Daily Mail - Legacy of Distortion Part II - Luke Mitchell and the Murder of Jodi Jones

The sensationalised reporting surrounding the case of Luke Mitchell and he murder of Jodi Jones is also interesting. This was a terrible case but the focus on goth found generally in the media was simply media sensationalism full of distortion interconnecting the murder with goth, Heavy metal, occult and Satanism. The Police in the case did not help with their focus. Luke Mitchell was a sick killer but the reporting linked innocent fans of bands and certain music to murder in an unjustified way. As always Columbine goth myth is mentioned in fact neither of the murders there really liked Marilyn Manson or goth and nor did they wear trenchcoats generally (see Columbine - The Legacy of Hatred).


Read some of the earliest reports:

Was 'Goth' Jodi the victim of a ritual black magic murder?

BYLINE: TAMZIN LEWIS

Mail on Sunday July 6, 2003

SECTION: STH1; Pg. 13

THE brutal murder of schoolgirl Jodi Jones may be linked to satanism and black magic, detectives revealed last night.

Senior officers confirmed that the 14-year-old girl's association with Goth culture is a major part of their investigation into her killing.

Jodi and her boyfriend Luke Mitchell, also 14, were followers of the morbid subculture which celebrates death, depression, anger and hatred. Extreme elements of the Goth world have been known to dabble in satanism and black magic.

Jodi's mutilated body was found dumped by a country path near her home in Dalkeith, Midlothian, on Monday.

The officer leading the hunt for the killer, Detective Superintendent Craig Dobbie, described the attack as 'the most violent death I've experienced in 28 years in the police'.

Jodi's throat had been slashed and she had multiple stab wounds including a large injury to her stomach. The Mail on Sunday has knowledge of other aspects of the way her body was mutilated but cannot reveal them for police operational reasons.

However, the 'sinister' nature of her injuries has led detectives to investigate her association with the movement.

Last night a senior police source revealed: 'We will be looking at what Jodi and her social circle were interested in and an obvious area will be their ties to the Goth movement.

'We will be examining if the manner in which she was killed has any links to the violent world that many Goths find fascinating and will be speaking to all her friends who had similar interests.' Jodi was killed after failing to keep an appointment to meet Luke. The alarm was raised after her mother Judith sent a text message to Luke's mobile phone saying her daughter was late returning home.

As Jodi's grandmother and sister began searching a wooded area used by locals as a shortcut, Luke stumbled upon her body lying behind a wall.

On Friday police questioned the boy for several hours and a team of forensic officers removed more than 20 large brown paper bags and yellow sacks from his family's home in Dalkeith as they combed the detached house, garage, garden and cars for items.

The couple were part of a small band of friends who enjoyed grunge and Goth music, dressed in dark clothing and dyed their hair. Jodi was a fan of bands such as Nirvana, Korn and Queens Of The Stone Age and loved dressing in Goth-style clothing.

Teenagers Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who killed 12 fellow students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado and then committed suicide, were labelled Goths because they wore black trench coats and listened to Marilyn Manson.

After the 1999 shootings, critics of Marilyn Manson claimed that the singer's dark lyrics may have inspired the killers.

Three days after Jodi's death, Luke placed a floral tribute near to where she died with a card which quoted Nirvana star Kurt Cobain who committed suicide nine years ago.

The card said: 'The finest day I ever had, was when tomorrow never came.'

And again in this article:

'Satanism' link to the brutal murder of schoolgirl Jodi
DAILY MAIL July 7, 2003 BYLINE: GAVIN MADELEY

SECTION: ED_SC1; Pg. 6

THE maniac who murdered schoolgirl Jodi Jones may have been obsessed with Satanism and the occult, detectives said yesterday.

The nature of 14-year-old Jodi's injuries - precise details of which are being kept secret by police - hint at a 'ritualistic' aspect to her death.

Murder squad officers are looking closely at the teenager's Goth lifestyle and musical tastes for clues. As prayers were said for Jodi and her family in local churches yesterday, officers were focusing a 'major' part of their inquiry on the macabre song lyrics of many of her favourite bands and on the morbid literature she read.


Both she and her boyfriend, 14- year- old Luke Mitchell, were followers of the Goth movement. Fans favour dark clothing, heavy make- up, tattoos and body piercings.
Some, at the extremes of the Goth scene, profess to 'dabble' in witchcraft. Occult imagery is a major part of the look and lyrics of Goth bands.

The possible link to Satanism comes as detectives await the outcome this week of crucial DNA tests on Jodi's body and clothing.

Detectives hope scientists will find a clue to the killer's identity from the body - one of his hairs; a flake of skin; saliva. Even fibres from his clothing could help track him down.

Jodi's body was found by her boyfriend near a secluded path close to her home in Dalkeith, Midlothian, a week ago.

Her throat had been slashed and she had suffered multiple stab wounds, including a large gash injury to her stomach...

A senior police source said last night: 'We will be looking carefully at what Jodi and her social circle were interested in. An obvious area will be their ties to the Goth movement.

'We will examine if the manner in which she was killed has any links to the violent world many Goths find fascinating.' Jodi, a fourth-year pupil at St David's RC High School, and her small circle of friends listened to bands such as Korn and Nirvana, dyed their hair and dressed in dark clothing.

Her favourite film was Queen of the Damned. It became a cult classic, in part because its star - pop singer Aaliyah - died in a plane crash before filming was complete.
Jodi also read the works of poet Sylvia Plath, who wrote about death before she committed suicide in 1963.

Jodi was killed on her way to meet Luke, using the popular Roman Dyke shortcut. She left her home at around 5pm last Monday after the pair had exchanged text messages. Within an hour, she had been brutally murdered

When the trial ended the connections continued:

Obsessed with drugs and death, a descent into evil BYLINE: GRACE MCLEAN

DAILY MAIL January 22, 2005

His parents Philip and Corinne split up in 1999, and by the time he was 14, Mitchell was claiming to smoke hundreds of cannabis joints a week, was obsessed with knives, and immersed himself in a Goth subculture which celebrated Satanism.

A fan of Marilyn Manson whose songs are said to have inspired murders all over the U.S. and Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain who committed suicide in 1994 Mitchell's burgeoning sexuality drove him to pursue schoolgirls with a predatory appetite.

"MARILYN Manson is perhaps the most notorious figure in the Goth rock music scene.

A media manipulator and self-styled 'Antichrist superstar' he has taken the first name of Marilyn Monroe, and the surname of a serial killer, Charles Manson, to create a disturbing public persona.

His Satanic lyrics and grotesque videos were blamed for the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado when two neo-Nazi teenagers killed 25 of their classmates.

Goths have a huge following among British teenagers who dress in black and revel in looking pale and gaunt."

But this long article furthers the accusation between Manson and murder. As discussed earlier the columbine murderers were neither goths nor were they Manson fans really.

