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Virginia Tech and the Aftermath
April 19, 2007

Supper was finished, the computer was on and a blank page at Doctor Leon’s blog demanded content. My fingers moved automatically to their assigned positions on the keyboard. Hours later, fingers still poised over the keyboard and my eyes staring helplessly at a blank page, I gave up. No amount of personal determination or good intention would morph into words. It was April 16.

All I remember from that day is news of the tragedy at Virginia Tech and my personal feelings of profound sadness and blistering anger. It was difficult to suppress a cheer when I found out the murderer had killed himself. If you perceive my attitude towards the killer’s suicide as insensitive, please admit yourself to the local chapter of “Hypocrites Anonymous.” I’m sure the number of people who are glad he’s dead comprise the majority.

Witnessing the aftermath of this tragedy, my sadness has given way to resigned astonishment at opportunistic media behavior and public reaction. On my way home this evening I heard a VT student remark on NPR that people should remember the victims so they will not have “died for nothing.” What is this, some type of grief-induced fantasy? At last count, 32 people were dead. Do you all understand that? DEAD. They died for nothing at the hands of a psychotic killer. Nothing anyone does will ever give meaning to these deaths.

The focus on this tragedy has become a fanatical search to discover the killer’s “reason” for doing it. I can only interpret this fascination with “why” as a pathetic attempt to find reasons to forgive or excuse the killer. I assure you it will happen. In a matter of weeks, a group of touchy-feely psychologists will be telling us the murderer was driven to commit this act because he was teased in high school. They will try to convince us he was mentally ill and not responsible for his own behavior. Within three months, hundreds of thousands of people in this country will be feeling sorry for the killer. That goes beyond sick.

Enter NBC News with a release of photos, videos and text obligingly provided by the murderer himself. That will surely go down in media history as one of the monumentally irresponsible events in news reporting. We live in an evolving society where political correctness and personal sensitivities (no matter how deluded) have overwhelmed common sense and honesty. Even so, most people do the best they can and live a good life. Unfortunately, our society also has a significant population of deviants. It is not beyond reason to assume some of them perceive Cho Seung-Hui as a hero.

These deviants will sympathize with the perverted justice he achieved after being teased and harassed in high school. They will hang his gun-totin' photographs on the wall and ultimately one or more of them will act out the same revenge, but this time on a grander scale. Just as Cho appears to have been influenced by the Columbine High School massacre, so too will some future murderer(s) be influenced by Cho. If you don’t subscribe to that theory, please explain to me the popularity of movies like Kill Bill, Sin City and Se7en. Certain elements of our society have a morbid fascination with killing and violence. NBC has handed them a roll-model on a platter.

I also heard on NPR that upon release of the NBC Seung-Hui memorabilia collection, one of the victim’s families cancelled an appearance on one of the major television media talk shows. I am thankful for the cancellation. When did mourners decide it was necessary to appear on television. Are they trying to convince us their grief is sincere? Do they think crying on television will help them get over the trauma? Are they delusional enough to believe we don’t all know how they feel? Are they insensitive enough to think we don’t all feel somehow diminished by this tragedy? Shame on any family that appears on public television to act out their grief, and shame on any television show that asks them to.

Human nature provides built-in psychological mechanisms for coping with grief. We all come to terms with it on a deep personal level. We eventually accept the fact that a tragedy has occurred (what else can we do) and we get on with our lives, at the same time feeling a bit more vulnerable, helpless and mortal than before. Talking things out seems to help with the process, but that should be in private with another loved one, a doctor, a cleric, a confidant or a counselor. It should not be in the public printed media or on television where the only motivation is to raise Nielson ratings by making people cry. People would recover much more quickly if everyone wasn’t so busy convincing them it will take a long period of time and outside counseling.

On April 16, people died at Virginia Tech. The psychotic killer died with them. Nobody will ever know for sure the “why” of it all. Local police and FBI profilers will add to their “killer profile” data banks but that won’t stop it from happening again. Every human being is unique. Psychologists would have us believe we can be classified, categorized and predicted. This tragedy demonstrates just how wrong and ineffective they all are; even when someone has obviously portrayed a textbook killer profile prior to a violent act.

To the students who participated today in a public display of alleged grief with a conveniently photographed prayer circle, I feel compelled to ask, “Where was your god when the shooting started? Are you sufficiently hypocritical to believe this was god’s will? Why didn’t you pray inside so we wouldn’t all start thinking your prayer circle display was little more than a publicity stunt to get your pictures in the paper?”

It seems everybody wants to be on television with their sensationalism, personal feelings and concerns. It’s almost like the “rush the camera” scene at the school dance in the movie Grease. How about a little less publicity and a little more private sorrow, reflection and remembrance of the innocent and unique human beings we lost to this senseless tragedy?

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