I suppose I should make some sort of comment on the Virginia Tech shootings but I'm not sure what to say other than it's incredibly sad.
If this blog had a theme it would be that politics and pop culture aren't all that different. That's why I usually find it so easy to identify a quote from a movie or t.v. show to go with the issue of the day. In this case I don't feel like talking about either politics or pop culture in regards to this tragedy so I'll deviate from the usual format for this one post.
I'm avoiding political commentary from the left and the right on this tragedy as I think it's inappropriate in light of the immediacy of the suffering taking place on that campus. I see that President Bush is heading down to the campus today. As much as I enjoy taking shots at the man I won't fault him for that. It is a function of his job and completely proper that he do so.
There will be a time for discussing the hows and whys of what happened but I think now is just a time to throw a thought or a prayer to the victims and maybe give your kids an extra hug after work.
Dean
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My first thought was for the parents, sibliings and extended families of the students that were murdered by this jerk.
'Cuz it's gonna be forever that this happened to them now, and it sucks.
Sounds like one of the professors blocked the shooter and took bullets so his students had time to jump out the window.
Yeah, I feel sorry for the families. That's one of my secret fears that something bad happens at the kid's school.
It is good to hear there were heroes. It's too bad they got the opportunity.
I wonder if the kid was on one of those stronger anti-depressants like Paxil or coming off of one, especially since the motive wasn't immediately identifiable.
Professor Juan Cole has a sobering thought (not that I want to depress people further):
I keep hearing from US politicians and the US mass media that the "situation is improving" in Iraq. The profound sorrow and alarm produced in the American public by the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech should give us a baseline for what the Iraqis are actually living through. They have two Virginia Tech-style attacks every single day. Virginia Tech will be gone from the headlines and the air waves by next week this time in the US, though the families of the victims will grieve for a lifetime. But next Tuesday I will come out here and report to you that 64 Iraqis have been killed in political violence. And those will mainly be the ones killed by bombs and mortars. They are only 13% of the total; most Iraqis killed violently, perhaps 500 a day throughout the country if you count criminal and tribal violence, are just shot down. Shot down, like the college students and professors at Blacksburg. We Americans can so easily, with a shudder, imagine the college student trying to barricade himself behind a door against the armed madman without. But can we put ourselves in the place of Iraqi students?
I agree with not making this political. I will also point out that the FIRST WORDS out of Bush's mouth were that we shouldn't blame guns for this event. First words. Out of his mouth.
Also, since the White House has discovered that the shooter was Korean, we are now going to war with Vietnam.
I thought it was Thailand?
Don,
Agree whole-heartedly. I wish people could imagine what it's like for the average Iraqi. I heard a statistic today which I won't vouch for that 60% of Iraqi children are having nightmares or wetting the bed - signs of trauma. There are bigger tragedies dailies which we were and are in a far better position to stop.
Droid,
I think there will be time to argue about guns and mental-health issues and I'm not surprised he said that but I was speaking specifically of Bush's visit to the memorial at the campus yesterday. I do not fault him for that and think it was the right thing to do.
And we're attacking Hawaii.
60% of Iraqi children are having nightmares or wetting the bed - signs of trauma.
What's your excuse? ;)
Too much beer before nap time.
Are you wetting your bed before or after you go to sleep? (Ouch!)
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