The irony is that, if anything, the movie only shows how futile and destructive open rebellion can be.
As for its psychological profiling value, perhaps I'm not seeing it, but they probably got hung up on the scene where Leo dreams about busting into the classroom with a shotgun blazing. Now, if you ask me, it didn't actually give them any ideas. If you listened to the interviews, they already felt that way. They just watched it because it was their way of playing out their fantasy without actually moving up to the next level.
Here's the bottom line: The media doesn't cause psychosis. The media only shapes the resulting form. So no need to crucify the Basketball Diaries. To do so is like killing the messanger.
[This message has been edited by SB (edited April 25, 1999).]