Introduction:
On August 1, 1966, University of Texas at Austin student Charles Whitman perched himself on the overlook of the University’s clock tower, armed to the teeth with rifles and handguns, and took aim at dozens of his fellow students and faculty. This was long before the media frenzy surrounding the Columbine High massacre of 1999 paraded school shootings firmly into the American psyche – and for Whitman’s actions, there were no videogames, cliques, or Marilyn Manson to blame. He was not original: “A long line of American mass murderers preceded Charlie Whitman, and a longer line came after…” (Franscell 164). However, as Gary Lavergne notes: “The Whitman story is enduring because it was our introduction to public mass murder and school
On August 1, 1966, University of Texas at Austin student Charles Whitman perched himself on the overlook of the University’s clock tower, armed to the teeth with rifles and handguns, and took aim at dozens of his fellow students and faculty. This was long before the media frenzy surrounding the Columbine High massacre of 1999 paraded school shootings firmly into the American psyche – and for Whitman’s actions, there were no videogames, cliques, or Marilyn Manson to blame. He was not original: “A long line of American mass murderers preceded Charlie Whitman, and a longer line came after…” (Franscell 164). However, as Gary Lavergne notes: “The Whitman story is enduring because it was our introduction to public mass murder and school