My Heart is with My Fellow Hokies
If you haven't heard, there were two shootings at my alma mater, Virginia Tech, early Monday morning local time. Estimated 22 dead, including the shooter, and about that many injured.
It's crazy how you can be on the other side of the world, in a sleepy college town in the middle of the Appalachian mountains, and experience the same sort of senseless violence that occurs in a place like Kabul.
My heart goes out to all my fellow Hokies. :-(
Eight years ago, after Columbine, a group of students (including myself) from my high school met with then-President Clinton to talk about gun violence. I made a comment that the media was largely responsible, with the glorification of violence in big-budget blockbusters, and constant bombardment of violent images as "fun." Clinton shook off my comments, and it's funny, because now something on the same terrible scale has happened at a place close to me, and I still stand by them. When this is all said and done, we will likely have an unhappy young person who probably had an unhealthy obsession with guns, violence, gory video games, and over the top blood fest movies. There is a pattern, and we are stupid to fail to recognize it.
Bowling for Virginia Tech.
It's crazy how you can be on the other side of the world, in a sleepy college town in the middle of the Appalachian mountains, and experience the same sort of senseless violence that occurs in a place like Kabul.
My heart goes out to all my fellow Hokies. :-(
Eight years ago, after Columbine, a group of students (including myself) from my high school met with then-President Clinton to talk about gun violence. I made a comment that the media was largely responsible, with the glorification of violence in big-budget blockbusters, and constant bombardment of violent images as "fun." Clinton shook off my comments, and it's funny, because now something on the same terrible scale has happened at a place close to me, and I still stand by them. When this is all said and done, we will likely have an unhappy young person who probably had an unhealthy obsession with guns, violence, gory video games, and over the top blood fest movies. There is a pattern, and we are stupid to fail to recognize it.
Bowling for Virginia Tech.
posted by Zohra at 9:45 PM
9 Comments:
Please don't play the video game card here... This is hardly the time for find a scapegoat. How does violence happen all over the world in places that don't have video games, rock & roll, movies etc.???
I think Zohra has a perfectly valid point.
He's not talking about violence in general... he's talking about this specific brand of violence... the disaffected young male who grabs some guns and goes on a rampage in a "soft target" area.
I'm surprised by the fact that terrorists haven't figured out how easy this stuff is, but the fact of the matter is that when there is a shooting of more than 5 people in a public space (a mall, a school, a university)... the profile of the young (mid-teens to mid-twenties) white media-influenced male, almost always in a trenchcoat, is as reliable as as any serial killer profile.
I developed video games... I think they're great and I don't think they are the primary cause in this kind of situation. But to knee jerk out a "don't play the video game card" line indicates that Zohra is willing to admit that maybe there is a pattern of some kind going on here.
Zohra confuses correlation with causality. It's the most common errot there is. Did someone murder someone else BECAUSE he/she is a video game/violent movie addict, or does the person have the innate personality type to kill, and therefore be attracted to such violent images?
Anonymous,
I don't know the general answer to your question and neither do you or anyone else. But Zohra's point is correct. Where would someone get the idea for such mayhem except in a society that glorifies it?
I have to ask, though, if all this violence is because movies and music and video games glorify it, then how come we don't see these events happening elsewhere in the world? Don't kids in Germany listen to the same heavy metal that those in Columbine did? Don't kids in Canada watch the same movies and TV shows that kids in the US do? Don't children in Asia play the same video games that our children here in the U.S. play?
It's very easy to point the finger of blame in a situation like this, but the truth is, what you have here is an incredibly disturbed young man who clearly suffered from mental illness. At best, all that could've been done is someone could've intervened before it got to this point, and maybe gotten him the help he needed.
an important sociological
issue is being missed by most people.
In Canada the SAME video games are played, the SAME
movies are screened,...yet Canadians, immigrants included, have NO record of
mass murder that the USA
has.
There is something different about Canada and the USA.
anon
ASA,
We started a tribute/memorial post for Br. Waleed Shaalan, a victim of the VA Tech shooting. He is survived by his wife and son. This entry is dedicated to him and his family . This is also a way to put a Muslim face on this tragedy.
Post Link: http://muslimmatters.org/2007/04/18/waleed-shaalan-a-tribute-to-a-muslim-brother-at-va-tech/
Digg location: http://digg.com/world_news/Waleed_Shaalan_A_Tribute_to_a_Muslim_Brother_at_VA_Tech
Pls cross-post and email...
JazakumAllahkhair.
Amad
MuslimMatters.org: Discourses in Muslim Life
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Maria-Keaton
Hi Z!!!! Girl we miss you here in the states and I can't wait until you come back.. You should see lil B he is getting so big girl. I haven;t seen you in foreverrrrr. I am so proud of what you are doing. I love to read your writing. I'm gonna definitely be checking up on your blog from here on out.
ONE LOVE
Tonya :)
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