EDIT: When I first wrote the post, a lot of my friends actually had no idea what I was talking about. And it was around 2pm (US EST), mind you. Kind of reminds me of 9/11 when I was in school and no one had a clue till fairly late.
I mean, I agree with the comments that if you don't know anybody who was affected (either directly or indirectly), you are quite removed from the situation so it's silly to get upset. But only to a certain extent. (And I do know of two people who go to VT...they were high school acquaintances, the sort of people you only talk to in class. Both are fine.) What happened yesterday is upsetting. What happens all over the world every damn day is upsetting. I know I would be lying if I said I did not feel at least a little affected by ridiculously horrible events I read about or see on the news every day. In that slight moment when you read/hear about something, one must be feeling something. I mean, are we really going to kid ourselves and say we are completely unaffected? Things do not and should not have to happen to our person or people we know in order for us to feel something, even if only to impassion our own lives or to spark inspection of the environment around us.
Three universities and a few other primary and secondary schools had to close today because of bomb threats. Stupid copycat shit. I mean, VA Tech already had cops crawling all over the campus because of two bomb threats in the previous weeks leading up to Monday, a shooting that occurred on campus in August of last year (by someone unrelated to the campus), and the shooting in the dorm that morning, and still, it happened. I can't even imagine...
Yesterday, the Chicago Sun Times kept claiming sources said the shooter was a Chinese student on a visa from Shanghai. They must feel stupid now. Bet those fact checkers will be fired. Immediately after news spread that the shooter was Asian, the racist shit I heard about was disgusting. Just because of one lone psychotic Asian guy. What about the Columbine shooting? And the clock tower shooting at the University of Texas, the guy who killed 24 people in Killeen, Texas, or Manson, Bundy, Dahmer...need I say more? They were all white. What does that say? Racial profiling makes no sense. People are pathetic.
And this whole thing about how guns don't kill people, people kill people is just stupid. People on the news were arguing that if students were allowed to carry concealed weapons, the shooter could've been stopped. So ludicrous. First of all, what were the chances that someone in that building carried a gun? Second of all, enabling more teenagers/young adults to carry guns is the worst, most careless idea ever. If anything, there should be gun control that is strict as hell. If that Asian guy didn't have access to guns, he most likely would not have killed so many people. I mean, say if he had just a knife or something. People kill people. But people without guns kill less people.
Original post:
I don't believe any of you reading this are in the States (though please correct me if I'm wrong) so you may or may not have heard.
This morning, an Asian man opened fire on the Virginia Tech campus and killed over 30 people, including himself. Information is still coming in but what is known for certain is that there was a shooting in a dorm and then two hours later, the man went to a classroom on the other side of campus and shot the majority of the victims there. There has been no official confirmation on whether the guy was a student or what. However, rumor has it the guy was a student and snapped when he found out his girlfriend cheated on him. I got that from a friend who has a friend who has a lot of friends who attend VA Tech. If that is the motivation for this, it makes things that much worse because it's such a stupid, senseless thing to kill people over. But then again, what exactly is worth killing someone over?
I mean, I agree with the comments that if you don't know anybody who was affected (either directly or indirectly), you are quite removed from the situation so it's silly to get upset. But only to a certain extent. (And I do know of two people who go to VT...they were high school acquaintances, the sort of people you only talk to in class. Both are fine.) What happened yesterday is upsetting. What happens all over the world every damn day is upsetting. I know I would be lying if I said I did not feel at least a little affected by ridiculously horrible events I read about or see on the news every day. In that slight moment when you read/hear about something, one must be feeling something. I mean, are we really going to kid ourselves and say we are completely unaffected? Things do not and should not have to happen to our person or people we know in order for us to feel something, even if only to impassion our own lives or to spark inspection of the environment around us.
Three universities and a few other primary and secondary schools had to close today because of bomb threats. Stupid copycat shit. I mean, VA Tech already had cops crawling all over the campus because of two bomb threats in the previous weeks leading up to Monday, a shooting that occurred on campus in August of last year (by someone unrelated to the campus), and the shooting in the dorm that morning, and still, it happened. I can't even imagine...
