so I'm flippin through Esquire

sorry if this is a d_b...

So I'm flippin through Esquire and I come to the Napkin Project. Which is really cool, but then I get to the one about kids shooting up their school, and frankly I was stunned. I mean, Stephen King had Rage all but removed from circulation after Columbine. Did the reading public really need this?

 

Well, Richard Russo won a Pulitzer for a book on the same subject.

 

Napkin Project ???

 

Nine different writers write very short fiction on a napkin, I believe, and it's designed that way.

The design was great. The design helped make the story look really, really striking. I really liked the layout.

 

Rage was one of King's best short stories...

Tremendous stuff...

 

It was a great story, and I didn't think King was responsible for what Klebold and Harris did. But if I remember right he didn't want it on his conscience if something he wrote inspired another kid to shoot up a school. (I guess becoming a murderous psychopath in a snowbound hotel is different ... Bookland has a bountiful supply of The Shining) The point I was making is it seems he has more of a conscience than does David Granger.

 

I don't think conscience is at issue.
King's choice is his choice, but the story didn't kill anybody.

 

Ah the stories my napkins could tell ...

 

No, the story didn't kill anybody. And this one won't either, but if some kid sees it and becomes motivated by it, that writer would be less than human if his conscience didn't bother him for having contributed in some abstract way. Ditto for Granger. Magazines exist to motivate us to buy watches, dress better, become better lovers, take better care of ourselves, get the most out of our travel, whatever. It's not much of a stretch to think this would provide motivation to the next trenchcoat mafia member.

 

I just don't believe that stories or movies or music or pornography inspire/motivate people to kill. That behavior will manifest itself one way or the other, regardless of stimuli.

 

I'm probably just talking about it because I recently finished John Douglas' second book. In one section, he addressed the subject of whether outside stimuli causing violent crimes.