The silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload.
And nobody's gonna go to school today,
She's going to make them stay at home.
And daddy doesn't understand it,
He always said she was as good as gold.
And he can see no reason
'Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be shown?
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
I want to shoot
The whole day down.
The telex machine is kept so clean
As it types to a waiting world.
And mother feels so shocked,
Father's world is rocked,
And their thoughts turn to
Their own little girl.
Sweet 16 ain't so peachy keen,
No, it ain't so neat to admit defeat.
They can see no reasons
'Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be shown?
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
I want to shoot
The whole day down.
All the playing's stopped in the playground now
She wants to play with her toys a while.
And school's out early and soon we'll be learning
And the lesson today is how to die.
And then the bullhorn crackles,
And the captain crackles,
With the problems and the how's and why's.
And he can see no reasons
'Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to die?
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
I want to shoot
The whole day down.
Song writen by Irish rock musician Bob Geldof, and first recorded by his band, The Boomtown Rats, on their 1979 "The Fine Art of Surfacing" album. All about Brenda's case, that had just happened. It called our attention to these shootings, made us start researching the subject and wondering about it.
4 Sept 2008
It's driving me mad, it's driving me mad...
y "I don't like Mondays". That's what a 16-year-old girl said to the press in the 70s. Quite understandable once most of people dislike Mondays. But is it a reason for killing?
Brenda Spencer seemed to think so. She shot her classmates on a Monday. "This livens up the day", you know! Once school was just boring, little golden Brenda took to classes the rifle she had earned from daddy on Christmas. She was used to killing ducks, so why would it be any different with humans? Well, she was just enjoying herself!
Unfortunately, some others seemed to like the idea... some were more creative than her, though. Like a young boy in Washington that dressed himself as a cowboy and got three guns with him to school one day, after being bullied for quite a long time. After shooting his Maths teacher (he probably didn't like it as Brenda didn't like Mondays...) he opened fire against his classmates. This case was slightly different, though: Barry's mother got deeply depressed after finding out his father was having an affair. So she thought a lot about suicide, telling the little kid he would have to do the same. But he ended up changing mama's idea a little and killing others instead of himself.
Others prefer to do it in group. Old pals having some "nice time together"! Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden got a van filled with camping stuff plus some weapons and dressed like soldiers. They thought it would be fun shooting against their teacher and classmates for a change! So they rang the alarm and waited behind some bushes for the others to get out. And BANG! BANG! They were shot down. Hit the ground.
Cases like those were many already, and they're getting more and more frequent at each day. But that's not all; the murderers are getting younger as well. Cases of little children playing with their parents' gun and killing a friend are turning into something usual. Another change that has happened is related to the senteces: Brenda, one of the very first ones on the "field" was sentenced to jail for 25 years to life, "only"! Later, as it got in "fashion", the press and the victims' relatives kept the court under pressure for harder sentences. And they got it. Now there's nothing against imprisioning much younger ones for as long as they live!
Prison is not the right place for children. When they start going there for staying, well, there's something very wrong going on! We are not saying they were any right. What these young ones did was terrible indeed! But was it really their fault for doing so? Well, maybe...But what about their parents and close relatives? Talking about suicide or carrying their guns around and showing their sons how to shoot small animals with no mercy. Killing should never be seen as entertainement! But was it really their fault? Well, maybe...
There could be many and many reasons for these deaths. But as The Boomtown Rats sang: "they can see no reasons, cause there are no reasons". The police men couldn't find them either, just that they could not like some weekday, or feel upset, or were turned down by some boyfriend...nothing consistent. Maybe there aren't reasons at all.
At least nothing restrict to someone's house, or DNA samples or anything some policial investigation may find. We think the actual reason is everywhere instead. All over the globe, inside our houses, at school, and so on. The problem is the world we live in. This crazy life style that makes victims everyday, maybe not killing them, but certainly messing with their mind. It's a quite tricky thing once we don't see it coming, but it's there. It's there when we find pretty normal giving a weapon to somebody as a present. It's there when we get used to children going to jail. It's there when we bully other people. It's there when we stop getting shocked with it all. And we are...
We are all being part of this vicious circle. So those kids aren't to blame. Their parents aren't to blame. At least, not alone.
Brenda Spencer seemed to think so. She shot her classmates on a Monday. "This livens up the day", you know! Once school was just boring, little golden Brenda took to classes the rifle she had earned from daddy on Christmas. She was used to killing ducks, so why would it be any different with humans? Well, she was just enjoying herself!
