The Trenchcoat
Mafia Shooting "Most of you probably heard/saw the devastating news about the shootings in a Colorado high school today. There seems to be a great deal of confusion still about just who these kids were that did the shooting - were they goths? gays? racists? Manson fans? computer geeks?� [I have sent Brian Healy/Dead Artist Syndrome's take on the confusion in a separate email post.]� My own take is the latter - they simply spent TOO much time on the Net learning how to build pipe bombs and back-pack bombs, etc. to be real goths. (And I have already said so on a couple of local radio and TV interviews.)� Still the "Trenchcoat Mafia" is being seen as primarily gothic. And that may create some distress for all of us.� As if goths didn't experience enough harrassment and singling out, now we have this image to live down. So let me offer a couple of thoughts: First, people need to find out what a real goth is really like. [I'm waiting for the toxicology reports and more interviews to reveal their favorite music before I make any final assessment of who these kids were, but I don't believe these guys were real goths. I believe they were bright, computer geek wanna-be's;� they didn't have the personality to be a true goth.] Goths are usually intellectual, artistic, and articulate. They are into art, poetry, and music. They are passive, introspective, and can be dramatically emotional.� They can also be too self-absorbed, brood to a fault, and they internalize everything (even things that have nothing to do with them!)� As a group and as a rule, goths take their stress and pain out� on themselves, not on others - cutters, piercers, slicers - suicide addicts - they will beat themselves up in their guilt and their sorrow to prove how real their pain is.� They are some of the most creative, interesting, wonderful gifted people I have ever met, and some of the most troubled. I know these generalizations don't fit everyone exactly, but as a group, these characterizations mostly hold true in my experience. And I know these are entirely flattering portraits, but it is an honest assessment, and these are not killers. Second, I think that we need to do some things as a Christian gothic community. We need to dispel the rumors about goths with the truth.� Be honest about who you really are. For those of us who believe it is effective and important, we need to pray for all the kids and their families, those who lived and those who died. We need to pray for what remains of the "Trenchcoat Mafia".� We need to pray for goths in high schools across the country that they will be able to endure any backlash that may occur in the next few weeks. We need to pray that there will be no backlash, no witch hunt. Now more than ever, we need to find courage and give courage to one another. We need to be prepared to expect and face more derision. We need to apply the principle of turning the other cheek, in a very real way. We need to be prepared to leave vengeance in the hands of God. We need to be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks us - an answer about who we are as goths and why, and about who we are in Christ (for those of you who are IN Christ). We need to practice the character of Christ in all our dealings, in faith, not fear. Finally, we need to take this opportunity to go the extra mile. We need to explain how Christ, not nihilism, is what prevents us from turning into the Trenchcoat Mafia.� We need to share the love of Christ with other goths who may be caught in the back-lash - in comfort, in courage, in love, indeed. We need to share the hope that is in us, so others will know who He is.� In time, the gunmen will be forgotten.� But it is an opportunity to bring the gothic community to a Christ that will never forsake us."
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