Massacre and Metaphor.
Let me start this by saying that what happened to those poor students at Virginia Tech is horrific. My heart extends to each and every family member and friend who was so tragically effected by the death of each and every student. Their time was not up and they were all viciously taken from this world far too early.
That being said I think this tragedy needs to be looked at differently than it is.
A lone gunman goes into a University and kills 33 innocent students. It happens on the Continental United States and it is on the front page of every single media outlet in the USA. Everyone is talking about it and it is deemed a national tragedy. George W. Bush goes to Blacksburg, VA and speaks in front of students about the tragedy of this event, about how is heart is filled with despair and he and the rest of his administration are in a state of shock and anguish over the deaths. These are all logical, respectable feelings at the time of any kind of murder.
However...
It should be known that this kind of death takes place EVERY single day all over the world. In places like Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Sudan, and other war torn, politically/socially unstable countries. People are killed at the hands of others every day, whether it is in the form of a gun, a military or economic repression (as in poverty and famine).
The United States is single handedly responsible for the death of Iraqis every single day (as we were thousands of others through out our Militaristic escapades during the 20th century). One American gun man kills innocent students and it is a national tragedy. Change their nationality and location and equip the American with a government bought m-16 and it is "collateral damage".
This is not an attempt at undermining the deaths of the students at Virginia Tech. This is bringing reality to the situation. Students, mothers, fathers, teachers, daughters, brothers just like the ones killed at Virginia Tech are murdered every single day by much more powerful sources than one angry student. They don't get the light of day or nearly as much attention as these students. Life is life. Your national origin should not determine your worth.
That aside, Immortal Technique is responsible for one of the best metaphors I have ever seen. It is about the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the middle east and US foreign policy. To say the least, this is beautiful poetry:
Flow like the blood of Abraham through the Jews and the Arabs
Broken apart like a woman's heart, abused in a marriage
The brink of holy war, bottled up, like a miscarriage
Embedded correspondents don't tell the source of the tension
And they refuse to even mention, European intervention
Or the massacres in Jenin, the innocent screams
U.S. manufactured missles, and M-16's
Weapon contracts and corrupted American dreams
Media censorship, blocking out the video screens
A continent of oil kingdoms, bought for a bargain
Democracy is just a word, when the people are starvin
That being said I think this tragedy needs to be looked at differently than it is.
A lone gunman goes into a University and kills 33 innocent students. It happens on the Continental United States and it is on the front page of every single media outlet in the USA. Everyone is talking about it and it is deemed a national tragedy. George W. Bush goes to Blacksburg, VA and speaks in front of students about the tragedy of this event, about how is heart is filled with despair and he and the rest of his administration are in a state of shock and anguish over the deaths. These are all logical, respectable feelings at the time of any kind of murder.
However...
It should be known that this kind of death takes place EVERY single day all over the world. In places like Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Sudan, and other war torn, politically/socially unstable countries. People are killed at the hands of others every day, whether it is in the form of a gun, a military or economic repression (as in poverty and famine).
The United States is single handedly responsible for the death of Iraqis every single day (as we were thousands of others through out our Militaristic escapades during the 20th century). One American gun man kills innocent students and it is a national tragedy. Change their nationality and location and equip the American with a government bought m-16 and it is "collateral damage".
This is not an attempt at undermining the deaths of the students at Virginia Tech. This is bringing reality to the situation. Students, mothers, fathers, teachers, daughters, brothers just like the ones killed at Virginia Tech are murdered every single day by much more powerful sources than one angry student. They don't get the light of day or nearly as much attention as these students. Life is life. Your national origin should not determine your worth.
That aside, Immortal Technique is responsible for one of the best metaphors I have ever seen. It is about the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the middle east and US foreign policy. To say the least, this is beautiful poetry:
Flow like the blood of Abraham through the Jews and the Arabs
Broken apart like a woman's heart, abused in a marriage
The brink of holy war, bottled up, like a miscarriage
Embedded correspondents don't tell the source of the tension
And they refuse to even mention, European intervention
Or the massacres in Jenin, the innocent screams
U.S. manufactured missles, and M-16's
Weapon contracts and corrupted American dreams
Media censorship, blocking out the video screens
A continent of oil kingdoms, bought for a bargain
Democracy is just a word, when the people are starvin