Monday, April 16, 2007

Tragedy



Most of ya'll know I normally don't cover dramatic, sensationalized current events (trials, murders, shootings) on here. I think there are plenty of newspaper and cable news websites that can do a far better job of that than I could ever hope to. Plus I do a piss-poor job of talking about emotional stuff as it is.

I bring today's tragic event up only because 1) it seems heartless to not stop and mention it apart from the inconsequential, day-to-day shenanigans that constitute this blog, and also because 2) it will without doubt negatively affect people's views of the Second Amendment and give rise to countless debates on whether or not the federal government should enact stricter gun laws.

I will certainly reserve the political stuff for a later date, because to discuss it now would seem brash and presumptuous: it is simply too early to talk about what exactly happened and how or why. So I bring this up for now because it demonstrates how, as (former) college students, everything else we squabble over (i.e. final exams, jobs, etc.) can instantly become meaningless when you realize your life and others can be taken so quickly and in the least likely of places.

Alright, I'm done with the emotional grandstanding, soapbox stuff.

12 comments:

HANK said...

Europe is already putting the blame on Charlton Heston, while ignoring the guilt of the lone gunman.

Ryan said...

The most frustrating part is that the little coward killed himself. Now there's nowhere to put your anger. Sure, we can still hate him, but imagine if he were alive and in custody. Then there'd still be some place to direct our hate, and eventually when he was executed, the families of the victims, and everyone else to a lesser extent, could get some closure.

Ryan said...

Yesterday was one of the greatest days of Michael Moore's life. Now he gets to capitalize on 32 victims' deaths with "Bowling for Virginia Tech."

Did you hear about that stunt he pulled for his next movie about health care? He tries to get sick 9/11 workers to go down to Cuba to get free health care.

Joe said...

I'm also waiting for the Asian kid in this picture to sue.

Patrick said...

That's horrendous. But the worst part of it is he has a large following that buys into his bullshit, and the vast majority of that following comes from the academic community.

"Socialism has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it" - Thomas Sowell

MacKenzie said...

Even if he had survived and were put in jail, I wouldn't be surprised if he were killed in prison, like Jeffrey Dahmer was.

tim said...

This really does put things into perspective. I have a cousin that is a senior at Virginia Tech, and it really makes you think how this type of thing could happen anywhere and to anyone. I couldn't image how I would feel if something like this happened at Georgia. By the way, my cousin is doing fine.

TC said...

I wish your cousin was in the building with a concealed weapon when that was going on, Tim.

Joe said...

Doing fine?

Tim, your cousin wasn't one of the wounded were they?

HANK said...

A. Have socialist government programs discouraged us from protecting ourselves?

B. Do y'all think if gun laws were looser, and society actually encouraged each of us to carry protection (as was the case before socialism arrived) that this shooting would've been so bad? Or even occurred?



My Answers:
A. Yes
B. No, the shootings would have not occurred.

tim said...

Sorry, I guess that was a little misleading. By "doing fine" I meant that he wasn't invloved at all. And also, TC, my cousin in in ROTC there and his brother is in the Marines and his dad was a Navy Seal, so my guess is that he would have taken the kid out with his bare hands if he was in the building.

Patrick said...

I hope to have a whole post on this issue in the near future. For now, watch
this
episode of Pen & Teller's show "Bullshit" on gun control. It's pretty good.