I do care. I really do. But I haven’t seen anyone else say this yet – so I’m stepping on my liberal soap box and saying it myself. Don’t worry – I’ll get off soon.
The shootings at Virginia Tech are horrible. 33 people died, and most of them were young – bright students searching for their place in the world. It’s a horrible tragedy, to say the least.
I watched news of Columbine nearly eight years ago while sitting in my dorm commons at St. Cloud State University. I wondered then what would happen if this wasn’t in a high school, but in a college, where the atmosphere is so different. I wondered if something like this could happen in a place where people are supposed to grow up and create their place in the world, not be pigeonholed into a class because truancy officers force them to.
Well, now we know. It is possible. And it’s horrible. Many are lamenting the loss of so many young lives in such a cold-hearted, brutal murder spree.
With that said, I’m also very confused.
The media response to this is exactly what we’d expect – fevered, maudlin and intense. Special graphics. Swooping intro videos. A deep look into anything that sounds remotely sinister. I’d hate to think that if I killed someone, that they’d look through my bookshelves and find the most violent book I’ve ever read and use that as proof of my craziness.
That’s not what I’m confused about – I expected all of that to happen. We want to know what’s going on, especially with something so close – something that happened right in our backyard.
But it bears noticing two things.
First, over 3,300 Americans have died in the Iraq War in a little more than four years. These people are roughly the same age as those killed at Virginia Tech. Of course the Virginia Tech murders are ghastly and should be mentioned as much as possible. But so should these deaths in Iraq. Unfortunately, they aren’t. We’re numb to it now. The numbers crawl to slowly to be noticed. People have been desensitized to what is truly happening over there. And it takes a mass killing like yesterday’s college massacre to hit the front pages.
There will be sweeping changes in security throughout Virginia Tech campus affairs. New procedures will be tried and people will be held responsible.
If only the 3,300 dead in Iraq would cause some sort of sweeping change throughout our war policy.
Second, Virginia Tech should be happy there wasn’t a flood. George Bush has already made it a point to visit the school and console with the grief-stricken survivors. That’s good. It’s a noble thing to do.
It took him four days to simply fly over New Orleans after Katrina.
Let’s all mourn the loss of innocent life. It’s the least we can do as fellow countrymen and women. But let’s also not lose track of the rest of the world – let’s keep everything in perspective, allow the survivors to slowly piece their lives back together and attempt to get on with their lives without making this entire incident into some kind of three-week soap opera.
Especially, let’s take time to think about everything else that’s happening in the world, from Nigeria to Iraq, Virginia to Ireland, and think about what we could do to help curb senseless killing all over this Earth.
It’s also the least we could do.
Kind of a cheap shot, don’t you think? Far be it for me to defend W, but the circumstances could not be more different.
New Orleans was simply not a safe place in the days immediately following Katrina. It wasn’t stable in a million different ways, and I doubt any Secret Service chief would have recommended any sitting President (red or blue) go near it until it was at least reasonably safe to do so.
Additionally, there was frankly more W could have done in Washington than New Orleans during that time.
Neither aspect applies to the current situation at VTU.
Again, I’m not W fan, but your comparison doesn’t hold water from a purely logical, politically-neutral perspective.
Come on — the flyover comment was strictly symbolic. It pointed more at the fact that nothing was done – the area was barely mentioned to begin with. It was a perfect example of how little the matter was taken seriously.
Like I said, it was a noble thing to do. But it’s funny that it was so quick, while with Katrina the city sat and drowned while everyone watched. President Johnson managed to make HIS way into the flooded city when HE was President. And it didn’t need to be crafted into a photo opportunity, either.
Regardless, I just thought it was funny. Really, anything W does is ripe for critisism these days, right or wrong. It’s the nature of being a lame duck, unpopular leader. If he would have stayed away, everyone would have said “REMEMBER KATRINIA OMG!” and if he goes right away people say “WHERE WAS HE BEFORE OMG!”
And frankly, I think the entire Katrina debacle deserves some cheap shots every once in a while…
I do believe that a lot of stuff was done very wrong with Katrina, but I’m hesitant to lay it at W’s feet. The fact is, the seeds of disaster were planted long before W came into office, and what happened there could have just as easily happened to a blue president.
The fact is, the president can’t fix everything. When Hillary becomes president in a couple years, there are things happening right now that will likely blow up in her face. I’ll give her as much leeway as I’m willing to give W over Katrina.
I’d be interested in seeing a punchlist of problems that led to the disaster in New Orleans, and then I’d like to isolate those over which W had specific control.
If we find a situation where someone budgeted $100 million to fix the levees and W diverted the money to Bin Laden, well that’s a smoking gun. But I’m willing to bet that what happened in New Orleans was so far removed from W’s direct control, that he was screwed years before Katrina made landfall.
I was going to comment. But the politics scared me off.
i’m sick. on so many levels.
1) i’ve stumbled on your blog by mistake and caring about my nieces at various universities
2) i clicked on your sick blog about measuring the worth of deaths “but lightening it oh-so-well” with your obvious incredible depth of experience
3) that you are a minnesota grad/resident/human
shame on you
Deane – you’re probably right. It was my first thought and I found a parallel between people suffering through loss. There’s also little that W could have done to stop the VTU killings. So it’s purely symbolic. That subject has run its course. I’ll concede it to you.
As for Hastings, shame on YOU for thinking I don’t care. I’m not measuring the worth of deaths. That’s ludicrous.
I agree with everything you said, and more.