Virginia Tech

Biggest news recently obviously has been the 'massacre at virginia tech'. We all know the story. 33 people dead including the shooter. Korean born loner that couldn't take it (is 'it' his own insanity?) anymore.

When I first heard about the shooting, I was really surprised, but that was really the only emotion that I felt. As time went on and this story was the only thing covered on the news and people started to change their facebook profile pictures to the black ribbon with Virginia Tech logo and show their empathy, (sympathy? i never can get these two straight) I still didn't have profound emotions. Some people are deeply moved by this event, but to be perfectly honest, it doesn't significantly move me. I've watched a lot of the news and seen a lot of students and faculty share their feelings, but I think that death in the news becomes so routine that it's hard (and impractical) to get shaken by every story of death.

During the first two days when NBC did their broadcasts, they talked almost exclusively about the massacre. One of the only times they stepped aside was to report that their were many deaths in Iraq in that same time. There were more deaths in Iraq during the concurrent time span. The differences being that this massacre is closer to home, and in a much different context than we are used to.

What I do take away from this, is the fragility of life. It's weird to think that these people had no idea that they were going to die that day. To think that the last time that these kids were with their family was the last, unbeknownst to them.

...Oh yeah, last night I was at a Mos Def show in SLC and they had a moment of silence. There were a lot of idiots that kept on yelling things, but the dumbest thing I've EVER EVER EVER heard in my life was a redheaded kid saying to his friend, "Did you hear that guy yelling 'penis' during the moment of silence? That was so funny."

IDIOT.