Apr 20, 2007 22:14
It was the evening of the Virginia Tech shootings, and I was on the phone
with my brother, who teaches at another college in Virginia (ODU). He
said "Somebody's going to lose their job over this", and then added, "But
I hope not. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail." I agreed -- the campus
cops did exactly the right thing under the circumstances. When you come
across two shooting victims in a dorm room you start looking for a jealous
ex, not a demented mass-murderer.
And as for whether anyone should have seen it coming, or could have
prevented it... Doubtful. The only things that might have prevented it
would have been teaching young kids not to tease or bully people who are
different from them, and a health care system that provides decent mental
health care, and a culture that makes it easier for an asocial loner to
seek out care than to avoid it. Good luck.
society