Insanity Strikes Too Close to Home
dd April 16th, 2007
An injured person is carried out of Norris Hall at VA Tech.
For those who haven’t yet heard, a tragedy of indescribable proportion took place today on the campus of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, VA. According to early reports, a young Asian-American man killed 22 students, including himself, and wounded many others. News reports at this time indicate an uncertainty about whether the shooter was a current or former student. They say he had a grudge with a professor in the class room building where almost all the carnage took place.
What the hell has happened to us? When I was a college student 40 years ago, no one had guns, let alone think of using them indiscriminately against innocent people because you were pissed off at a professor. Maybe, it will turn out that the killer was mentally disturbed. But, doesn’t it seem so many more of us are so disturbed today? Is it the media that is to blame? Violence is rampant, especially in urban music these days. Video games? Are we more stressed than 40 years ago? Could someone please explain what is going on?
I know friends who have or had students attend VA Tech, which is only a couple of hundred miles from my home in N. VA. I hope and pray their kids were not involved. I can’t even begin to imagine the unspeakable anguish and devastation being felt by the parents of the young people cut down in the beginning of their lives because they happened to be sitting in the wrong classroom in what they thought was a safe state university in a rural part of VA.
I’m in shock over the whole thing. Schools should be safe: elementary schools, high schools, universities, all of them. It’s just plain scary.
I just saw this on Cdn 6:00 p.m. news and I was horrified. The worst shooting rampage in N. American history they said. I do think more people are disturbed today….young people anyway. Maybe there are more pressures on them..peer pressure and pressure to be successful perhaps. We had pressure too but we handled it in more acceptable ways….well, maybe smoking, pot and drinking were our generation’s way of dealing….not sure. Guns seem way too easy to get. My heart goes out to all families. I immediately thought of all the American bloggers I know and hoping there is no one touched by this.
Kristin - shock is a good word. Ruth - so is horrified. It’s almost incomprehensible. I just sent off an email to the 2 families I know with kids at VA Tech. I’m praying I get good news from them - at least good in the sense that their children were not directly involved. I’m sure they’re very upset.
Kristin: I hope they’re okay.
David: On our news, they interviewed a boy from Toronto, who was there on a
soccer scholarship and the big question is why the University wasn’t shut down after the 2 were killed in the morning. They have to be linked. The Univ. Pres. is going to be grilled on
this one for sure. He said they couldn’t see how they could warn everyone. Even in our small public school we have a red code alert.
My roomate John’s nephew attends Virgina Tech. He was in his dorm room and didn’t even know anything had happened until his mother called him. Thank god for that!
We live in a culture that celebrates violence, and as Americans we love guns. It’s the end of this empire, and as with the end of all empires, people get numb, compassionate morality goes into the toilet, people devolve to the lowest common denominator.
Cuff at Countersignature writes today about the U.S. mercenaries profiled in the Post on Sunday. That kid yesterday was a mercenary in training.
Sometimes I’m so happy to be getting old; this is such a frightening moment in U.S. history - if I were younger I would feel so hopeless.
This is somewhat reminiscent of 9/11, where our first thought was “Oh my God, did anyone I know die or lose a relative?” Then the enormity of the whole thing washes over you and you realize there are so many unknown faces grieving for their loss. Having just seen Children of God, I hope this sort of thing isn’t a precursor of the violence to come in the next decades.
Ruth — There are lots of questions about whether the University acted prudently and smartly yesterday morning. Perhaps, with quicker and more proactive measures, many lives could have been saved. We’ll never know. I agree with you - it sure seems like they could have done a better job. They are entrusted with the lives of these students.
Reya — The culture of violence - so true. That among other things (the politics of meanness, bigotry and “God is telling us what to do”) makes the U. S more of a scary place than any time in my lifetime.
Barbara — Thankfully, I heard that the children of the 2 families we know (with kids at Tech) are safe.
I started to comment towards Reya earlier…we are numb and the Media feeds on that…bringing us victims and scapegoats and all of this trivia to keep us locked up and unable to really get to the larger issues. We got Springer and Hollywood Celebs and Bachelors and Anorexics and continuous coverage of OJ’s doin 20 mph down the freeway and we are all byin’ it…
Present company excluded of course.
Steve - I wish I knew what the bigger picture is here in this situation. I’m still at a loss.
[…] Conclusions On The Wall: What the hell has happened to us? When I was a college student 40 years ago, no one had guns, let alone think of using them […]
Although I wouldn’t disagree with the fact that school violence has gotten worse in more recent years, it’s a fallacy to say that these things didn’t happen 40 years ago. In fact, until the tragedy at Virginia Tech this week, the worst school shooting in the US occurred in 1966 (this is according to wikipedia, so I’m happy to hear if anyone has any different information).
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman
Charles Joseph Whitman (June 24, 1941 – August 1, 1966) was a student at the University of Texas at Austin and a Marine, who is known for having ascended The University’s 27-story tower on August 1, 1966 and shot at passersby in the city and on the campus below, having killed his mother and his wife the night before. In all Whitman killed 15 people and wounded 31 others before he was shot dead by Austin police.
Let me rephrase what I just said- I’m not “happy” to hear if anyone has any different information, I’d be interested in hearing if anyone has any different information.
iTS THE FREQUENCY THAT i THINK IS DISTURBING…WHITMAN AT UT WAS A SIGULARITY;
(excusde me) The last several years we seem to have a couple incidents a year.
I agree with Steve’s point here. These kind of random acts of violence seem so much more prevalent now.