effective policies for dealing
with this crime need to be formed based upon an
overall view of the situation, rather than the advo
cates’ gut reactions to a media-saturated event.
We certainly don’t claim to know what the
best approach to solving juvenile crime is, but
UMHis HUiUHiNSUN/tmerald
we do know it will require a combination of
many approaches, most of which will have to be
tailored to the community where they are imple
mented. Many of the people who threw out ex
planations for Thurston made valuable points,
but those points are only really valuable when
taken in combination with the dozens of other
explanations.
Dealing with violence requires an understand
ing of the problem not as consisting of isolated
incidents stemming from isolated causes, but
rather as a complex pattern of societal discord
that has roots in many underlying problems at
the individual, community, family, cultural and
national levels.
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald
editorial hoard. Responses may he sent to
ode@oregon. uoregon edu.
Drawing Board
5ump>-pto/
Step down !/!
w
;op rv.
Tjiftuepits'
i /
«v/*W6«>D'
'WfYW KH.UP
Kfnnri/
/
Wo*Aat?
I
.. AMP Tut wewntfM
Who low MM. I
***T XPIWSORWOC*
■IS fj-imi a*
'x; PAT’
_Sc«MT*frf SAY A
Mtrton storm rw»5
fau. aauio OrjTROY
TtlKiOAVWOMKATVW
SAY*urrtS '
f
Of^TWt
MertORS,
o
Thumbs
/]
I_ 1
TO A STUDY INDI
CATING INCREAS
ING SUPPORT OF
GAYS:
According to a
story in The Regis
ter-Guard, only 56
percent of people
disapprove of homo
sexuality, down from
more than 70 per
cent mere decades
ago. While that num
ber should be zero,
we are still glad to
see indications that
Americans are be
coming more intelli
gent, at least on this
subject. Also signifi
cant, support for
many homosexual
causes, such as
same-sex marriage
and domestic part
ner benefits, is also
increasing. Never
theless, it is impor
tant to remember
that in this case, like
many in America, the
majorily continues to
hold a bigoted hatred
of that which is dif
ferent. We must con
tinue fighting for
equality.
TO GENDER IN
EQUALITY IN
HEALTHCARE:
As was pointed
out in The Register
Guard a few weeks
ago, medicine con
tinues to be a man’s
world. The latest in
dication of this is Vi
agra: The New York
Times reported on
Thursday that federal’
health insurance
programs will pay
for the anti-impo
tence pill. Mean
while, as the Guard
story noted, health
care services that are
important to women
still don’t receive
funding. Birth con
trol and abortion
may not "treat” med
ical conditions, but
they are important
tools women useto
maintain their physi
cal, mental and emo
tional well-being.
CORRECTION
In the article
“The iceman
cometh" (ODE, May
29), Charles
DuPree’s salary
should have been
listed as $100 a
day. The Emerald
regrets the error.