VT

[supervike]

Originally posted by lono
I\'m sorry Ritual, but I really don\'t feel that I have belittled the event, or told people to stop discussing their feelings.

Supervike asked a question - \"Have I become desensitized to this sort of thing, or am I just a callous bastard?\" - I attempted to answer it. That is all.

No, I don\'t think you belittled anything either...and you did answer my question, as did Rev\'s post from the Juan Cole fella.

There are hundreds of lives lost every day, all tragically.

I\'m sure in those bombings Bagdhad just went through, there were plenty of 76 year olds with rich lives, and 19 year olds just starting out...all dead now because of insanity and politics.

I think I am a callous, desensitized bastard...I suppose one has to be to live in the world we do, and not succomb to insanity as well.

 

[airhead]

Our bodies and minds are wired to deal with the occasional tragedy. With the internet and mass media, we can be exposed to tragedy on an hourly level. Someone is always shooting someone else or 10 month old baby has to deal with cancer.

The point is we are not wired to deal with the tragedy of the world, but of our local circle. Overexposure results in de-sensitivity, much like ambulance or morgue drivers. It is unfortunate, but if we broke down and truly mourned every death we heard about, we would be basket cases.

 

[JohnC]

I think what\'s bugging me the most about all of this is the media. I\'m 45 minutes south of DC - not really the DC \'burbs, but close enough.
This guy Cho was from the northern VA side of the DC suburbs (VaTech is 4.5 hours from here), so the local DC TV are ALL OVER THIS, a little too much. They haven\'t knocked on Cho\'s parents\' house just yet, and thankfully they are nowhere to be found...
But,
They are all over the TV, showing these gruesome pictures of Cho, all the ones of him aiming his pistols at the camera, his snarling face, the vacant looks/100 yard stare. NBC (and to some extent the other networks - NBC just got the package).
No imagine you ARE affected by this, firsthand, as a lot of VaTech students are from this area, whether you\'re a student, survivor, or a family member with dead/wounded/shell-shocked kids, and have to relive this nightmare of staring down the barrel from your tv, from the restaurant/bar tv, from the airport gate tv. I think it\'s pretty irresponsible for the media to be doing this \"If it bleeds it reads!\" turns into \"If you\'re bleeding, you\'re (now) hemmorhaging\"... All for ratings and advert $$ - something I wouldn\'t want my product associated with/sandwiched between Cho\'s insanity and my neighbor\'s grief.
Then it\'s the really inane side stories, of how all these potential applicants/incoming freshmen all all bailing on VaTech, dropping applications, switching/deferring enrollment; or the one from South Korea, their gov\'t is \'bracing\' for a backlash against Korean-Americans/immigrants, urging Korean students to stcik together.

Instead of (further) demonizing him, maybe TV should be eulogizing students, professors.... Showing pictures of them - what about their dreams, promises? It\'s their faces and lives that should drive future concerns policies on campus safety. Too many concerns about the snarling monsters, not the lives lost (and hopefully saved later)

 

[Ritual]

Media is giving him exactly what he wanted.

 

[vincegamer]

JohnC
Hi fellow Marylander!
Yes here in the \"greater metropolitan dc area\" it\'s everything and everywhere.
The other night I watched the Tyra Banks show because EVERY other chanel was showing people/bodies being pulled out of the building.

 

[wiccanpony]

:flame: Damn!! just what those poor people need.... Fred Phelps is planning to protest at Virginia Tech ossessed:

 

[supervike]

Originally posted by wiccanpony
:flame: Damn!! just what those poor people need.... Fred Phelps is planning to protest at Virginia Tech ossessed:

That is ok...I\'m a firm believer of shining lights onto cockroaches....eventually they get smashed.

 

[Hiliter]

All I gotta say is that I hate the media.. plain and simple.

Im in school At UNCC (University of NC at Charlotte) and the news crews are wondering around our campus asking people if they feel safe. Now the school is hiring more police officers as well.

To bad no amount of police short of a garrison would be able to protect 20,000+ people spread over 1000+ acres of land.

 

[DaN]

Ahh... Now I\'ve just realised what this thread is (I didn\'t open it before), and I feel bad about starting MY thread now - which has turned into a monster

Anyway - suffice to say I feel and lend my support to any and all of our American CMoNers directly OR indirectly involved in this tragedy.

 

[finn17]

We often forget that this is a multi-national/multi-cultural site and, I am only too well aware that a lot of us Brits come across as uncaring and unsympathetic. That\'s not the case. Our culture is just *slighty* different. We poke at wounds and make jokes about attrocities..it\'s our way. It\'s not intentionally disrespectful...

And this is not an apology either

 

[Infidel Castro]

Originally posted by finn17

And this is not an apology either

Cagier than a zoo full of cages housed in a cage house.

 

[Bill]

Originally posted by supervike

Originally posted by wiccanpony
:flame: Damn!! just what those poor people need.... Fred Phelps is planning to protest at Virginia Tech ossessed:

That is ok...I\'m a firm believer of shining lights onto cockroaches....eventually they get smashed.

God I hope so... I watched a really good documentary by Louis Theroux, called The Most Hated Family in America, and the things these twats believed in and said were just appalling... anyone who can tell people to say those things is as much of a monster as the VT guy.