I'm just wondering... the outcry for a handful of students continues to black out all other coverage, even when nearly 6 times as many are killed in one day somewhere else? All those masses certainly have a story as compelling as the students. Is it any less tragic?
Is there any less anguish from their families? From their friends that they are dead? Dead for a "random" reason? If we sunk the billions of dollars a day into the education system here in the USA would these students be dead? And more importantly would those 170 odd dead and scores wounded have died the same way?
Or the traffic accidents that kill 45,000 people a year... a couple billion in traffic flow and safety measures certainly could help. I over heard someone saying that with what we've spent on the "war" we could rebuild the complete Interstate system here.
Is that just mind boggling to consider?
I don't want to debate the past choices government or individuals like this student who went on the "Massacre" did. I am rediculously sickened by it tho. How many people died in hospitals or hospice or at home from smoking related diseases? How many people had heart attacks and were not revived? Not in a whole year. Just on that one day.
Violence is a shock to the system.
Gun control ain't gonna fix it. Too many guns out there right now. No way to collect enough of them to make it "safe" even if all guns were outlawed today.
I heard about it and my immediate reaction was "all the presidents of all the colleges and universities are working on letters to the campus community"
Sho-nuff... everywhere i have my ear to the ground i'm seeing the letters pop up. The reactions.
"It touches everyone."
Sure. So does cancer. So do vehicular fatalities. So do suicide bombings in Bagdad.
Trivializing their death is not what i want to do, nor hope i'm doing. Their being of course the students and faculty who were killed at VT. Does an airline crash get the same coverage for the dead?
I can be a bit cool/cold about somethings. Calculating i think maybe. Maybe too much.
I really didn't want to add to the noise of this event. But every freaking news outlet still has this VT thing as top billing. Barely mentioning other losses. Are the humans that get killed here more important than the ones that get killed elsewhere?
Of course it brings up the concept/debate: maybe if people were carrying handguns on campus someone could have prevented many deaths.
Did people still tune in to American Idol? Did they still watch what ever else was on TV last night? What can you say about it all.
What can anyone say about it. Maybe the system isn't broken. Maybe it is just me. Maybe i'm the only one who is baffled that we can't even share 1/100th of the emotion for dead elsewhere.
I am touched and saddened by the shooting spree that left so many dead. Don't think i'm not. But I'm also moved by the losses in Iraq. Where else are people being killed in numbers without coverage. Darfur? Are people still being killed there? Or is that all over now that there isn't any mainstream media coverage?
-G
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I blame the 24-hour news machine.
If you think this is blown out of proportion, remember that the Imus debactle somehow got coverage for almost 2 weeks straight.
Actual news like the VT incident will own the airwaves even longer, I'm afraid.
And it only "touches everyone" who hasn't come to grips with the fact that there's a million ways to die that can be summarized as "bad luck."
/end cynicism
I follow the casualties in Iraq very closely- both civilian and of US soldiers, and I agree with you on many points. The issue here is that we've become desensitized to the bombings in Iraq, we've detached ourselves emotionally. An event such as VT is so rare in this country. People are interested. They're afraid that other Cho's are in thier community, in their vicinity, within striking range. The coverage seems over-the top to me too. But these networks know what sells and they are profiting from it handsomely. There's the root of it right there. Advertisers line up for inclusion during such programming and reports. The casualties in Iraq are horrific.. proof to me that organized religion is nothing more than a population control device..
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