SHOCK ROCK

BYLINE: GRACE MCLEAN; JONATHAN BROCKLEBANK

DAILY MAIL January 22, 2005 SECTION: ED_SC1; Pg. 15

ROCK star Marilyn Manson's influence on teenagers has already been blamed for several murders across the world. Now Jodi Jones's name may be added to that list.

While the question of any link between Jodi's death and Manson's fascination with the notorious Black Dahlia Murder remained the subject of intense debate in court, it is clear the two crimes bore chilling similarities.

As they came to interview Luke Mitchell, detectives made the connection almost at once. They believe he became fascinated with the 1947 Los Angeles murder after Manson painted a series of gruesome watercolour paintings of actress Elizabeth Short's dismembered body.


Jodi's face was slit from just below her mouth, across the cheek almost to her ear. Similar injuries were found on both sides of Miss Short's face.

Jodi also suffered a terrible knife injury to one breast. In Miss Short's case, part of her breast was removed and, police believe, kept as a souvenir by her killer.

Miss Short's killer cut her in two across the middle. Jodi also suffered terrible wounds to her abdomen probably inflicted after death although there was no apparent attempt to dismember her.

Post-mortem pictures of Miss Short were depicted in a catalogue of paintmannequinings by Marilyn Manson. The possible link with Jodi's death was established when detectives raided Mitchell's home and found that he was a fan of the star.

Manson's name was scrawled across Mitchell's school jotters, and two days after Jodi's death he bought a DVD and CD package containing a short film made by Manson called Doppelherz. It featured images of a young girl lying naked on open ground and of two girls in corsets bound together in the woods with bags over their heads.

A police source said: 'We very quickly made the connection between Mitchell's obsession with Manson and the murder of Elizabeth Short. Jodi's injuries were so similar it was frightening.

' Mitchell was absolutely obsessed by Manson and the violence surrounding his work.' Born in Massachusetts, Elizabeth Short had came to Hollywood in August 1946 to try her luck in the film business.

It was two months earlier, while living in Southern California, that the nickname the Black Dahlia was born at a corner drugstore she used to frequent. It was a play on the recently released film noir The Blue Dahlia, starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake.

ON January 15, 1947, Betty Bersinger caught a glimpse of something in a vacant lot which looked like a broken mannequin. As she grew closer, she realised the body was human and called police.

It was the most sickening thing the officers had ever seen. The dead woman seemed posed, lying on her back with her arms raised over her shoulders. She had been cut in half at the waist.

Her face and body had been slashed viciously, with cuts running from both edges of her mouth to the ears. Rope marks were also found on her neck.

The 22-year-old was identified from her fingerprints as details of the case spread across America, gripping much of the country with morbid fascination.

At least three men made false confessions.

In a book written by a childhood friend of the victim, filmmaker Orson Welles was even suggested as a suspect because an unused set from his 1948 movie The Lady from Shanghai was decorated with female body parts, including a face mutilated like Miss Short's and a body cut in half.

Meanwhile, police believed the real killer was taunting them. They received items belonging to the victim in the post and, later, notes which said: 'Catch me if you can.' Some detectives came to believe it was the perfect murder because of the lack of hard evidence.

Police officers in the Jodi Jones case think Mitchell, too, believed he had committed the perfect murder. One detective said: 'He thought he had got clean away with it that the case was too circumstantial for him to go down.' Today interest in the Black Dahlia murder is as keen as ever and it is in no small measure due to death metal stars such as Marilyn Manson peddling the horrors of the case almost as if they were something to be celebrated.

Commenting on the infamous murder, Manson once said: 'The crime was never solved and I've been obsessed with it since I was very young. The first picture, A Smile I, is how she came to Hollywood with hopes of becoming famous.

'The second, A Smile II, is how she was left, in a sad way, very famous. I think this is one of my best pieces. So I hope no one buys it, cos I really don't want to lose it.' Filming of a new movie about the Black Dahlia murder, starring Josh Hartnett, Mark Wahlberg and Scarlett Johansson, is due to start in March and there is even a U.S heavy metal band which calls itself The Black Dahlia Murder.

In 2002 they devoted a whole album to Miss Short's murder. It contains lyrics which would appal most yet their audiences are largely impressionable, often confused teenagers.

One song has the lines: 'And in my dreams I cut your mouth from ear to ear/Dissecting your angelic body in the quiet of your room/ 'How splendidly I carve into your tender heart/I'm shuddering between the sheets.' The same song has the lyrics: 'As I caress your perfection/My angel, I'll tear your insides out.' AS for Manson whose name is a combination of Marilyn Monroe and killer Charles Manson his Satanic lyrics and disturbing videos were once blamed for the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, when two teenagers went on the rampage, killing 25 classmates.

Manson argues his name was wrongly linked with the crime on the basis of erroneous early news reports on the massacre which said the killers were wearing Marilyn Manson T-shirts.

Five years ago, his lyrics are also said to have inspired three teenage girls identified only as 16-year-old Milena, Ambra, 17, and Veronica, 17, to stab the 61- year- old Mother Superior who had taught them at their school in Italy.

Police found the girls were obsessive fans of the singer, their school diaries were scrawled with Manson's lyrics and they had made a pact to worship the Devil.

Responding to criticism over the murder, Manson said: 'You can find inspiration for man's behaviour wherever you look. I think people have to take responsibility for their own actions. I don't think I have ever tried to create things to encourage people to hurt others, or themselves.' He claimed his stage show helps teenagers release their pent-up aggression, rather than encouraging violence in their everyday lives.

' These kids are getting out everything that they can't get out the rest of the week the rest of the year. That's a catharsis for them, that's what rock'n'roll's supposed to be.' With his name now inextricably linked with the Jodi Jones murder trial, parents may well wonder i f Manson's peddling of the grotesque to teenagers really is a welcome catharsis or a potential trigger for slaughter

This article by MELANIE PHILLIPS is shockingly blatant in its attempt to link drug use to goth culture. Drug use is rife right across British youth of all types not just goths, plu I seriously doubt that there statistically any more goths from broken homes than any other group:

Cannabis caused a 14-year-old to kill. Yet still they say it's harmless

BYLINE: MELANIE PHILLIPS

DAILY MAIL February 14, 2005

With websites now dedicated to Mitchell, too, there are fears that a disturbed young person might try yet another copycat murder. Such fears are hardly groundless.

In 1999, the killings in America at Columbine High School in Denver were committed by two young Manson fans.

What we are facing now among a section of our young people is a terrifying breakdown of the bonds not just of socialisation but of civilisation itself.

This is the result of a number of ruinous changes in our society - in which the growing acceptability of drugs is a significant part.

For these young people, the moral obligation to accept the difference between right and wrong has disintegrated. From all sides, they are bombarded by the message that the only thing that matters is their own pleasure and gratification.

