When a killing spree happens in the United States of America, the German public and media jump to conclusions. The majority argue that it is “typically American.” “It is because America has too liberal gun ownership laws.”

 

This might be the case. But how about Germany’s spree killers, like the latest in Winnenden on March 11th, considering Germany has one of the strictest gun laws in the world? A 17-year-old boy went on a shooting spree at his former school in southern Germany and killed 12 former fellow students and three teachers.

 

Earlier in 2006, a young man (age 19) shot and killed 12 teachers, a secretary, two students, and a police officer in Emsdetten, in western Germany.

 

In 2002, in the eastern city of Erfurt, another young man also went on a shooting spree, killing17 students and teachers.

 

In Germany there are more than 600,000 shooting clubs called “Schuetzenvereine,” where men practice their target shooting and drink lots of beer. Teenagers of eight and above can also practice shooting. Tim Kretschmer, the spree killer in Winnenden, was trained in shooting in one of those clubs.

 

The Internet is accessible to everyone. You can post anything you want, uncensored, even if it egregious and perverse. Some young men posted video clips hailing the murderer of Winnenden as a “her.o. This might be misunderstood by potential spree killers, and some young people might think of committing the same barbaric act to become “heroes.” 

 

Lots of psychologists attribute spree killing among young boys to those electronic games which hail violence. They also claim that electronic gadgets are increasingly isolating the youth.

 

You see them everywhere wearing their headphones drowned in their rap songs and passively staring at their environment.

 

The culture of reading is dwindling. The youth prefer audio and video stories. When they chat and write something, it is usually very short and an SMS language.

 

A friend of mine who teaches at a secondary school here in Bielefeld, Germany, tells me, “Basic knowledge is non-existent among the youth in general. If you ask pupils of the 10th grade who is the president of Germany, you get empty faces and clipped mouths. They don’t know and are not interested in learning.”

 

My friend adds, “You hardly see a boy or a girl reading a book, not even the newspaper. When you listen to what they talk about, it’s often about the latest gadgets and latest games.”

 

The youth worldwide are obsessed with electronic gadgets. They carry them everywhere and use them everywhere. Subsequently, they are distracted from what is going on in their environment and no time is left to contemplate. According to a study by the International Media Institute in Berlin, 26% of German youth are already addicted to violent electronic games.

 

In an interview with German SFB radio on April 29, 2008, Uwe Wetter, vice president of the German Association of Psychologists, pointed out that electronic gadgets and computer games are isolating the youth. They grow disinterested in their environment. They live in their own virtual world.

 

In another radio interview with the Berlin Inforadio station on March 14, 2009, Elke Monssen-Engberding, director of the Federal Agency for the Protection of the Youth, advocated a ban on killer games. She said, “These games violate provisions in the German constitution which recognizes the integrity of the human body.” Ms. Monssen-Engberding proposed banning video games like “Doom” and “Counterstrike” which are popular in particular among boys.

 

Banning computer killer games might not work, and blocking sites which offer these games might also be futile in a free global world.

 

 The electronic industry is a huge global one. It provides jobs and bread to millions of families. But it must also share some responsibility toward the youth. Violence must be minimized and content of basic knowledge and positive human values must be included and spread by electronic products, via a language which the youth would understand.

 

Kids are not just anybody. They are our treasure and we must handle them as such.

 

It is the responsibility of all of us; parents, schools, and society at large to control what our youth view, listen to, and play with, and make sure that our kids are not exposed to violence. 

 

We must find the time to sit down with our kids, chat with them, and play with them. Gadgets must be put under parents’ control, and a time limit must be imposed on using them. 

 

It does not make sense to carry on acting “business as usual,” and mourn the death of innocent people. We must act before it is too late.

 

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Dr. Sami Alrabaa, an ex-Muslim, is a professor of Sociology and an Arab-Muslim culture specialist. He has taught at Kuwait University, King Saud University, and Michigan State University. He also writes for the Jerusalem Post.

 

 

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