(no subject)
i was shook. it took me a little while to figure why, but i was shook. i visualized 33 people standing in a room on a college campus. at a small school like pomona college, 33 people is nearly 10% of our first year class.
as the events at virginia tech were unfolding, a student intern in my office quietly asked me, "what if the gunman is asian?"
within 10 minutes, some news outlets were reporting the gunman was asian. msnbc had "experts" talk about how "foreign nationals" resolve conflicts differently and specifically asian nationals are such high achievers that failure is devastating. fox news then posts a photo of a polic officer wrestling and handcuffing an asian man, outside on the grass.
i read comments by bush's press secretary made on behalf of bush, something to the effect of, "while i believe in the righ to bear arms, people must do so legally." i mean really, what the fuck?!
i walked home from work and watched more coverage before i had to head back to campus for a pre-arranged meeting with a student. the meeting with the student was a follow-up to his suicide attempt over the weekend. his psychologist and his RAs told me that he had severe anger management problems. he was cited in the fall for violent behavior. i arranged for a campus safety officer to discreetly be around the meeting room.
i then hear reports that one of the students killed in the residence hall was an R.A.
i think i was (and still am) shook because events like what happened at virginia tech are increasingly more fathomable. it seems incidents that once seemed so far-fetched and unrealistic are the realities of tihs generation.
news anchors and pundits keep describing it as, among other things, "senseless." i wish they would stop saying that because it makes sense. they use the term "senseless" as if these weren't realities: the number of students entering colleges and universities with pre-existing psychological problems is sharply increasing; the number of students coming to college already medicated is increasing; damn near everything one looks to tells us that problems are to be resolved through violence and force.
i am not trying to explain or rationalize away the actions at virginia tech. i'm just wishing people would stop calling it senseless. it just demonstrates how disconnected they are from the very real problems people have.
3 weeks ago, our school had a disaster drill. we were exercising the structures and plans we had in place in the event of a disaster, natural or otherwise. the situation we drilled on was a gunman on campus opening fire. how senseless can it be if colleges are drilling on that nightmare scenario.
as the events at virginia tech were unfolding, a student intern in my office quietly asked me, "what if the gunman is asian?"
within 10 minutes, some news outlets were reporting the gunman was asian. msnbc had "experts" talk about how "foreign nationals" resolve conflicts differently and specifically asian nationals are such high achievers that failure is devastating. fox news then posts a photo of a polic officer wrestling and handcuffing an asian man, outside on the grass.
i read comments by bush's press secretary made on behalf of bush, something to the effect of, "while i believe in the righ to bear arms, people must do so legally." i mean really, what the fuck?!
i walked home from work and watched more coverage before i had to head back to campus for a pre-arranged meeting with a student. the meeting with the student was a follow-up to his suicide attempt over the weekend. his psychologist and his RAs told me that he had severe anger management problems. he was cited in the fall for violent behavior. i arranged for a campus safety officer to discreetly be around the meeting room.
i then hear reports that one of the students killed in the residence hall was an R.A.
i think i was (and still am) shook because events like what happened at virginia tech are increasingly more fathomable. it seems incidents that once seemed so far-fetched and unrealistic are the realities of tihs generation.
news anchors and pundits keep describing it as, among other things, "senseless." i wish they would stop saying that because it makes sense. they use the term "senseless" as if these weren't realities: the number of students entering colleges and universities with pre-existing psychological problems is sharply increasing; the number of students coming to college already medicated is increasing; damn near everything one looks to tells us that problems are to be resolved through violence and force.
i am not trying to explain or rationalize away the actions at virginia tech. i'm just wishing people would stop calling it senseless. it just demonstrates how disconnected they are from the very real problems people have.
3 weeks ago, our school had a disaster drill. we were exercising the structures and plans we had in place in the event of a disaster, natural or otherwise. the situation we drilled on was a gunman on campus opening fire. how senseless can it be if colleges are drilling on that nightmare scenario.