Duty, responsibility, shame and stigma have all but evaporated. Difficulty, pain or failure are viewed as assaults on their right to be happy. What trumps everything else is the need to protect their feelings. Instead of providing boundaries to give young people the security that is vital for emotional health, the adult world has simply abandoned them.

Family disintegration shatters their sense of themselves, schools leave them floundering in their own ignorance and immaturity, and the commercial world exploits and encourages their premature sexualisation.

It is among these rising numbers of confused, unhappy or disturbed children that the 'Goth rock' cult of satanism, self-harm and nihilism principally has its lethal appeal.

Daily Mail - Legacy of Distortion Part I

Giving the Mail recent statement claims they are unbiased and gives fair coverage over all. I decided to look back over the years to see if the Mail's tendency to distort the truth noticeable in two recent articles was noticeable elsewhere. It is interesting to note that the Mail did give good coverage to the Sophie Lancaster case highlighting the prejudice of the attackers to some extent. It is odd they should then follow up that with their articles on Emo.

This even seems more odd when you see this article from their sister paper on My Chemical Romance:

Mail on Sunday March 25, 2007 Sunday

Who said Romance was dead? BYLINE: TIM DE LISLE

For years, the generation gap has been narrowing.

Students listen to the gently rousing sound of Snow Patrol and so do their parents. Girls and their mothers read the same celebrity rags and sing along to Scissor Sisters. But now a band from New Jersey threaten to reopen the great divide.

My Chemical Romance are loud, dark, heavily made-up and suddenly popular.

They have even been accused of leading a cult of self-harm, although the evidence is slight. The subject of self-harm does crop up in chatrooms populated by the band's fans but they can hardly be blamed for that and their response has been clear enough: 'We do not encourage self-harm.' They frighten some parents, but others are here with their children, and some older people are even here of their own accord. Behind me, two men are reminiscing about a gig by The Damned in 1976.

My Chemical Romance are not so much objectionable as puzzlingly hard to place not quite punk, not quite emo, not quite metal. At last summer's Reading Festival they were pelted with bottles by fans of the veteran death-metal band Slayer. This delighted My Chemical Romance, who pride themselves on being outsiders.

This is bizzare. Note De Lisle who clearly has some idea of what is talking about points out that:

1 - De Lisle notes MCR do not advocate self-harm in anyway and says: "the evidence is slight". NOTE in 2007 the evidence "cult of self-harm" is slight but in 2008 it is suddnly definate.
2 - It points out the band may or may not be Emo.... as a lot of MCR fans claim. So if there is doubt about their status as a emo band in 2007 why in 2008 are they suddenly definitely Emo leaders of a suicide cult?

Not so long ago of course it was not Emos who were the problem:

Young 'Goths' are a suicide risk: Report reveals darker side of teenage culture

BYLINE: JENNY HOPE

Daily Mail (London)April 14, 2006 Friday

TEENAGE 'Goths' who like to dress in black and listen to morbid rock music are more likely to attempt suicide, it was revealed yesterday. A study of Scots youngsters found those attracted to the dramatic black makeup and pasty, white faces of the Goths often showed a deep melancholic streak. They had alarmingly high levels of mental health problems and were more likely to harm themselves or attempt to take their own lives than members of any other youth subculture... Lead researcher Robert Young said: 'Although only fairly small numbers of young people identify themselves as Goths, their rates of self-harm and attempted suicide are very high.

'One common suggestion is that they may be copying their icons or peers but our study found that more reported self-harm before becoming a Goth, rather than after which suggests that youngsters with a tendency to selfharm are attracted to the subculture.'... Goths acquired a violent reputation after songs and art by the group's rock hero Marilyn Manson were linked to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, in which 13 were shot dead, and also to the murder of 14-year-old Jodi Jones in Dalkeith, Midlothian, in 2003.

Covering the infamous study on suicidal tendencies we have mentioned before the article does at strive to give a balanced view and I think it is fair reporting whatever we think of the study. But it include references to earlier cases which will come to shortly.

The Suicide of Carina Stephenson

This suicide attracted much media attention because the girl was in a reality TV programme. But was her love of Marilyn Manson involved perhaps according to these Mail stories?

I was devastated that our lovely, funny girl decided to die in such a lonely way. You may feel close to your children, but there are always things you'll never know

BYLINE: ANGELLA JOHNSON
Mail on Sunday (London)

September 11, 2005
SECTION: FB_04; Pg. 28
Carina had a taste for Goth music which typically glorifies death and mutilation. One favourite was Marilyn Manson, whose songs have been implicated in other teenage suicides.

Liz said: 'I had no idea of the kind of grim messages she was brainwashing herself with through her headphones. I think she just got locked into a web of misery. Instead of sharing her pain with people around her, she sought out likeminded and vulnerable teenagers.

There is other coverage:

DAILY MAIL (London)

May 30, 2005

Last month Mail writer David Jones interviewed a close-knit family just back from the latest reality TV experiment. Then came shocking news: their bright 17-year-old daughter had taken her own life. Was reality TV implicated?...

Or perhaps her depression was connected to her fascination with 'goths', a dark subculture which attracts melancholic, introspective youths. A friend revealed yesterday that even before Carina announced that she thought she was gay, she had been bullied and teased for being a 'tomboy' and her love of gothic clothing.

And more:

Carina from The Colony killed herself after bullies taunted her for being a lesbian
Mail on Sunday (London) May 29, 2005

BYLINE: ANGELLA JOHNSON SECTION: FB_04; Pg. 36; Pg. 37

A policeman found her body hanging from a tree two days later, in a wood a few hundred yards away from the family's Pounds 400,000 self-built home in Branton, near Doncaster. She left two suicide notes. One clue to her state of mind may come from Laura Howden, 15, who had befriended Carina at Armthorpe Comprehensive School near Doncaster.

She told The Mail on Sunday that even before Carina revealed she thought she was gay, she had been bullied and teased for being a tomboy and her love of 'Goth'-style clothing. 'I used to go into dinner at school with her and because she was often on her own I kept her company during breaks,' said Laura. 'She was not really interested in boys. She concentrated on her schoolwork and kept everything to herself. She was taunted at school that she was a lesbian. Other girls would call her "lesbo" or "gay girl" and she got really upset about it.

'At one point she spent a lot of time off because of the bullying while it was being sorted out. But despite what had happened at school the news of her death still came as a shock. She was someone you could really get along with. I never thought she would do that.'

