"An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted." - Arthur Miller

Monday, April 16, 2007

Virginia Tech Shootings: Blame Game Begins

A tragic day in America. An event that for reasons that I will never understands seems to only occur in America about once every five years and no where else in the world. In what should be the safest areas of American as the goal of these locations is the simply and universal desire for knowledge. Yet it keeps occuring, each times the number of dead seems to go higher. This time its 32 dead (excluding the gunman, to count him give him a level of humanity not earned), at the Virginia Tech campus by the hands of a man who should have killed himself and saved the world his issues.

The blame game will begin soon if it hasn't already. What could the school done to help this person? His friends? His professors? Why didn't the police do enough or fast enough? Or the blame will go to politicans for gun control laws not doing enough or the budget not being available, or for not providing enough training.

The counter to the above is real simple really. How do you "stop" an event that you don't know is coming. The gunman, like many from the past, was probabaly some depressed, failed and rejected person who lashed out at random people, blaming them for his own failings. He should have killed himself and been done with it but he made the decision to plan something more eleborate, more dangerous. Probably the only good of the day is the gunman is dead. His evil though will live on.

The sad reality is the gunmen was clearly determined to cause as much pain and death as possible. All the planning, preperation, money, or good intentions cannot stop such an event. You can't plan for the unplannable. He wanted to kill, he was determined to kill and all the gun control laws would have stopped, nor would have training.

Its a tragic day in America. Once again the violence our nation, unlike any other in the world, seem to breed, as risen again. Once again we will ask "why", and "what can be done to never allow to happen again!" and look to our politicans for answers. Laws will be passed, words will be said, peace and security will return, until this occurs once again as seems to be the inevitable cycle. Until we can understand why humanity, especially Americans, feel its ok to lash out in violent anger at the world around them, we will never really be able to stop these events from occuring.

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