I wasn't going to write about this case, as to me it was another sad brick in a wall. It becomes less of a surprise all the time that nowadays more angry teens seem to go ahead and make that leap into unfettered homicidal violence. The added feature of Weise having, as is characteristic of many murderous teens lately, an online presence, was enough to make me pay closer attention.
What struck me in writing this entry though was the correlation I saw between Jeff Weise and Rachelle Waterman. Something about smart kids, teens, in out-of-the-way, wintry places. Redlake Minnesota is not far from the Canadian border, a famously wintry area, and Waterman's home in Craig Alaska was similar...small, isolated, snowbound. It almost feels like the isolation eats it's way into the souls of these kids, souls that were probably already more hollowed-out than not, and renders within a permanent, living sense of purgatory. Weise, for his part, acted out the mass-murderer's typical ritual; most mass killings of this type are suicides by angry males. They have simply decided to settle scores and/or make statements before they go. Waterman felt the answer was probably matricide - the removal of her mother as a perceived controlling factor would bring her a sense of freedom.
Jeff Weise's words seem the most appropriate to end with though. His acts, and the acts of the other teens who make the news this way, are ultimately testimonies to what it really means to end without light, or salvation.
Some screenshots of Jeff Weise's posts on the AboveTopSecret.com messageboards - you can click the screenshot to go the pertinent threads:
The post below is found in a thread that Jeff started, and it hints at his neo-Nazi leanings, Native American ancestry notwithstanding.
Article comments
1 - diane barnes
Just wondering, was Jeff Weise on any kind of anti-depressant drugs like all of the other school shooters?
2 - Eric Olsen
very intersting find Steve, thanks - the suicide rate is higher the farther north you go, Scandanavia, etc. I think it's the lack of light as well as the cold and isolation
3 - Steve
Diane;
I don't know if he was on ad's or not, and personally am wary of bringing the subject up. To be frank, my life has been saved by antidepressants. I must allow for the fact that the biochemistry of a teen's brain is substantially different in many ways from a 20-something, and I didn't take the first antidepressant until I was 25...so I'm saying that for all I know the contribution of depression medication to psychopathic or just plain psychotic behavior in teens (and yes, they are very different, psychosis and psychopathy) could be real. For me, though, personally, antidepressants have just been a blessing.
I will say this; a marked feature of many people suffering from either borderline personality disorder and some who have antisocial personality disorder - formerly known as psychopathy or sociopathy - has been noted to be depression. Nearly every serial killer ever interviewed has reported depression. So, perhaps blaming antidepressants is actually missing the point. A bigger problem may be the fear psychiatrists have of diagnosing younger folk with critical personality disorders. The book on apd (antisocial personality disorder) is that it's incurable, and docs in a position to choose won't even see a patient whom they think has it. Many psychs avoid borderlines for the same reason. Borderlines are said to have true feelings, emotions, but in a very primitive, infantile way. The problem with some of these killer kids could be a doctor who just can't bring themselves to realize they've got a juvenile psycho on their hands, and act accordingly.
4 - Steve
Well, it appears Jeffro was on Prozac. I reiterate - I believe antidepressants are, for the most part, a boon to society, and not one of it's ills.
However...the profession of psychology/psychiatry may need to be re-evaluated as it relates to methods of diagnosis. I contend the ad's didn't make these kids killers - environment and heredity combined did. Still...analysis of the differences in the way antidepressants interact with teen brain chemistry and adult is probably warranted.
5 - Katia
I do not agree with Eric Olsen comment that was posted on March 23, 2005 09:05 AM:
He wrote that :the suicide rate is higher the farther north you go. Canada is even more up North than that and the suicide ratio is very low. There are other facts that come into play, like poverty for example
6 - monay
hey yall whats up? well see iam jeff weises old girlfriend from grade school
i still hung out with him till this very day. since the shootings happened it was hard to believe that my ex would do something like this i remeber when he was in 5th grade, people would always tease him basically i was the only one really there for him but he never mentioned me to anyone see is that i was the only one there for him.
jeff was the most sweetest nicest guy all around fun kid who was always respectful to adults and never anything bad to say about any one he was the nicest kids you'd ever want to be or hang with. ya know? i know why he did what he did... it was wrong but like they say, you got to do what you got to do... and he did it because ignorant people out there that he was trying to get help from ignored him like he was a nobody trust me he was a somebody...a somebody who was hurting inside and noone cared... i miss him :(
7 - monay
jeff weise was the coolest guy to be around. even though i went with him in grade school till this day he was like a brother to me i had no brother or sister that lived with me... so jeff was the one who i could look up to.
he was always like this until one day and a couple of years later things would change soon than you think. like jeff weise said...things will never change.
8 - Merideth Carleton
Have you seen this before? It's a number guessing game: http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/guessthenumber.html. I guessed 40606, and it got it right! Pretty neat.