So I was watching the idiot box the other night round about the 9 0′clock hour when I caught a chunk of some news aired by the local Fox affliate. They were reporting on the shootings at Virginia Tech that had taken place the day prior. A student named Cho Seung-Hui killed a total of 32 people in the shootings and a single motive has yet to surface. In video footage he sent to NBC he denounces rich students with Mercedes cars and money.

All your debaucheries weren’t enough,” he said. “I didn’t have to do this. I could’ve left. I could’ve fled. But no. I will no longer run.

The conflict between his parents Christian beliefs and his own Hindu beliefs has also been cited as cause. Some people want to blame violent films and video games (it’s too soon for an Asian/Video Game joke, but trust me they’re coming…) and still others blamed it on the hippies (read the comments on that link, they’re hilarious). All the while the world is looking at America and wondering if our fascination with guns may now finally be over. How many masacres, the majority of which seem to be be at schools of all places, are we going to endure to “protect” our right to bear arms? From the opposite side of the fence gun clubs are blaming Virginia Tech’s no-gun policy of preventing students from being able to defend themselves. Stating that murderous sociopaths aren’t swayed by any sort of gun-ban and that if they’re bent on killing they’re goign to attempt to do just that. Should students have to, or need to defend themselves? Should any citizen? Do our gun laws that allow upstanding citizens to acquire and own guns only weaken the laws that are intended to stop would-be killers?

It would seem though that this is just another massacre. I’m sure that VT will step up campus security, but like Columbine, Unniversity of Texas, and all the others nothing major will change in terms of how we deal with this shit as a country. Perhaps I’m just as desensitized as the rest though. No, in fact, I’m sure I am. I see terrible things on the news all the time about people and places all around me and I barely bat an eye most times. So long as it doesn’t impact me or any of the people directly around me and connected to me I’ll probably remain indifferent. I don’t think I’m the exception though, but rather that I’m more the norm. Empathy rarely spreads wider than one’s immediate circle and seemingly never nation wide or globally for that matter. Ala Global Warming… they even put Global in the title just to let you know that everyones affected… but it doesn’t matter.

I digress… So I’m sitting there watching the news and they’re talking about the backlash that the Virginia Tech shootings had across local schools. They cut to a scene outside a Colorado Springs high school and began speaking about how a shooting threat there had closed the school for the day. They then cut to a docile scene outside of a Boulder high school where similarily a bomb threat had caused the school to shut down as well. Mind you these were all fairly tranquil pictures of the front of the schools and/or their lush green court yards and surroundings, all quiet and calm, from the same state that brought you Columbine. They then cut to good ol’ Rapid City where a bomb threat had also been called in only this time they had some footage which was jammed packed full of action! One team of three S.W.A.T. members moved in one direction with semi-automatic rifles clutched in their glove covered hands while another team of two crawled along the ground in a prone position and nestled their right eyes up to the scopes of twin sniper rifles. It then showed several police officers with guns drawn being led by a german shepard approaching one of the entrances to the high school… which from every angle they showed looked like Central. Another state trooper was shown carrying a shot gun pointed straight down in military fashion inching his way towards the campus. They finished off the piece with a few sensationalist comments and a wide angle shot of the whole scene.

At this point I could tie a nice bow on this and talk about how kids are just as desenstized as ever to the point where a national tragedy becomes the promise of a day off school. How it’s easy for some punk teenager to play on the oversensitive emotions in the wake of a tragedy by calling in a false bomb threat and hitting the mall for the remainder of the evening. But hell, we had 3 threats within a week of the Columbine tradegy at Stevens alone, so I can’t say that it’s gotten any worse, just more of the same. Instead I’ll just end this post with pointing out that Rapid will always be my favorite police-state nestled securely within the conservative gun-loving midwest… and is still home to a bunch of punk kids.

-Matt

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