Over-the-counter alibi

When I was a kid, I was warned of the dangers of role-playing games. According to Web sites and a lot of parents, a lifetime playing Dungeons and Dragons was a life that lead to drug use, Satanism and eventual suicide via Satanic drug use. Of course, I never took any of this seriously, because I knew that people couldn't be so easily swayed by some twenty-sided dice. \nThat's why I was surprised when an article was sent to me detailing a district attorney's claim that the fantasy role-playing game was at least partially responsible for the murders of three people. \n"I mean, you have many, many stab wounds," claimed D.A. Bruce Castor, according to Philadelphia news radio KYW's Brad Segal, "and those 'Dungeons and Dragons' fantasy games involve swords and knives and daggers and things of that nature." \nDoesn't he know that blaming D&D for murder is so 20 years ago? \nThere are new boogeymen that harm our children now. Instead of D&D, the new corrupting force on our children is available over the counter. Because we can't admit that our children are responsible for their own actions, we have to find someone or something to blame when they act horribly. Those old causes of teenage violence seem antiquated in the new millennium. We need a new influence that drags our children to darkness.\nAfter Jeffery Weise opened fire on classmates at Red Lake High School in Red Lake, Minnesota, 10 were dead, including himself and his grandfather. The incident made some wonder how a teenager, not yet fully-exposed to the outside world, could commit such a heinous crime. \nA culprit was found for Weise's horrible behavior: Prozac. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Weise took 60 miligrams of Prozac each day, or approximately three normal doses. The increase was due to his large size, authorities claim. He had been under psychological surveillance after the suicide of his father and an accident leaving his mother permanently hospitalized.\nThe link between anti-depressants and increased violent behavior is uncertain, at best. NBC News reports that the Center for Disease Control's findings that 3.1 million prescriptions for Prozac were filed by psychiatrists for children between 5 and 17 in 2002. Studies have linked Prozac to an increase in suicidal behavior in teens, but there is no evidence that it could cause teens to commit violent acts like Weise did in Minnesota.\nThere were plenty of other things wrong with Weise. He felt isolated from those in his small high school. He was moved back and forth between Red Lakes Reservation and Minneapolis. And, most disturbingly, he posted on several neo-Nazi Web sites under the pseudonym "Todesengel," where he expressed his admiration for Hitler's ideas. But all of that fell to the background once Prozac became the villain. \nThe reason people think Prozac is the new cause of teen violence is simple: People don't want to admit that there could be something wrong with their children. It's tough to admit, but some children just aren't well-adjusted to the rigors of modern life. Not to say that some kids are "crazy," but certain individuals do need special care. Instead of isolating or ignoring them, we should do the best we can to help them. Blaming medications for our children's bad behavior only absolves them of any responsibility for their actions.\nPeople have a hard time dealing with violence. Because it affects us on such a gut level, we need to rationalize these violent acts. But instead of looking for the deep and complicated roots, we find the easy scapegoats. That prevents any real soul-searching or any real change in the culture. It's best to blame an individual person or item unrelated to the matter instead of looking at violence's true cause.