Thoughts on Virginia Tech
The massacre that occurred at Virginia Tech yesterday was a tragedy, not only because of the magnitude of death, but because it was the mass murder of young people that occurred in a place of supposed security by a person that was supposed to be "one of us." The response to this tragedy has been overwhelming. People have been wearing VT hats, shirts, and colors all around campus, and every flag in Winchester is flying half-mast. The mass response to the greatest tragedy in America since 9/11 has been the greatest union of mass togetherness since 9/11.
I'm finding difficulty in collecting sympathy for the VT body and empathy with its newfound legion of mourners and supporters. To be quite frank, I can't help but feel some level of disgust and shame toward this deluge of mourning and empathy.
32 people were murded in Blacksburg, VA yesterday. If it was an average day, then 42 innocent civilians were murdered in Iraq. Civilians in Iraq, not unlike those at Virginia Tech, die every fucking day in greater numbers at the hands of their own neighbors as an indirect result of American actions, yet nobody in America puts their flags at half-mast then. Hundreds have died in single mass murder sprees, yet nobody in America changes their Facebook profile picture to a black ribbon then. Children are bombed and women are raped nearly every day, yet nobody in America drapes themselves in the colors of the Iraqi flag then.
I don't know what the solution to Iraq is. We have fucked it up so bad that I'm not sure a solution even exits. What I do know is that I feel ashamed that people all around me are more empathetic toward the death of 32 of their own people than they are about the death of 61,000+ Iraqis.
I'm finding difficulty in collecting sympathy for the VT body and empathy with its newfound legion of mourners and supporters. To be quite frank, I can't help but feel some level of disgust and shame toward this deluge of mourning and empathy.
32 people were murded in Blacksburg, VA yesterday. If it was an average day, then 42 innocent civilians were murdered in Iraq. Civilians in Iraq, not unlike those at Virginia Tech, die every fucking day in greater numbers at the hands of their own neighbors as an indirect result of American actions, yet nobody in America puts their flags at half-mast then. Hundreds have died in single mass murder sprees, yet nobody in America changes their Facebook profile picture to a black ribbon then. Children are bombed and women are raped nearly every day, yet nobody in America drapes themselves in the colors of the Iraqi flag then.
I don't know what the solution to Iraq is. We have fucked it up so bad that I'm not sure a solution even exits. What I do know is that I feel ashamed that people all around me are more empathetic toward the death of 32 of their own people than they are about the death of 61,000+ Iraqis.