So this seems to be another case bullicide interconnected to homophobia and anti-goth prejudice. Even raising the Manson connection seems irrelevant. Interesting to note that Manson and MCR had a falling out a few years ago. They have one thing in common the Daily Mail hates both of them

The Tragic Suicide of Nicola Raphael - bullied to death for being a goth

September 10, 1985- June 24, 2001

A case which attracted a lot of media attention especially in the Scottish press back in 2001 was the tragic suicide of Nicola Raphael a 15 year old who endured constant bullying simply because she dressed in black. This ties into the recent reports on the square in Glasgow which was Nicola's favourite hangout [Glasgow - Alternative teens banned from public place]. In many ways the suicide could be read as a grim warning of the strength of hatred that was to lead to Sophie Lancaster’s death. There is bright spot in the tragedy of Nicola’s death in that her organs later helped save lives:

Nicola's frozen heart saves toddler-three years after her suicide Teenager who was bullied to her death gives the gift of life to a little boy after her organ is defrosted for a remarkable transplant operation
Mail on Sunday; 10/17/2004; “Surgeons carried out the remarkable operation last week after the heart was 'defrosted'. The organ came from schoolgirl Nicola Raphael, 16, who committed suicide in 2001 after being bullied for wearing Goth makeup”

The extent of the bullying is all discussed in an article from 2006:

EXCLUSIVE: MY NICOLA'S DEATH SAVED JACK'S LIFE - Mirror.co.uk 20/03/2006

But Nicola had endured months of vicious bullying by a gang of 30 teenagers, known as "the Neds". They threw stones, cans, water bombs and food at Nicola simply because she dressed differently to them. "She dressed as a goth, wore dark eye make-up and a long black coat, but was a neat, clean girl, " says Rona. Then one day Nicola arrived home with bruises."She told me 'I'm sick of it, Mum, ' she told me, " says Rona."Her shoulders were bruised after stones were thrown at her. I went to see her headmaster, but nothing changed.

"The bullies called her names like 'zombie', 'walking dead' and 'witch', ".

"I offered to take her out of school, but she refused to let them win. She seemed to be resolute about coping." But Nicola, who gained top grades in her GCSE mocks, seemed happy at home and was looking forward to the summer holidays.

Then one Friday night Nicola hit a new low."Her brother was home from university and we sat chatting, " remembers Rona. "When we went to bed, she said: 'Mum, I'm out of eyeliner, could you get me some?' They were her last words to me.

This important and detailed article in the Scottish Sunday Herald covers the incident and reveals the extent of harassment teen goths in glasgow were undergoing at the time:

Suddenly they're everywhere. Their black clothes and purple lipstick

Sunday Herald, The, Jul 1, 2001 by Alan Crawford

"They think we worship Satan, just because of the way we dress," says Gill Cairns, a 16-year-old who lives in Clarkston in Glasgow. The first thing you notice about Gill is her lips, smeared in dark purple lipstick. She has a stud in her tongue to match the one in her nose and is wearing a black hooded top over a pair of baggy jeans.

"Everyone seems to think we're wrong or evil, but we all do really well in our classes. We're the ones that work in school. None of us wants to fight, but we all feel intimidated all the time. We just keep ourselves to ourselves. We never say, 'Look at you, you're wearing trainers.'"

Gill is standing outside the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow's Royal Exchange Square with around 150 friends and acquaintances, all dressed in punk, goth or "mosher" style. Black is the colour of choice. Feelings at their favoured meeting place are running high today; many of those present have just returned from the funeral of their friend, Nicola Raphael, who was buried in her home town of Kirkintilloch after taking her own life. She was 15.

Scores of teenagers joined the funeral cortege; some wearing black make-up and hooded tops, others in dark trenchcoats and with long chains dangling from their waists. Heavy clouds raced over the Campsie Hills as the youths followed the hearse on its painful way the few hundred yards from St Columba's Parish Church to the cemetery. With the coffin was a message from the girl's mother, Rona, which read: "To my wonderful daughter Nicola. Give 'em hell!!!!"
Like her school friends, and in common with hundreds of teenagers all over Scotland, Nicola liked to wear clothes and make-up that made her stand out from the crowd. Goth, mosher, punk, whatever; Nicola's friends say she was bullied at school and in the street, simply because of the clothes she wore. Just two days before her death she and her school friends had to be escorted from their school, Lenzie Academy, because of intimidation from other youths.

"There were neds bringing stones in and throwing them at us because of the way we dress," said one 15-year-old school friend. "That's when it got really bad."

Another girl, also 15, added: "We went to the head teacher [at Lenzie Academy], and he basically said it was our own fault because of the way we dressed. We went to him again and his solution was just to stay away from them. They weren't reprimanded at all."

These problems led to fears of a major riot in August 2001 as reported in the Herald in July.

THE teenage fans of Eminem and Marilyn Manson are being secretly spied on by undercover police intelligence officers who fear violence at next month's Gig on the Green concert in Glasgow.

They believe that fans of controversial rapper Eminem could round on so-called "goth" or "mosher" fans of Marilyn Manson, as both acts are on the bill for the Glasgow concert on August 25. The police action follows the suicide of 15-year-old Lenzie schoolgirl Nicola Raphael, who took her own life after being bullied for dressing like a goth. Many of her friends have reported being attacked in the street by what they call "ned" gangs simply for dressing in black clothes and wearing dark make-up....

Officers in charge of the gang surveillance operation said: "Manson's fans will inevitably be the target of the much more streetwise fans of Eminem. There is seldom any problem with goth fans, as they tend to be quite well educated and well spoken."

Police say they will be staging one of their biggest security operations ever during the event. More than 200 officers will be drafted in for crowd control, backed up by an underwater unit, mounted police and a helicopter team.

In the event there was no trouble and Manson himself dedicated a song to Nicola and discussed her death on stage: Marilyn Manson comforts a grieving mom... [More on that here: SeemsLikeSalvation News.]

Interesting to note that Sophie Lancaster was a massive Manson fan and one of his songs played at her funeral just as it was hopped to play one at Nicola’s funeral. The significant thing is the police operation indicates that they were well aware of the grim reality that goth/metalers faced harassment and violence in 2001. Nothing has changed.

Search for motives for Colorado killer

A killer who attacked two churches on the weekend killing 4 has caused a flurry of media attention. Matthew Murray had evangelical home school upbringing but turned violently against the church after his plans to become a missionary failed. It appears that his killing spree began through an argument with staff at a Christian shelter

Murray had turned from the church to another interest heavy metal - Marilyn Manson and Cradle of Filth being an especial favourites. He also dabbled in the occult.

Murray attended events held by the Denver-based occult group Ad Astra Oasis during the last two years, but was turned down when he sought to become a member of the group. His involvement with them apparently ended in October.

Bizarrely the media missed a trick here as this connection means they could (with appropiate manipulation and spin) blame it on Aliester Crowley. I guess that will be the next step.

ABC News: Colo. Church Gunman Left Twisted Trail

He posted an online rant that ended:

"I'm going out to make a stand for the weak and the defenseless this is for all those young people still caught in the Nightmare of Christianity for all those people who've been abused and mistreated and taken advantage of by this evil sick religion Christian America this is YOUR Columbine."