Yesterday, the Chicago Sun Times kept claiming sources said the shooter was a Chinese student on a visa from Shanghai. They must feel stupid now. Bet those fact checkers will be fired. Immediately after news spread that the shooter was Asian, the racist shit I heard about was disgusting. Just because of one lone psychotic Asian guy. What about the Columbine shooting? And the clock tower shooting at the University of Texas, the guy who killed 24 people in Killeen, Texas, or Manson, Bundy, Dahmer...need I say more? They were all white. What does that say? Racial profiling makes no sense. People are pathetic.
And this whole thing about how guns don't kill people, people kill people is just stupid. People on the news were arguing that if students were allowed to carry concealed weapons, the shooter could've been stopped. So ludicrous. First of all, what were the chances that someone in that building carried a gun? Second of all, enabling more teenagers/young adults to carry guns is the worst, most careless idea ever. If anything, there should be gun control that is strict as hell. If that Asian guy didn't have access to guns, he most likely would not have killed so many people. I mean, say if he had just a knife or something. People kill people. But people without guns kill less people.
Original post:
I don't believe any of you reading this are in the States (though please correct me if I'm wrong) so you may or may not have heard.
This morning, an Asian man opened fire on the Virginia Tech campus and killed over 30 people, including himself. Information is still coming in but what is known for certain is that there was a shooting in a dorm and then two hours later, the man went to a classroom on the other side of campus and shot the majority of the victims there. There has been no official confirmation on whether the guy was a student or what. However, rumor has it the guy was a student and snapped when he found out his girlfriend cheated on him. I got that from a friend who has a friend who has a lot of friends who attend VA Tech. If that is the motivation for this, it makes things that much worse because it's such a stupid, senseless thing to kill people over. But then again, what exactly is worth killing someone over?
I saw the news when I opened another site..no one seems to know what's happening.
ReplyDeleteIt's awful enough having someone die on your campus, I can't even imagine what it must be like for the students who got caught up in the shooting.
A Korean Chap,he..my friends here were a bit ashamed when a chinese website reported the boy to be from Shanghai. What a tragedy..
ReplyDeleteI'm in the states...but trust me, everyone who is aware of the news will have heard about this massacre.
ReplyDeleteI bet Charlton Heston will once again try to make the point that guns don't kill people. Messed up world, of people like that aquire power.
I didn't hear about this at all... but then I didn't even read the paper today.
ReplyDeleteI'm not one to be affected by such things. The death of people I don't know has no affect on me at all.
Anyway, I'm sorry if you're upset...
I know what you mean Perakath. I find it hard to believe one can be upset by the things happening to people you don't know. If that were true, then one would always be sad, because innocent people are suffering and dying unjustly every minute!
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, when something as needless this happens, you have to ask what can be done to prevent such incidents.
Perakath, the deaths of innocent people should affect you, because beyond the death is the big question of justice and fairness. Why did it happen? What is wrong with the world? Somebody needs to rewrite the American Constitution..Hopefully somebody like Obama will get elected and drive some sense into the nation.
ReplyDeleteAnybody watch Freedom Writers..I thought it was a truly inspiring movie..
Sorry, it just doesn't. You become inured to it - you have to. It doesn't even bother me when I hear of people killed in road accidents in Vellore.
ReplyDeleteLike today I heard that this guy from History in my batch in College has passed away. Deepak Sharda. I don't know him, but I've vaguely heard of his name in stoner circles. He used to smoke with Pathrose.
No effect at all.
Perhaps it's just because I'm a little focused on my exams right now.
But with respect to the VATech shooting, my IMMEDIATE reaction was - another campus shooting in the States, big deal... and my brain switched off then and there.
Slowly I'm beginning to realise that people are taking this seriously because it's apparently the biggest campus shooting in the States ever?
Maggie - no offence at all meant, right?
ReplyDeleteAnd i'm not a stone man... the things that move me are more personal stories.
tell us about people's reaction at hamilton.
ReplyDeletePai: What is Freedom Writers about?
