"WARNING SIGNS WERE THERE"
April 25, 1999
by
James Roger Brown
Director
THE SOCIOLOGY CENTER
3612 JFK Boulevard
North Little Rock, AR. 72116
Telephone: (501) 771-7527
E-mail sociologycenter@mindspring.com

Among the most brazen outrages associated with the tragedy at Columbine High School, and previous similar incidents, are the mental health vultures and quacks who descend on the aftermath disguised as grief counselors and "experts" who bemoan the failure of parents and authorities to predict these acts in the face of "clear warning signs." Particularly galling are the attacks on parents for their "failure" to control their children.

Such attacks are another example of blaming the victim. Parental authority and control have been systematically assaulted and destroyed by members of the mental health and social work professions. This generation of children is not the product of parental upbringing. This generation, and its destructive behavior, is the direct product of psychology and social work intervention. It is time for these professions to answer questions about their roles in these atrocities.

In point of fact, human behavior cannot be predicted from past behavior. Parents cannot predict the future acts of their children with anymore certainty than psychologists or social workers. According to news reports, the children who allegedly committed the shootings at Columbine High School had previously been through the criminal justice system and counseling. Up to the time of the school shooting they were allegedly still receiving positive psychological evaluations. Why did these counseling geniuses fail to predict the future acts of these children if the "warning signs were there"?

To illustrate the shameless games these charlatans are playing with public fear and guilt, the President's situation can serve to demonstrate what they are doing. A Federal Judge has ruled that William Jefferson Clinton committed perjury. In psychology speak, President Clinton can be described as a charismatic, self-absorbed, irresponsible sociopath, with a possible sex addiction, who has been involved in the criminal justice system. The public is aware of his behavior and he has allegedly reformed.

Now, who among the public, including members of the psychology and social work professions, can predict if he will commit a specific act as a continuance of any of these problems? If, when, where and with whom will President Clinton engage in "inappropriate conduct"? What will be President Clinton's next, if any, specific irresponsible act and under what circumstances will it occur ?

According to the Associated Press (Nuclear Launch Codes Left Behind, AP-NY-04-24-99 18:21 EDT), President Clinton, without notice, departed early from the NATO summit at the International Trade Center April 24, 1999. In his haste to depart, he left behind his military aide carrying the U.S. nuclear launch codes. Describing this as an irresponsible act would be an egregious understatement. If his military aide had left the launch codes behind, he would be under arrest and on his way to prison.

After the fact, one may look back and conclude that this irresponsible act is consistent with the President's past irresponsible acts, but this specific act could not be predicted in advance. Until President Clinton chose the act of leaving early, there were numerous other choices he could potentially have made, some a reasonable person would have anticipated to be more likely and others less likely. As with the acts of the children at Columbine High School, this specific act of irresponsibility by President

Clinton could not have been predicted in advance from his past behavior. An unscrupulous individual, like the mental health vultures exploiting the human misery in Littleton, Colorado, could make statements postdicting all the warning signs were there that William Jefferson Clinton would place the entire world at risk by the irresponsible act of leaving the nuclear launch codes vulnerable to theft by terrorists or foreign governments. This "expert" could lambaste the Joint Chiefs or Staff, the White House staff and the Secret Service for failing to properly supervise the President and protect the Nation's interest. The "expert" could castigate Congress for their failure to foresee this act by the President and their failure to remove him from office when they had the chance, since the warning signs of irresponsibility were there throughout the hearings.

This is the sick after-the-fact game being played with public emotions by these twisted mental health "experts" who are blaming school violence on parents, authorities, the availability of guns, video games -- everything but the children's own free will choices, their own fraudulent claims to be a "science" and their shameless, self-aggrandizing, exploitative interventions that have virtually destroyed parental authority to do anything with their children. Parents of the two children who allegedly killed their fellow students and themselves, should be suing every mental health professional and social worker who ever breathed the same air as their children, the University Departments who spawned them, and the horses they rode into town.

The most anyone, "expert" or not, can accurately say about another human being, based upon their past behavior, is that they are a dangerous risk in some area. The most anyone can prudently do about such individuals is to watch them closely or physically restrain them from acting in that area. Nothing short of death can prevent an individual from committing an act they decide to commit.

We have drawn the wrong conclusions and made the same mistakes before by addressing the consequences of criminal acts rather than their human causes. To prevent vehicle theft we increased security measures to the point the easiest way for a thief to steal one was to shoot the driver while the keys were in the ignition. These measures decreased personal security. South Africans, who now have flame throwers mounted on their vehicles to counter car-jackings, demonstrate what lies down the road of technological security escalation. At the logical end of this road is a world of solitary human beings who shoot on sight any other human being they encounter.

We may be making the same mistake regarding school safety by listening to psychology and social work "experts" who are quacks. Increasing the barriers around schools will potentially end in an arms race at a place we definitely do not want one. Columbine High School had security in place that was overcome or bypassed. Anyone set upon attacking a school, must devise a means of committing violence sufficient to overcome security measures.

Every problem has a solution and the two students who allegedly committed the violence demonstrate that even children can find them. The best means of preventing the hatred that motivates these acts is by detecting and ending the intolerance between student factions. It seems reasonable to assert that hate is a learned behavior and children who are victims of hate or indifference are themselves more likely to hate. This idea will probably not be popular with exploitation and quack therapists because student factions will not conveniently fit into their offices and "therapy" for student factions is probably not covered by insurance or government funding.

Copy Right April 25, 1999 James Roger Brown All Rights Reserved

Permission to reproduce in whole or in part with full credit to author.

BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE OF JAMES ROGER BROWN
Succeeded in getting Arkansas legislation enacted increasing the criminal penalty for making false child abuse allegations.
1.5 Years international troop movements and crisis management as Personnel Specialist, Headquarters, United States Army Europe, Heidelberg Germany.
2 Years Research Staff, Federally funded study of the effectiveness of family therapy.
4 Years Assistant Program Evaluator, Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
5 Years Teaching College.
17 Years Board Certified RPE (Health Officer).
20 Years research on the social consequences of intelligence operations after cross-national study of intelligence operations for Masters Thesis.

EDUCATION
ABD (All But Dissertation) Social Policy Analysis, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va, 1981-1988. M.A. Sociology, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tn, 1978.
B.A. Sociology, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tn, 1975.
B.S. Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tn, 1970.

PUBLICATIONS
(Available from THE SOCIOLOGY CENTER)
The Organization of Intelligence: The Case of the Allies Against the Axis in World War II
Common Man's Guide To The Essential Skills Of Critical Thinking
The Family Defense Manual
The Child Abuse Allegation Trustworthiness Assessment Instrument
Pseudo Science and Pseudo Logic in Psychological Testing
Several newspaper articles