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Thoughts on VT shooting

You guys new It was only a matter of time before this thread appeared.

I remember not even caring about things like this when I was only a few years younger, even on 9|11 (probably because I was shielded from it by all the adults around me).
I dunno, maybe it's because it makes me feel insecure. If it happened at VT then it could happen at my university...
And it hits even closer to home when CNN shows the names of those who were killed, and I realize that real people died.
It sucks that I never experienced any of these feelings before, but lately I feel so "adult" (I'm 20 now but I've always been a little immature due to my ADHD) because I actually care about others.
I could ramble on and on about this for days, but I'm not going to. I want to hear what you all have to say...how do you feel about what happened?

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Unlike you, who actually shares a deep concern for the families who lost someone due to the evil actions of that nut, the media will play the killer up with "he had a hard life" and "we can't excuse what he did, but..." and "many anti-gun activists say..." type garbage instead of focusing on the loss of life and focusing on the families who lost a loved one. The media will turn it into a political issue about gun control and other issues just like they do everything else.

I feel sad about it.

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Anything and everything happens in America.

And people are blaming it on video games... It's the end of the world

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Just another tragedy... I'm rather jaded.

Originally posted by Heri:

Unlike you, who actually shares a deep concern for the families who lost someone due to the evil actions of that nut, the media will play the killer up with "he had a hard life" and "we can't excuse what he did, but..." and "many anti-gun activists say..." type garbage instead of focusing on the loss of life and focusing on the families who lost a loved one. The media will turn it into a political issue about gun control and other issues just like they do everything else.

Something we agree on

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And now there will be people who are paranoid of middle-easterners and now are paranoid of azns. The list will continue to grow.

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Originally posted by love_souljah:

And now there will be people who are paranoid of middle-easterners and now are paranoid of azns. The list will continue to grow.

Actually, I'm more paranoid of english majors now. I always knew they weren't quite right ..

Kidding aside ... eh. Horrific incident, no doubt, and I hope that the politicians and media won't use it as a reason to create a whole set of new laws that are just as ineffective as the current ones. Though their track record makes it seem inevitable.

What irks me is the hypocrisy that a lot of people are exhibiting over this, and the nationalism that's been exposed. I fortunately escaped it, but a friend of mine had a professor hold a moment of silence for the students who lost their lives. Which is all fine and good .. except that the professor outright denied his request for a moment of silence for Iraqi civilians who have also died.

Hyopcrisy? Aye. Racism? Me thinks. Nationalism? Without a doubt. The justifications from the professor (and from the rest of the class, barring a handful of students) all focused on how much more important the Virginia Tech incident is than suicide bombings in Iraq. How we should care more because it happened on American soil. To American citizens.

Some justifications could be understandable - the shootings at Virginia Tech were very random, the media has desensitized us to suicide bombings, there's no "personal" connection between Iraqi civilians and the American public as there is to students and professors at universities across the nation. But blatantly holding the death of 33 above the deaths of hundreds just because those 33 were Americans is unacceptable. Extremely hypocritical, extremely nationalistic, and I will stand by racist, though certainly xenophobic would apply as well.

Funny how these events can bring out the worst in people.

((edit, changed 'acceptable' to 'understandable'))

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Last edited by InvisibleCaper, April 18th, 2007 07:35 PM (Edited 1 times)

InvisibleCaper, you're doing the very thing I mentioned in my first post of this thread. Stop and think for a moment what you're doing. The gunman, Cho Seung-Hui, who is the one that committed this atrocity isn't even mentioned in your last post. Suddenly, the evil committed is what you believe to be racism and nationalism of different individuals in relation this event, or in relation to events in no way related to this one (e.g. the Iraq war). All the while these people aren't the ones who committed the crime. You're trying to make a connection between a Virgina Tech shooting and a war taking place at the other end of the globe. Always have to bring up racism don't you? Always have to bring up nationalism don't you? Always have to bring up civilian rights don't you?

This event may not be bringing out the worst in you, but in terms of idiocy it's certainly bringing out your best.

Last edited by Heri, April 19th, 2007 01:36 AM (Edited 1 times)

I did not, and will not, deny that the actions taken by Cho Seung-Hui were atrocious and evil. I did not, and will not, deny that it's important to remember the shooting, to remember the lives lost, to remember and hopefully begin to heal the pain. And like you (if I'm reading your first post correctly), I don't want this to escalate to simply another reason to increase gun control, tighten security, or otherwise needlessly restrict the freedom of individuals.

If you'd like me to broaden my original post to clarify the message, where are the moments of silence for those killed daily in various African conflicts, Darfur being the most visible at the moment. To civilians killed and oppressed by regimes in South America. To Chinese (and other nation's) citizens shipped off to prisons, erased off the face of the earth? To those innocent civilians who have lost their lives in Afghanistan or Iraq? London or Madrid? (To be fair, there was more of a public focus on those bombings .. hoorah eurocentrism.)

All I'm trying to do is open up some eyes. The US and Virginia Tech are not the center of the world. Horrific massacres that take place in the US shouldn't be privileged above the same that happen elsewhere, simply because it was "close to home" or "student's like us."

Reread my post. I'm going to stress this again: I did not, and will not, try to pass this off as an unimportant event, something that should be ignored or marginalized. If that's how it appears, I do apologize, as that wasn't my intention. My criticism is arising out of the fact that the professor, and all except for 2 of the students in that class, felt the need to honor the loss of American lives ABOVE the loss of lives elsewhere in the world. Over 100 people were killed in bombings in Iraq today, and it's a blip in the media.

This is nationalism at its finest, and I still stand by racism and/or xenophobism, whether intentional or not. I try to make the connection because in both events, human lives were lost. And at the point where we lose sight of that, we're taking a step backwards.

And thanks for the ad hominem attack, I always take that as a sign that my arguments struck home.

Edit: And if souljah wants me to zip my mouth to keep the focus on the Virginia Tech students, regardless of her reasoning, I will. I've said what I have to say, and if the debate wants to continue, we all know the proper forum. I won't start the thread, but I'll be more than happy to continue it if somebody wants to.

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Last edited by InvisibleCaper, April 19th, 2007 05:03 AM (Edited 2 times)