ReplyDeletePeople are taking this seriously because a) 32 people died (enough said) b) it's the deadliest mass shooting ever in the US, not just the biggest shooting ever on a campus c) a lot of people think the majority of deaths could have been avoided if after the first shooting at the dorm, the campus was locked down (so basically the handling of the situation) d) it brings up the issue of gun control - every state pretty much has different rules and if I remember correctly, Virginia actually is one of the states with the most lax gun laws (though, unsurprisingly, after Columbine, jack shit was done so I don't know how this will change anything).
Perakath - None taken. I'm sure you're not a stone man but I'm still a bit baffled I guess.
Well, I didn't really leave my room yesterday (Tues). I basically passed out after handing in the rough draft of my thesis.
ReplyDeleteBut I had quite a few discussions about it with friends at Ham, back home, and my parents. And today in my counseling psych class, we talked about it and our prof talked about how her kids were handling it. Like her younger daughter who's maybe 6 was like, why didn't they run? And she just wasn't getting the concept of how they couldn't escape. And the prof was like well a bullet is faster than a person. And the daughter was like, even with their sneakers on? And then her son (only a few years older) was getting ready for school and the prof had her TV on the Today Show and her kid was just watching TV for a bit and was like, it's just sad. But some people were like it's sad, others said it made them kind of paranoid, etc.
And I haven't heard of any racist crap happening here and I hope it stays that way but there have been incidents on other campuses.
Isn't it a constitutional right to bear arms? Second Amendment or something like that? VA's legislature wouldn't be able to get around that even if they wanted to, would they?
ReplyDeleteApart from the expected shock, was there *surprise* that this had happened? I mean, campus shootings in the States - this isn't exactly the first time...
The second amendment does say the people have a right to bear arms. However, gun legislation does not ban people from having guns. Instead, they just make it harder to get guns (usually more dangerous ones like semi-automatics, I believe) and require better documentation of possession...stuff like that. That's not unconstitutional.
ReplyDeleteLooked this fact up - In the last 10 years, there have been 19 shootings in schools/colleges though not all have ended in deaths (doesn't make that statistic any less disturbing, though). And how is it not surprising when there is a shooting in a place where you would never expect such violence? Even after the 19th time...the 100th time. Have we really gotten to the point where we have become so desensitized to violence that we don't care?
i believe all colleges (at least in the US) have a strict no-weapon policy.
ReplyDeleteBut how well does that work, considering what just happened?
ReplyDeleteI guess on some level it's hard to be affected if what just happened is, for whatever reason, a bit removed from you. But thirty-two people dying so randomly...it's hard for me not to look at the news and think, not fair.
The quickest way to become inured (lovely GRE type word) is to see the hypocrisy of mourning. 122 innocent people were killed in Baghdad yesterday, but no one in the US give a hoot.
ReplyDeleteI feel saddened when I see people cry and all that, but how can one deal with the sorrow of the world's injustice? It all gets blocked out.
Again, it all comes down to the media and what information gets put out where. Also, how close it is to your own situation. I remember being absolutely freaked out a couple of years ago when I heard Paharganj had been bombed- not something I'd have bothered about had I never been to college and known that there was some possibility of people I know being there at the time. I guess the sticking point here is that they're college kids and it was just possible that the second round of shootings could have been prevented.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Yonex.
ReplyDeleteI remember that Paharganj bomb scare - my mom messaged me asking if I was ok, and I replied saying I'd been injured and was in a hospital. Next thing I know, various local guardians are calling frantically to find out which hospital I'm in... My mom was not amused. Strangely enough, none of my friends thought it was funny either!
I'm trying to imagine if guns were freely available in India.
*shudder shudder shudder shudder*
Thank God we have more sense than that...
I think it's unfair to generalize and say no one in the US gives a crap about what's happening in Baghdad. Like what blue floppy hat said, it's pretty much about what the media puts out. Since Monday, pretty much everything has been about the college shooting. Monday was just a mess with people trying to get info. Tues was basically info day. And even yesterday, it was basically all about the shooter (esp since he sent a package of videos, pics, etc to NBC). Today, it has died off somewhat but if you look on all the major news distributors, it's all either about the shooting or domestic news. There may or may not be one small mention of what's going on in Iraq.