Murray simply cut and pasted the words of the Columbine killers with some alterations.
Web posting replicates Columbine shooter's manifesto
Denver Post, CO - 11 Dec 2007
Debate renewed on Columbine writings
Denver Post, CO - 12 Dec 2007

He assembled a massive arsenal so he may have been planning or thinking about this for some time
Gunman legally amassed weaponry in year's time
Denver Post, CO - 6 hours ago

Inevitably metal music is being blamed as one thing behind the attacks.

Christian Leaders Say Popular Culture Behind Teen Violence

Colorado gunman Murray had shown possible signs of media influence years before the shootings. He posted lyrics by industrial rock band KMFDM on a website designed for people who left evangelical religious groups. At a YWAM Christmas festival in 2002, he played what his former roommate, Richard Werner, described as “bizarre” music. The two songs he played were Marilyn Manson's "Sweet Dreams (are Made of This)" and Linkin Park's "One Step Closer" which included the lyrics "Cause I'm one step closer to the edge and I'm about to break." Meanwhile, songs played during the festival had been about Christmas, God and friendship, reported CNN.

Don't blame the music, metal frontman implores

The Denver Post

Article Last Updated: 12/13/2007

Heavy-metal musicians are accustomed to being scapegoats after tragedies like the shootings in Arvada and Colorado Springs.

But while musicians may be used to the blame, they don't own it.

"Don't blame metal," said Devil Driver frontman Dez Fafara, standing in his tour bus in the back parking lot of the Fillmore Auditorium on Wednesday night. "We're all out here trying to give the kids some hope."

Talking before his death-metal band's show, opening for like-minded rock outfits Lamb of God and Killswitch Engage, Fafara — a father of three boys back home in Santa Barbara, Calif. — was clearly concerned about the shootings that left five people, including gunman Matthew Murray, dead. He sent his condolences to all ofthe families involved, including Murray's.

"But before laying the blame anywhere outside the home, you have to look inside the home," Fafara said. "Something touched that kid that was not right. And it had to come from the household."

Fafara said he monitors his kids' music and gaming intake, forbidding bands and video games that are overly violent or degrading to women.

Murray was a death-metal fan, according to posts he purportedly wrote on various websites. He attended a mid-October Cradle of Filth show, and afterward he posted, "Some people say this is 'just entertainment,' but for me, and some of my friends, the songs bands like this sing are VERY REAL, it's kind of something we can 'see' and can feel and in a spiritual sense and we're able to 'connect' 'into' the music." The post included a link to the video for the 1999 Cradle of Filth track "From the Cradle to Enslave."

Murray also claims online that he went through Bill Gothard home schooling, a fundamental Christian organization that has about 2,000 students enrolled nationally. Gothard's program bases a curriculum on the 54 verses from the Sermon on the Mount, and its strict teachings prohibit rock 'n' roll and television.

Gothard, in an interview Wednesday, said he "didn't recall" ever meeting the Murray family, but he was sure one of the parents was probably trained in his program.

Ultimately, Gothard blames rock music for Murray's murderous rampage.

"That is the most contributing factor," said Gothard, who is based in a small town south of Chicago. "It'd be important to see the connection between his passion to rock music and how it ultimately brought this on."

Gothard said whenever he gets calls from parents having trouble with their kids, he asks about what they listen to. "In every case, (the kid) is listening to rock music," he said.

As is the home schooling packs which Gothard provides:
Institute defends teachings in wake of posts by Murray
Rocky Mountain News, CO - 7 hours ago

Shooter had problems at Christian facilities
Summit Daily News, 13th dec

After the conference, the user said his mother and a pastor
searched his room for "anything evil," including video games and a DVD collection.
"After that incident my mother searched my room for the next 3 months EVERY SINGLE DAY. After that I decided it was over, that I had had it with christianity."

In the 1,200-word post, Christnghtmr tells of growing up in a Christian homeschooling family and being removed from the Youth With a Mission program, as Murray had been. As in other postings linked to Murray, the writer expresses anger toward his family and makes allegations of homosexuality in church organizations.

He said being removed from the Arvada mission caused him to lose his faith.
"When I got back home it was back to the good old restriction and that is when I started having serious doubts about christianity," Chrstnghtmr wrote. But according to the post, problems at the mission were only part of a troubled past.

"In addition to all of (Christian homeschool curriculum guru) Bill Gothard's insanity, my mother was into all the charismatic/"fanatical evangelical" insanity.," Christnghtmr wrote. "Her and her church believed that Satan and demons were everywhere in everything. The rules were VERY strict all the time. We couldn't have ANY christian or non-christian music at all except for a few charismatic worship CDs."

Gunman wrote of rejection
Denver Post, CO - 12 Dec 2007

Carl Raschke, a professor of religious studies at the University of Denver, said he believes Murray was "under huge psychological turmoil."

"It seemed like he was involved in his own spiritual battle against the empire of Christianity," adding that one of the screen names, nghtmrchld26, is taken from a video game in which characters battle evil demons.

"I would call him a defector from the spiritual warfare that he was brought up in," Raschke said.

Steve Mariner, the president of Denver's occult group Ad Astra Oasis, says Murray attended group meetings for about a year before being asked to leave in September. Ad Astra Oasis is an officially chartered body of the Ordo Templi Orientis, a ceremonial magic order based on the teachings of English poet and mystic Aleister Crowley.

"He was a mostly quiet, geeky young man," Mariner said of Murray. "He was a skinny little kid. He was your typical I-like-college-over-cars type. He was a voracious reader, as far as I could tell. I never heard him raise his voice."

Mariner said the group of about 15 people realized over time that Murray was not fitting in."It seemed like he needed some time to back off and evaluate himself," he said. "We could summarize it as saying the personalities were not a good mix."Mariner said he was shocked when he learned Murray was the shooter.

"You are sitting there having a conversation with someone ," Mariner said. "We all have our little personality quirks, but you don't appraise them of being someone who would go off and do something this atrocious."

But Murray's behaviour demonstrates classic signs of schizophrenia and other mental problems. Blaming the music he listened to is as inadequate explanation as Murray's decision to blame his Christian upbringing for his social problems and to go on a rampage.

Curiously one of Murray's victim's was a reformed metaler:
Missionary went from rebellion to redemption
Philip Crouse is remembered for his turnaround from "the dark lord" to Christianity.
Denver Post, CO - 6 hours ago
By Kirk Mitchell As a skinhead and Goth in Washington, Pa., Philip

Crouse was the one others feared. "He would come to youth group in a black trench coat," childhood friend Shiloh Ryan-Anikienko said Wednesday morning. "He really embraced being the Goth scary guy." But Wednesday morning at his memorial service, those who knew him honored him as a selfless missionary who wanted to find homes for orphans and teach the Gospel to people in foreign countries...
"He went from the dark lord from the abyss to this angel of light," Ryan-Anikienko said.

While another victim was a metal musician:

Dan Griebenow is known as a snowboarding missionary, his sister said.

Griebenow, 24, who was wounded in the neck in the Arvada shooting, was in critical but stable condition at Denver Health Medical Center.

