Rush to Internet Judgment in Littleton Tragedy

by Donna Ladd

Barely into the Littleton crisis the media were exposing the "Trenchcoat Mafia." As I watched terrified teens run with their hands in the air, I clicked on a search engine. I wanted to know more about this evil suburban gang.

I searched for hours as the story unfolded. And I didn't find anything about the so-called "Trenchcoat Mafia." No Web sites devoted to recruitment, no call to arms, no angry rants. Nada.

Yes, I found alleged killer Eric Harris' Web site. It contained mediocre lyrics from the now-defunct Seattle band KMFDM. The pipe-bomb instructions and Harris' list of people he hates had apparently been removed from the site by then.

No mention of the "Trenchcoat Mafia," however.

More disturbing was Harris' AOL user profile -- "Shut up and shoot it," although it's probably no worse than myriad moody teen rants on the Internet. But it sure sounds bad after a kid shoots up his school.

No mention there of the "Trenchcoat Mafia," either.

By late Tuesday, the only mention I'd found of the newly hyped "gang" was in Usenet groups where chatters were talking about the tragedy.

Meantime, TV and newspapers spewed that the two kids were Internet geeks, into Marilyn Manson, gay, white supremacist, liked "Natural Born Killers."

The Drudge Report reported all the various allegations -- and then complained that the media had reported all the various allegations. In numerous surreal interviews, Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone told the media that media coverage of such shootings was to blame.

Most ridiculous, every newscast tried an Internet angle. (They don't call it M-S-NBC for nothing). They showed Harris' site, but when MSNBC's Internet goddess tried to read the pipe-bomb instructions, she was cut off mid-sentence.

If the tube was your only source, you'd think this whole thing was planned online. But, I'm handy with search engines, and I can tell you, there just wasn't much on the Internet before the crisis started Tuesday.

The whole Net conspiracy nonsense peaked Wednesday evening. By then, second-tier Denver radio host Peter Boyles had gotten a field promotion to MSNBC "expert" commentator. He talked ominously about how the "Trenchcoat mafia" were in a number of schools. And they had a big Internet presence.

Maybe by then. Wonder if Mr. Boyles knows how to check the source code to see if those alleged sites were posted that day?

This Net chic is more than annoying; it's a disservice. It's irresponsible to try to file those two disturbed kids into a neat box.

They were Goths, they were Doom wonks, they wore black. Good, now most parents can relax because their kids don't fit the profile of a Trenchcoat Mafioso. No need to lock away their guns.

The rest of us can go about our business of being too busy to give a shit about some kid who needs our friendship and our respect and our support, no matter how they're dressed.

Instead, society can target the "weird" kids -- ironically missing the point that they were isolated and ridiculed in the first place.

It seems clear that the "Trenchcoat Mafia" was a derogatory label other kids threw at the weirdos (as several said in interviews) and not something they called themselves proudly.

My Trenchcoat search did, however, turn up something infinitely less sexy than a new suburban gang. I found site after site posted by teen boys and girls about what they hate. (The Littleton killers were said to wear "I hate people" armbands.)

The lists are heart-wrenching. "I hate this town. I hate the unlove." "I hate the downtown cops who give all the skaters so much SHIT. I hate girls who are so pretty I ache inside." "I hate some people who want to kick my ass because they're idiots." "I hate being alone in the world."

I got the distinct impression that the Internet was the only thing some of these kids have to talk to. Try to label that one.