ReplyDeleteI mean, last year, when there were a string of cases of E. coli poisoning from spinach, that was the main focus for awhile. Only a handful (if even) of people died and that trumped the continuous deaths in Iraq. How ridiculous is that? Though, I don't want to say those few people who died were unimportant but what I'm trying to say is, that shows how skewed the media's damn priorities are.
Even when there is no particularly big news story, Iraq is never the main story, unless it's the anniversary of the first invasion or a 'milestone in the number of deaths' (so to speak) is reached. Maybe it's to try to curb bad morale or just plain old denial? Who knows.
That being said, it is also about the people of the US in general. On average, I'm guessing at least half of Americans probably don't know jack shit about what's going in the US, let alone the entire world. I'm not excusing this behavior but just saying.
no point talking about the US media. american media gives preference to the death of some celebrity's dog, for example, over the deaths of thousands of people outside of the US. check almost any american news channel or a newspaper for the matter.
ReplyDeletedbrwo - double rum with orange juice
I have to agree with Yohan. I think it's unfair to spend so much time focusing on this incident and almost none at all to other incidents that are far worse.
ReplyDeleteA day or two after the VT shooting, over 160 people were killed by 4 bombs in Iraq. It was page 2 news.
You cannot get away with blaming the media. Most major networks and newpapers are not trying to push an agenda; they just want to make money. Consumers love to watch/read stories like this one and the media gives them what they want. They (Americans) are not interested in things that are happening elsewhere.
I agree that this is one of the greatest domestic tragedies in the last decade, but with thousands dead in Iraq and hundreds of thousands in places like Darfur, I think it's sick to spend days trying to psychoanalyze the dead "South Korean" kid who lived in the US for more than half of his life.
As far as other countries go, I don't know how their media operates. But I would be cautious about saying that the US media is inferior to most non-US media. Although I was only there for a couple of weeks, I was surprised to find that I prefer the way the US does business over the way the UK does it. As unlikely as it may seem, I might also prefer the US media too. That being said, I get most of my news from the internets.
Well said, pop...
ReplyDeleteprybpbkc: Pyrrhic KFC
The fact that all of us are well aware of the Iraq bombings probably says that the media did give it the required importance. Plus the Iraq situation was inevitable, while the VaT was unexpected and "shocking". Plus as discussed above, it is very pertinent to the gun control laws which are a big deal in the US. Hence the the added importance in coverage. Plus American media for good reason should cover the deaths of its own people more than those in another country. I don't see any hypocracy.
ReplyDeleteThe Daily show etc. are all part of the American Media and they are Class A stuff.
PS: NBC's playing the videos and showing the photos was indeed a bad move.
Take a look at this video:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/21/bill-moyers-rips-msm-complicity-on-real-time/
The Iraq situation is the product of an unjust invasion, and one that was botched on top of that. How can anyone call it inevitable?
ReplyDeleteAnd it is untrue that the mainstream US media covers everything. Important issues are glossed over. World opinion is glossed over. Their websites might cover these issues, but the vast majority of Americans get their news from TV. And the Daily Show is not one of those sources. It has a viewership of around one million, in a boutry of 300 million.A drop in the ocean.
The coverage of the VA Tech killings pretty much ignores the gun control debate, mentioning it in passing. They are more focussed on deconstruction this particular pyscho, and asking "Why oh why did this happen?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usguns/Story/0,,2062329,00.html
Oh common..I meant after the botch up it was inevitable..not before!
ReplyDeleteI also don't like the way the killings are being covered and what you said is right. But thankfully the straits times here has finally stopped printing his photo and is concentrating on more relevant world news. There was a nice article they printed, I don't know if its making the rounds in the US. You can find it at
http://nomorequo.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-media-coverage-of-virginia-tech.html
I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that the usual VOTING audience on American Idol is something like 25 million people.
ReplyDeleteTwenty-five million! That's twice the population of Delhi!
hwkhu: How you, Hawku?
This is all I have to say about American Idol: Sanjaya.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0-qVhDuQws
What an embarassment. At least he's only 17, and can be excused.
ReplyDeleterhcukknt: there's an insult in there, somewhere.