He snowboards and sang with a Christian heavy metal band in South Dakota before enrolling two years ago in the missionary training program in Arvada, his sister, Becky Griebenow, told the Rocky Mountain News

.

Marilyn Manson not to blame for violence

Interesting article covering Asa Coon and Manson.

Marilyn Manson not to blame for violence
The Orion, CA -16 Oct 2007

After Columbine, Sen. Joe Lieberman said the problem was music.

Lieberman said violent lyrics from artists such as Marilyn Manson are "helping to create a culture of violence that is increasingly enveloping our children, desensitizing them to consequences and ultimately cheapening the value of human life."

According to one study, music doesn't just affect children. It affects college students, too.

In a series of five experiments involving more than 500 college students, researchers from Iowa State University and the Texas Department of Human Services examined the effects of seven violent songs by seven artists and eight nonviolent songs by seven artists.

The result: students who listened to violent songs were left feeling more aggressive and hostile without provocation or threat. The study's lead researcher said these aggressive thoughts and feelings have implications for real violence.

But, again, it's all up for interpretation.

Paul Friedlander, director of the music industry program at Chico State, said there is no substantial evidence that suggests music has anything to do with violent acts.

If anything, more research says otherwise, he said.

"Research has clearly indicated that there is no correlation to listening to a song and being impelled to do something," Friedlander said. "Otherwise, every time you'd listen to NWA you'd shoot a person; or (with) Doris Day, you'd go out on a field and dance in a field of daisies."

Friedlander has a point, but many suggest that a few people will act violently after listening to violent music. And some will argue that one case is enough.

The Cleveland student was described as a "goth." He had black painted nails and wore all black clothes, including a Manson T-shirt. Manson was the boy's idol, according to several reports. So naturally, just like after Columbine, Manson was targeted. Maybe not directly, but his name was mentioned.

People still blame Manson and other artists for many pointless acts of violence.

Is that fair?

Friedlander, who is also a musician, said the answer is no.

Because if that were the case, "Why not blame Elvis for the sexual revolution of the '60s?" he said. People use music simply to help create their identities, Friedlander said. And that may include how one looks.

"If I'm a certain way, I'm going to listen to a certain kind of music," he said. "If I were to listen to Britney Spears, I'd probably be a teenage girl."

The Manson fan was just a teenage boy. A teenage boy who listened to Manson because he made him feel OK for being an outcast, for being different, for being exactly who he was.

In no way did Manson's lyrics tell the boy to go on a shooting rampage. Other factors influenced the boy. What were they? Sadly, that question will never be answered. [This is not true see other articles on this case the boy had mental problems and was frequently bullied.]

Here are some possibilities, though, something that nobody - except for Manson himself in an interview with Michael Moore - seems to talk about.

The problem isn't music. It's the influence of our country and government, Manson said.

According to the National Education Association's Health Information Network at www.neahin.org, American children are 16 times more likely to be murdered with a gun, 11 times more likely to commit suicide with a gun and nine times more likely to die from a firearm accident than children in 25 other industrialized countries combined.

That's appalling.

This stat's no better: In 2005, firearms killed zero children in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, 109 in France, 153 in Canada and 5,285 in the United States, according to the site.

Marilyn Manson at Challenge Stadium | PerthNow

Marilyn Manson at Challenge Stadium | PerthNow

October 14, 2007 12:00pm

MARILYN Manson was one star who was certainly not in town for Telethon.

While a plethora of stars joined forces to raise money for sick children, over at Challenge Stadium Manson and his army of black t-shirt sporting supporters were more concerned with celebrating the seedier side of life. ..

The only mildly controversial statement Manson made was when he declared: "as you know I am responsible for every school shooting that ever happens". His statement was a response to his name being linked to almost every school shooting from the Columbine High School massacre to the recent shooting at SuccessTech Academy in Cleveland.

Loyal Perth fans have been waiting more than 8 years for their goth idol to return after Manson stormed off stage at the Big Day Out back in 1999. Manson was at the start of his performance when he left the stage after being pelted with bottles and cans. This time around Perth punters were far more appreciative of Manson. They were even willing to overlook the poor vocal performance and bad sound mix and the fact that Manson's new band cannot match previous line-ups. But can anyone really hold a candle to the guitar genius of John 5?

Actually he was talking about Asa Coon.

School Killing involves "goth"

A new tragic killing in the United States on October 1oth and once again media coverage sadly highlights items that put subcultures in a bad light. Asa Coon came from a troubled background, faced a life of being bullied, managed to get hold of guns and had been previously been in trouble for violence. Also in a predominately black school he adopted "goth" clothes and liked Marilyn Manson, being nicknamed Jack Black by other pupils said: “He was chubby and short, and he was the only kid in school who dressed like a Goth.”

Guess which element of his background was focused on by some media reports.

On October 12th the highest selling newspaper in the UK The Sun ran this for example:

Gun boy: My god is Marilyn | The Sun |HomePage|News: "A BOY of 14 wounded two schoolmates and two teachers in a gun rampage after boasting he did not believe in God – but instead worshipped rocker Marilyn Manson. Loner Asa Coon – who opened fire with two revolvers at his school before killing himself on Wednesday – had a history of mental problems, US police said yesterday. Days earlier he was suspended for fighting fellow youngsters who objected to his God comments. Doneisha LeVert, 14, said: “He threatened to blow up our school.” Coon, who wore a goth trenchcoat and dog collar, sneaked his weapons past metal detectors at the SuccessTech Academy in Cleveland, Ohio."

Covering it the day before The Sun noted:

"Witnesses described him as a goth with white make-up and black nails – and told how he had chillingly warned his classmates “I’ve got something for you”."

Reinforced from this is the idea that goths are loner killers and the coverage typically focused on this rather than answering questions like how did Coon get hold of guns, why was he obsessed with weapons, how did he get into the school or why did the school not listen to warnings from other people about him? For example better reports noted:"A court magistrate ordered psychological testing and family therapy for Coon after he slapped his mother in 2006, but Coon was not cooperative; he eventually was placed in an interim shelter, where he attempted suicide." This is the real story that some papers have focused on.

Student was 'tormented,' volunteer says
Louisville Courier-Journal, KY -12 Oct 2007

CLEVELAND — Fourteen-year-old Asa H. Coon took abuse, gave abuse, exchanged curses with his mother and said he chose to worship shock rocker Marilyn Manson instead of God. He was the subject of a neglect case when he was 4, and he often went to school looking a mess.

None of that explains why he walked a hallway of his school Wednesday with two guns and started shooting, wounding two students and two teachers before killing himself.

"This kid finally broke," Christina Burns, who volunteered at a school Coon previously attended, said yesterday. "He finally lost his mind."

Coon had been on suspension for a Monday fight when he somehow got into the SuccessTech Academy alternative school. His fellow students said his threats to hurt students last week went unheeded by school officials.