Unfortunately, some others seemed to like the idea... some were more creative than her, though. Like a young boy in Washington that dressed himself as a cowboy and got three guns with him to school one day, after being bullied for quite a long time. After shooting his Maths teacher (he probably didn't like it as Brenda didn't like Mondays...) he opened fire against his classmates. This case was slightly different, though: Barry's mother got deeply depressed after finding out his father was having an affair. So she thought a lot about suicide, telling the little kid he would have to do the same. But he ended up changing mama's idea a little and killing others instead of himself.
Others prefer to do it in group. Old pals having some "nice time together"! Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden got a van filled with camping stuff plus some weapons and dressed like soldiers. They thought it would be fun shooting against their teacher and classmates for a change! So they rang the alarm and waited behind some bushes for the others to get out. And BANG! BANG! They were shot down. Hit the ground.
Cases like those were many already, and they're getting more and more frequent at each day. But that's not all; the murderers are getting younger as well. Cases of little children playing with their parents' gun and killing a friend are turning into something usual. Another change that has happened is related to the senteces: Brenda, one of the very first ones on the "field" was sentenced to jail for 25 years to life, "only"! Later, as it got in "fashion", the press and the victims' relatives kept the court under pressure for harder sentences. And they got it. Now there's nothing against imprisioning much younger ones for as long as they live!
Prison is not the right place for children. When they start going there for staying, well, there's something very wrong going on! We are not saying they were any right. What these young ones did was terrible indeed! But was it really their fault for doing so? Well, maybe...But what about their parents and close relatives? Talking about suicide or carrying their guns around and showing their sons how to shoot small animals with no mercy. Killing should never be seen as entertainement! But was it really their fault? Well, maybe...
There could be many and many reasons for these deaths. But as The Boomtown Rats sang: "they can see no reasons, cause there are no reasons". The police men couldn't find them either, just that they could not like some weekday, or feel upset, or were turned down by some boyfriend...nothing consistent. Maybe there aren't reasons at all.
At least nothing restrict to someone's house, or DNA samples or anything some policial investigation may find. We think the actual reason is everywhere instead. All over the globe, inside our houses, at school, and so on. The problem is the world we live in. This crazy life style that makes victims everyday, maybe not killing them, but certainly messing with their mind. It's a quite tricky thing once we don't see it coming, but it's there. It's there when we find pretty normal giving a weapon to somebody as a present. It's there when we get used to children going to jail. It's there when we bully other people. It's there when we stop getting shocked with it all. And we are...
We are all being part of this vicious circle. So those kids aren't to blame. Their parents aren't to blame. At least, not alone.
2 Sept 2008
Outside of a Small Circle of Friends
Look outside the window, there’s a woman being grabbed
They’ve dragged her to the bushes and now she’s being stabbed
Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
But monopoly is so much fun, I’d hate to blow the game
And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends.
Riding down the highway, yes, my back is getting stiff
Thirteen cars are piled up, they’re hanging on a cliff.
Maybe we should pull them back with our towing chain
But we gotta move and we might get sued and it looks like it’s gonna rain
And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends.
Sweating in the ghetto with the colored and the poor
The rats have joined the babies who are sleeping on the floor
Now wouldn’t it be a riot if they really blew their tops?
But they got too much already and besides we got the cops
And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends.
Oh there’s a dirty paper using sex to make a sale
The supreme court was so upset, they sent him off to jail.
Maybe we should help the fiend and take away his fine.
But we’re busy reading Playboy and the Sunday New York Times
And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends
Smoking marihuana is more fun than drinking beer,
But a friend of ours was captured and they gave him thirty years
Maybe we should raise our voices, ask somebody why
But demonstrations are a drag, besides we’re much too high
And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends
Oh look outside the window, there’s a woman being grabbed
They’ve dragged her to the bushes and now she’s being stabbed
Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
But monopoly is so much fun, I’d hate to blow the game
And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends
Written and first recorded by American folk singer/songwriter Phil Ochs (1940-1976), in his 1967 'Pleasures of the Harbor' album. We thought we owed him this. But even if we didn't, that's surely one of the best songs to fit with our ideas for the website, in a general way.
