And I Think I’ve Gone Mad

Wow. This Virginia Tech thing is just crazy. My heart goes out to the students and their families. Things like this are so unfair, that a person has to lose their life because someone else has gone off the beam.

I have a habit of studying such criminal pathologies, really a form of social rubber-necking. What ever started this was quite recent, given that he purchased one of the weapons last month. The first shooting is being described as ‘domestic’ in nature. It usually starts there, with a broken heart. Then he goes back to his dorm, reloads, and knowing that he is in deep already, goes on a killing spree. There is really nothing more dangerous than a person with nothing to lose. He killed 2 people already, whats 28 more?

The one thing that bothers me in cases like this is always the behavior of the media. Of course this act is going to get constant attention, but the pointless speculation is quite irritating (He says after speculating…). Yesterday Wolf Blitzer had on a specialist to discuss this shooting in relation to the Columbine shooting from back in 1999. And then there were weapons experts, psychologists, and the one that really bothered me, a guy who offers training to SWAT teams, which really came of more like a plug than anything else. All of this was fueled on nothing more than a fluctuating body count and no other information.

What really bothered me was when a reporter asked the president of the college at a press conference yesterday, what the ‘new normal’ would be like. Isn’t that an awful term? I’m generally no good with the current normal, let alone having to get used to a new one. This is where people usually lose me. It harkens me back to the USA PATRIOT ACT. There will be rash reactionary decisions made, that really won’t make anyone safer in the long run. The people on that campus are safer today by virtue of the fact that this man is dead and can’t hurt anyone else. It may seem an awful thing to say, but sometimes its just too obvious. People may not accept that of course. What are they going to do? Turn college campuses into high security facilities? Will there be metal detectors and bomb sniffing dogs at every entrance? I tell you, actions like that will not help the situation.

Now is a time for healing and understanding. The students and their families have such a weight, such pain to deal with. I wish them all the best.