Burns said Coon was intelligent but struggled with school work, unable to focus. He had mood swings, she said. "There was days he was sociable, days where he was shut down, closed in, hated the world," Burns said.

Burns witnessed Coon's troubles with fellow students. She also remembered verbal abuse over his shabby, at times unclean, appearance.

"They picked on him," Burns said. "He didn't have decent clothing. He didn't have decent shoes. He had problems. The other children played on that and tormented him at school."

"Everybody's making him out to be a devil, a demon,' she said, "but nobody knows what was going on with this kid."

Despite 26 security cameras, officials couldn't say yesterday how Coon was able to get into the SuccessTech Academy alternative school. Coon was a new student at the school, but the district has a dossier on past problems. He had mental-health problems, spent time in two juvenile facilities and was suspended from school last year for attempting to harm a student, according to juvenile court records.

The school of about 240 students has metal detectors but none were operating Wednesday. Students said the devices were used only intermittently."

An expert on school shootings highlighted in an interview the real problems to watch for:

"DR. STEVEN PITT, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: To be sure, Anderson, there are red flags to look like things like depression and anger and familiarity with weapons and fascination with the military. Those are all red flags. But there's an art to this, as much as there is a science. I mean, we can go to schools all around the country and lots of people have those very same characteristics... since Columbine, there has been a real emphasis and a real looking at schools where bullying is taking place. Make no mistake about it. Bullying was underreported at Columbine. I think schools have taken a much more aggressive look at the effect that bullying has on youths and as it relates to their acting out behavior."

In the 16 other school related killings in the USA this year no "goths" were involved, though the other killings did often involve people who had been bullied or alienated, had histories of violence and all got access to firearms. Did reports on these other murders discuss the musical preferences of those involved?

Take for example Tyler Peterson, on Octber 7th at an off-campus party, the 20-year-old full-time deputy in the Sheriff's Department, who was also a part-time officer at the Crandon Police Department, murdered six people students and recent graduates of Crandon High School (ages 14 to 20) after a dispute then committed suicide by multiple gunshots. Peterson, unlike Asa Coon, actually killed people but we don't know what type of clothes he wore besides a police uniform or the music he listened to.

Goth, Marilyn Manson and Columbine - The Lies which lead to a Legacy of Hatred

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 people at Columbine High school in 1999. As well ruining the lives of those who lost loved ones they also left an ongoing legacy of fear and mistrust for other people who were nowhere near Columbine. It meant goths and fans of other alternative music were blamed for murders that were no responsibility of theirs and every time the media mention Columbine the connection is frequently repeated. This legacy owes much to poor media reporting.Why did this myth develop? Because inaccurate reports were made just after the attack as this key examination of the events based on the report of Sheriff's investigation makes clear:

Investigators also criticized the media for propagating the myth that the pair were Goths. Apparently it took nothing more than reports of black clothing and eyeliner among the unrelated Trench Coat Mafia for much of the national media to label them Goths. "That became a whole issue for a week," one investigator said. "Marilyn Manson canceled his concert."

ABC's "20/20" aired a particularly ignorant "report" the night after the tragedy, linking the killers to the scene with alarmist messages about Satanism and cults. Aside from the fact that the report completely misrepresented and maligned the movement, neither Marilyn Manson nor the Goths had anything whatsoever to do with the killers, who had nothing but contempt for the music.

The media even got the idea they were part of the Trenchcoat Mafia (some of whom were goths) wrong:

Harris and Klebold are still routinely referred to as belonging to the Trench Coat Mafia. As recently as Wednesday, in a report on Sears' decision to stop selling a trench coat-wearing action figure, CNN Headline News was referring to "the two Trench Coat Mafia teens who were responsible for the Columbine High School massacre last April." But sources unanimously and unequivocally confirm that the group had nothing whatsoever to do with the murders, and very little to do with Harris and Klebold.

Some of the confusion concerning a wider conspiracy lies with premature remarks made by Sheriff John Stone the morning after the massacre. But the department has since ruled out the possibility that the killers were connected with the group of Columbine outsiders known as the Trench Coat Mafia.

"Harris and Klebold were never part of the Trench Coat Mafia," one investigator said. "They were kind of friends of fringe members." Battan scoffed at the notion of any significant association: "They were outcasts in that!"

By the time of the murders, most of the Trench Coat Mafia had graduated or dropped out, and the term was almost an anachronism, investigators explained. That didn't stop a flurry of would-be terrorists from latching onto the name. "Suddenly, there were thousands of Trench Coat Mafia all over the country," Davis said. "I get Internet threats from, like, Iowa that they're the Trench Coat Mafia," Battan laughed. "Well, there is no Trench Coat Mafia!"

That didn't stop anyone associated with the group from being ostracized. They went virtually unseen at the innumerable memorials and grief ceremonies, and some students even threatened "retaliatory" violence should they show their faces in nearby Clement Park, which became the site of impromptu memorials last spring.

It was widely reported that students associated with the group were effectively prohibited from finishing the school year with their peers at Chatfield High School. However, district spokesman Rick Kaufman says it had nothing to do with the Trench Coat Mafia per se. Eighteen students were identified as acquaintances of Harris and Klebold, he said.

They were offered alternatives such as home-based tutoring, "because of the raw emotions, the strong feelings that existed right after the tragedy." "Twelve of the 18 said, 'Thanks but no thanks,' and returned to school," he said. "Six of the 12 accepted the offer. There was only one student who we were not going to allow back to school."

As far as trench coats themselves, Klebold was known to wear one occasionally. However, "No student can recall ever seeing Eric wear a trench coat, other than once, this past fall [1998], other than the day of the shooting," Kaufman said.

Inside the Columbine High investigation Salon.com Sept. 23, 1999
Everything you know about the Littleton killings is wrong. But the truth may be scarier than the myths.

So the Police themselves said there was no connection to goth. In May 1999 Marilyn Manson wrote an excellent article pointing out the attempt to blame him for the killings was incoherent:

Man's greatest fear is chaos. It was unthinkable that these kids did not have a simple black-and-white reason for their actions. And so a scapegoat was needed. I remember hearing the initial reports from Littleton, that Harris and Klebold were wearing makeup and were dressed like Marilyn Manson, whom they obviously must worship, since they were dressed in black. Of course, speculation snowballed into making me the poster boy for everything that is bad in the world. These two idiots weren't wearing makeup, and they weren't dressed like me or like goths. Since Middle America has not heard of the music they did listen to (KMFDM and Rammstein, among others), the media picked something they thought was similar.

