The Butterfly Effect and Consequences

It’s funny how things in life work. One action can lead to a very big change in the future. In chaos theory this is known as ‘The Butterfly Effect’.. The idea that if a butterfly flaps it’s wings that it could later cause a hurricane as a consequence. That example sounds silly but one other example I’ll explain later is way more realistic and makes way more sense. I’m sorry but chaos theory sounds so freakin’ badass. Everytime I read it I think Sonic and chaos emeralds. Just thought you’d like to know! So anyway, sidetracked once again. The whole idea for this post sprung about from a certain show that’s currently airing on Fx called ‘American Horror Story.’ I’m not sure if any of you have watched it but I’ll just tell you where I’m leading to.

Basically one of the characters in the show is a teenage ghost named Tate. He was a psychopathic killer who massacred a bunch of his schoolmates in the school he went to. He was then later shot by the police and died forever being haunted by his past killings of these teenagers. Anyway the point being is that I didn’t realise until yesterday, that it was actually vaguely based on a true story of a high school massacre known as ‘The Columbine Massacre of 1999.’ For those who don’t know, two students; both friends; went into their own school around 11am to 12am and started shooting at random targets. Well, they weren’t so random in some cases. They targetted as Americans would call, ‘Jocks,’ who; as a tradition in the school; wore white caps to establish their athleticism. I decided to extensively read up about it on Wikipedia. You may laugh but Wikipedia is chock-a-block with information. I sat and read it for at least an hour. Check it out here to get the full story.

The thing about this story that interested me was their reasoning for the massacre and the build up beforehand. The two involved, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were both very good friends. Together they set up a website that was originally intended for the sharing of personal maps made for the game ‘Doom.’ Keep in mind that they both clearly enjoyed playing videogames and were both interested in the internet and technology. This probably meant they were subjected into the social category of a ‘nerd’ or ‘geek.’ Remember this because it is a key point for later on.

So after a few weeks the site started to expand in uses. Harris started using it as a personal blog that was doing fine and included his thoughts on society, friends and family along with a joke or two. But then things progressively became more disconcerting as Harris started to post information on the mischief that both him and Klebold got up to. This included the instucting, making and use of home-made bombs. Skipping ahead in the timeline Harris’s posts started to become increasingly aggresive towards society and people from his school. This included his hate against society and death threats to certain class mates. He then later started posting about his collection of guns and bombs and of targets he wished to kill. The site was never really popular and recieved very little traffic. But as the site went from private to public it was instantly shut down. Shortly afterwards Harris and Klebold were caught stealing tools from the back of a van. They were convicted and sent to juvenile prison where they attended rehabilitation classes and Harris also frequently visited a psychologist for therapy.

Harris was given medication to help his spiralling depression and restlessness that was also named as a cause for his actions, on the day of the massacre. Yes I know, seems a little flat to blame that doesn’t it? Well so does gaming, but that was on the list too. Imagine how soft and weak minded you’d have to be to be influenced by that? Just my opinion there. But anyway, both were released early for their good behaviour with both showing regret for their actions. To which Harris later posted it was something he lied about, he boasted about his success of deceit towards the law. To cut to the chase, months later the two went to school armed with pistols, knives, sub-machine guns and shotguns and opened fire on anyone in their path.

These young men were on some sort of mission. Claimed to be soldiers against society, they made it their job to wreck havoc in the school to which they primarily targetted ‘jocks.’ Also in some cases they let some victims go, asking them a question to which they’d answer before deciding to let them free, strange huh? In continuation with jock targetting. The boys asked anyone with a white cap to stand up. It was speculated that these two were bullied heavily in school by these jocks. Seriously, I was reading it like a novel. The stuff they said when looking for victims was scary. Things like: Looking under a desk and shouting “peek-a-boo” to then shoot somebody in the head.. I mean where did they get this idea from? Asking victims if they believed in God before shooting, the trenchcoats they wore, the claim that when asked why they were doing this to a reply of “Oh, we’re just killing people.” It sounds like something off a horror/crime thriller film. It’s mind blowing to think any human being can do such a thing, to perform such an act of emotionless, remorseless killing really creeps me out.

But it’s this idea of consequences that slips by so easily. These two were supposed victims of bullying. It was more than likely the case, if you remember me stating their interests in gaming and technology along with the targetting of the jocks later. This is where it comes into play, the idea of being beaten up mentally or physically for what their interests are. Sure people can disagree with things, but to personally attack them in some way shows a real lack of any thought or brains. Sure, it’s a very rare case that a victim of bullying goes on a rampage. But all too often it leads to the sense of loneliness which consequently leads to depression and in extreme cases that can lead to suicide to which both of the boys did at the end of their rampage.

The state in which a person doesn’t want to live anymore is one I’ve never got my head around. I understand it in the sense that perhaps due to some circumstance, your body seems more of hinderence than a joy. To the point where the only thing that works is your mind. You’ve got to understand with a state like that you lose a lot in life and I’d imagine they feel like they’re imprisoned by their body and ultimately the law against assisted suicide. Imagine the state you’d have to be in to take away something that the majority of us cherish and are grateful for. Extreme stuff, but I bet the culprits of the bullying had no idea what mental damage they were causing to these boys. Something they could see as harmless fun for their group was destroying them both inside to the point of a massacre, in revenge against society. The hate created caused by the actions of other school’mates’ that may well have consequently lead to loss of 13 lives and the two suicides on top of that.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not sympathising here. What they did was fucking crazy, insane, barbaric and down right stupid. But there’s a part of me that thinks maybe this was all caused by something that was initially percieved as miniscule. But later on it caused something that is now rated the fourth worst massacre in America. To think they rate such a thing eh? It’s the butterfly effect in action. Some may call it vague and silly, but look at it in this way and it makes complete sense. The idea that if a ball is rolled down a mountain it follows a path. Change the angle in which you roll the ball only slightly and an entire new path is created. Deep shit huh? I hope you can see where I’m coming from here. I mean it’s so damn fascinating. Maybe I should have took up Psychology? Because the human mind is a powerful and mysterious thing and it seems i’m a sucker to finding facts and reasonings behind mysteries. Imagine just being in either Harris’s or Klebold’s mind for just a minute. Imagine what you’d experience, what you’d find out…

Curiosity has been a thing that has made us do some very dumb things. You see it in movies all the time, a dark room in an apocolyptic zombie filled world. “You guys stay here, I’m just going to derp into this room alone… In a zombie apocolypse… I don’t have night vision, but I’m curious.” It’s like, you fucking dipshit.. WHY?! It’s just one of those things that makes us human and makes me write a shite load about it!

So I guess the message of this long winded post is before you do something just think of the consequences it could have. Things that you may think are insignificant, maybe later in life they wont be that way. This goes right down to a certain road you take at a junction or maybe things you might say to a certain person as a ‘joke’.. I’m not saying live life always scared and anxious as to what happens next. Just remember this theory and store it there for whenever you may need it. Sure, as i’ve already said live life in the moment. Doesn’t mean you don’t think about it at the time. That’s why your mind was created..