They’ve dragged her to the bushes and now she’s being stabbed
Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
But monopoly is so much fun, I’d hate to blow the game
And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends.
Riding down the highway, yes, my back is getting stiff
Thirteen cars are piled up, they’re hanging on a cliff.
Maybe we should pull them back with our towing chain
But we gotta move and we might get sued and it looks like it’s gonna rain
And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends.
Sweating in the ghetto with the colored and the poor
The rats have joined the babies who are sleeping on the floor
Now wouldn’t it be a riot if they really blew their tops?
But they got too much already and besides we got the cops
And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends.
Oh there’s a dirty paper using sex to make a sale
The supreme court was so upset, they sent him off to jail.
Maybe we should help the fiend and take away his fine.
But we’re busy reading Playboy and the Sunday New York Times
And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends
Smoking marihuana is more fun than drinking beer,
But a friend of ours was captured and they gave him thirty years
Maybe we should raise our voices, ask somebody why
But demonstrations are a drag, besides we’re much too high
And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends
Oh look outside the window, there’s a woman being grabbed
They’ve dragged her to the bushes and now she’s being stabbed
Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
But monopoly is so much fun, I’d hate to blow the game
And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends
Written and first recorded by American folk singer/songwriter Phil Ochs (1940-1976), in his 1967 'Pleasures of the Harbor' album. We thought we owed him this. But even if we didn't, that's surely one of the best songs to fit with our ideas for the website, in a general way.
1 Sept 2008
The Beginning of the Beginning
Tonight, on the 1st of September of 2008, in two cities of the world, we decided to create this website. And here we are doing it, just a few minutes after the idea was born.
Things have become really fast these days. Now, thanks to the advance of technology, you can read or watch the news nearly at the very time they happen, get in touch with people all across the globe with no waiting, as well as destroying huge forest areas or killing hundreds of people in the blink of an eye. We're not happy with a large part of these speed incresings at all, but we believe we can use the good side of it to wonder about and fight the bad one (as well as much olders problems of the world), be it by collecting information about them, exposing points of views of ourselves and of other people we admire, and eventually getting to know opinions by anyone who visits us. For this all we may use researches, new ideas, images, song lyrics, all sort of thing, we're not sure yet, but certainly keeping the same goal of trying to do something about today's world's main problems.
As we believe a huge part of them are somehow due to the fact that people don't usually care much about other people and things that aren't close to them, we decided to quote the title of Phil Ochs' song as our own. You're not that worried with war in the Middle East if you live in South America; hunger in Africa doesn't really bother you if you're in Europe; the destruction of the Amazon forest aren't such a big deal for you if you have a farm, and so on. We don't think it works well like this. Of course, it doesn't explain everything, many people don't care much about things that directly affect them either, and we believe it's either because of have no hope things can get better or because they just don't know how to start changing things (or both, of course). It's not on our title but we'll talk about these things to.
Thank you very much if you could stand reading all this, we hope the next posts get more practial and interestig.
Raquel & Caio - Outside of a Small Circle of Friends.
Things have become really fast these days. Now, thanks to the advance of technology, you can read or watch the news nearly at the very time they happen, get in touch with people all across the globe with no waiting, as well as destroying huge forest areas or killing hundreds of people in the blink of an eye. We're not happy with a large part of these speed incresings at all, but we believe we can use the good side of it to wonder about and fight the bad one (as well as much olders problems of the world), be it by collecting information about them, exposing points of views of ourselves and of other people we admire, and eventually getting to know opinions by anyone who visits us. For this all we may use researches, new ideas, images, song lyrics, all sort of thing, we're not sure yet, but certainly keeping the same goal of trying to do something about today's world's main problems.
As we believe a huge part of them are somehow due to the fact that people don't usually care much about other people and things that aren't close to them, we decided to quote the title of Phil Ochs' song as our own. You're not that worried with war in the Middle East if you live in South America; hunger in Africa doesn't really bother you if you're in Europe; the destruction of the Amazon forest aren't such a big deal for you if you have a farm, and so on. We don't think it works well like this. Of course, it doesn't explain everything, many people don't care much about things that directly affect them either, and we believe it's either because of have no hope things can get better or because they just don't know how to start changing things (or both, of course). It's not on our title but we'll talk about these things to.
Thank you very much if you could stand reading all this, we hope the next posts get more practial and interestig.
Raquel & Caio - Outside of a Small Circle of Friends.
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