Responsible journalists have reported with less publicity that Harris and Klebold were not Marilyn Manson fans -- that they even disliked my music. Even if they were fans, that gives them no excuse, nor does it mean that music is to blame. Did we look for James Huberty's inspiration when he gunned down people at McDonald's? What did Timothy McVeigh like to watch? What about David Koresh, Jim Jones? Do you think entertainment inspired Kip Kinkel, or should we blame the fact that his father bought him the guns he used in the Springfield, Oregon, murders? What inspires Bill Clinton to blow people up in Kosovo? Was it something that Monica Lewinsky said to him? Isn't killing just killing, regardless if it's in Vietnam or Jonesboro, Arkansas? Why do we justify one, just because it seems to be for the right reasons? Should there ever be a right reason? If a kid is old enough to drive a car or buy a gun, isn't he old enough to be held personally responsible for what he does with his car or gun? Or if he's a teenager, should someone else be blamed because he isn't as enlightened as an eighteen-year-old?

Marilyn Manson: Columbine: Whose Fault Is It? : Rolling Stone

Certainly Harris was a big fan of German Industrial and Techno especially KMFDM and Rammstein which has some cross over with the goth scene, but there is no evidence he had any interest in any more gothic bands. Kebold's favourite music included The Smashing Pumpkins, Orbital, The Chemical Brothers, KMFDM, Nine Inch Nails, and Rammstein. Moreover they did not dress in a goth or any other alternative style, hang round with the goth group in the school and their interests in guns, baseball, and computers were perhaps more significant to them than music. You can see more about Harris's musical interests here Music.

In a way Columbine attribution to goth has similarities to the famous blood libel attributed to Jews, the claim used from the middle ages onwards that Jews killed children in bloody sacrifices and that were used to spark pogroms. Of course the Blood Libel was untrue but that was what people wanted to think. After the shooting bullying and hassling of alternative teens increased across the USA.

In scattered reports from around the country, high school students who dress defiantly, or who are computer lovers, or who qualify in any way as outcasts, say that since the killings in Littleton, Colo., last week, they feel as if they have become perceived not only as different but as threats... The messages pouring in to Mr. Katz have included reports of students being expelled or suspended from school for "antisocial" behavior or sent home to change clothes similar to what the killers wore; of clampdowns by parents on computer use; of increased scrutiny and determined offers of counseling from adults, especially when students say that though they do not condone the shootings, they can understand what motivated them, and of more hostility from other students.

Carey Goldberg " TERROR IN LITTLETON: THE SHUNNED; For Those Who Dress Differently, an Increase in Being Viewed as Abnormal" New York Times - May 1, 1999

In the past twenty years, the Goth subculture has become its own culture, generating many subcultures within itself. I am acquainted with several young people who are part of this. They share my concern at the media's portrayal of Harris and Klebold as Goths. Several have been harassed on the street since the Columbine incident. Yet the truth is that violence is anathema to most Gothic lifestyles. And Nazism is not glorified by Goths. How could it be, my friends ask, when Goths would be among the first persecuted by Nazis today? They fear for younger "quiet freaks" still in high school "who wear black, tint their hair, have multiple piercings, write dark poetry--and aren't ever going to hurt anyone." So do I.

The Columbine Tragedy Countering the Hysteria May 1999

Another good article is here:

5/3/99) Media Finds Easy Monster in 'Goth' Subculture

And then onto more recent times as these articles shows anytime a new attack occurs a link to Columbine is repeated:

Dark days for Goths Emily Sweeney The Boston GlobeOct. 15, 2004 12:00 AM

Sixteen-year-old Sonya Feinn usually wears black clothes, thick eyeliner, and dark lipstick. She listens to Sisters of Mercy and Nine Inch Nails. She is accustomed to people glaring at her Gothic-inspired outfits, so she wasn't surprised when journalists described a Marshfield, Mass. teen accused of plotting a school shooting as a Goth.

"I've rarely seen Gothic figures portrayed in a good light in the news, the media, and the movies," Feinn said. "We get such a bad rap."

In middle school, Feinn's classmates called her a "Satan worshiper" because she wore dark clothes. Ironically, Feinn left that public school to attend an all-girls Catholic high school that requires school uniforms. More recently, Feinn's high school classmates gave her friend Mike the nickname "Columbine" because he wears long trenchcoats - an innocuous article of clothing that became synonymous with school shootings five years ago.

Those notorious long coats and the term "Goth" made headlines in 1999 when two Colorado teens attacked their high school, shooting to death students and teachers. Authorities initially described the gunmen as Goths, because they often wore black clothes to school and dubbed themselves "The Trenchcoat Mafia." Media coverage of the Columbine High School massacre thrust Gothic subculture into the national spotlight, and almost overnight the G-word became inextricably linked to school violence, even though the Columbine killers shared no attributes found in the Goth subculture, with the exception of dark clothing...

Life wasn't easy for him and his darkly dressed cohorts at Lexington High. Classmates would call them homophobic slurs and throw empty plastic bottles at their heads. "To be a guy dyeing your hair black and wearing makeup, you were under constant scrutiny by your peers," said Usmani. "You couldn't walk around town with black dyed hair and eyeliner without being profiled by shopping clerks or having a couple of kids try to start with you." Usmani added, "After Columbine, (Goth) kids were put on the spot more than before."

Feinn has grown accustomed to being scrutinized because of her self-expression. She said her outfits usually draw interesting reactions from passersby. She recently walked into a bagel shop in her hometown of Reading and witnessed a young mother try to shade her child's eyes from looking at Feinn's Goth outfit. In middle school, her classmates called her devil worshiper, or referred to her as Satan. "I was treated so badly (in middle school)," Feinn said. "People in this town aren't comfortable with (Goths)."

She finally decided to leave the Reading public schools and attend her high school, where, thanks to the required uniforms, "no one can judge you on what you wear."

[This next article sadly only one of the many exampls of the Columbine goth myth in action. Virtually everything mentioned in this article about Columbine is wrong 6 years after the killings.]

Eerie Parallels Are Seen To Shootings at Columbine
New York Times - Mar 23, 2005

He is said to have worn a trench coat and listened to Marilyn Manson, the Goth icon. He expressed his admiration for Hitler on a neo-Nazi Web site. And in the midst of a murderous rampage at his high school, Jeff Weise asked a classmate if he believed in God, then shot him, one student recounted in a local newspaper.

As details begin to emerge about Mr. Weise's shooting spree on an Indian reservation in northern Minnesota, there are eerie echoes of the nation's most infamous school tragedy, six years ago at Columbine High School near Littleton, Colo.

At Columbine, the killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, belonged to the ''Trench Coat Mafia'' and loved all things Goth. They sometimes did a Nazi salute while bowling and planned their attack for Hitler's birthday. Before killing one student, witnesses said, one of them held a gun to her temple and asked if she believed in God.

The same thing still goes on and on. Through all this Harris and Kebold's evil acts live on tainting the lives of the innocent. Simply check out other reports mentioning Columbine in this blog found here. There is simply no connection between goth and any other form of music and the killings at Columbine. If you are looking for reasons the murders occurred because the teenagers were full of hatred and had easy access to fire arms.