He shot me down, bang bang / I hit the ground, bang bang.

[Tostig]

There's always plenty of trauma to go around. Even if you knew no one involved in the shootings, have never been to Virginia and can't tell the difference between a Hokie and a Wahoo, there's no need for you to feel left out.

Did you feel sad when you heard the news? Did you ponder, however fleetingly, the mystery of mortality? If so, don't just go on with your ordinary life as if nothing has happened to disrupt it (even though nothing has happened to disrupt it). Honour your grief! Attend a candlelight vigil, post a poignant message on one of MySpace's Virginia Tech memorial pages and please, seek trauma counseling as soon as possible.

Count me out. There's something fraudulent about this eagerness to latch onto the grief of others and embrace the idea that we, too, have been victimised. This trivialises the pain felt by those who have actually lost something and pathologises normal reactions to tragedy. Empathy is good, but feeling shocked and saddened by the shootings doesn't make us traumatised or special — these feelings make us normal.

Our self-indulgent conviction that we have all been traumatised also operates, ironically, to shut down empathy for other, less media-genic victims, like the hundreds killed in Baghdad on the same day. Our collective insistence that we all share in the Virginia Tech trauma is a form of anti-politics, one that blinds us to the distinctions between different kinds and degrees of suffering.

The insistence on collective mourning even operates to depoliticise the Virginia Tech tragedy. Those who made the mistake of suggesting that the massacre might lead us to consider tighter gun regulation were quickly told to shut up because this is "a moment for grief," not politics. But we live in a political world. Searching for policies that can reduce the violence that plagues our world, at home and abroad, is the best way to honour the dead.

Second best? Let's at least stop pretending that we're victims too.

[Cluny the Scourge]

I am always amused by simpering weaklings and cynical politicians who pretend to give a damn about tragedies that have just been reported on the news which have nothing to do with them and cannot possibly affect them in any way. I remember the day of the 9/11 attack - it was as though some foolish contest had been declared to see who could act the most deeply moved. Or the death of Princess Diana - Jesus, that one was ghastly. Every single TV station in the UK took off all programming except for Diana tributes for a whole day, to ENFORCE a day of collective grief on the nation - most of whom had despised and made mockery of Diana only the previous day for her behaviour. It makes me want to puke.

[Tacticalwithdrawal]

Or the death of Princess Diana - Jesus, that one was ghastly. Every single TV station in the UK took off all programming except for Diana tributes for a whole day, to ENFORCE a day of collective grief on the nation - most of whom had despised and made mockery of Diana only the previous day for her behaviour. It makes me want to puke.

that one was very scary

[Siblesz]

This is just one to the things that makes me hate this world, Tost.

Am I the only person here that doesn't give a **** for the things that don't affect me? Sure, I feel sorry for the Virginia Tech victims, but I feel just as sorry for some of the characters on novels I read. I never knew the Virginia Tech Victims. How can I truly feel for people I never met before?

The fact that some people actually give a damn for the victims is something that distorts reality from fiction. The supposition that everyone must mourn for the loss of 34 students is a HUGE fallacy of our post-modern, media-connected world. It's emotion based on an idea, not on reality. The modern world is so peaceful and uneventful that the precept of, 'reality is what affects you' has transfigured itself into, 'reality is anything that you can feel'. It's soap-opera emotion. It's TNT drama. It is NOT reality. These are crazy times we're living in, indeed. I mean... Anna Nicole Smith, anyone? Enough said.

At the same time, there are hundreds of thousands of people dying and starving in places that lack the stability and the media availability of Denmark. Nameless people, for no one gives a damn about them. Neither do I. But before people go lighting their candles for the Virginia Tech victims, think twice and either light another candle for everyone else in the world that had a bad week, or don't light candles at all.

[boofhead]

GROUPTHINK.

I'm a Xian but I also look out for me and mine in the end. I do not cry for those who would harm my children.

We had Port Arthur over here (35 dead). A shock to the nation but only insofar as the media let us hear it.

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

What really annoys me is all the people on Facebook changing their profile pictures to a VT something or other. Yeah it sucks, yeah I took part in a moment of silence, but every single one of those people that put one up doesn't know anyone at the school.

They take tragedy and make it cool. It's cool to sport a VT facebook pic.

Someone at work asked my dad if he called me after the VT shootings.
He said, "Why?"

Damn straight.

While we're at it, the bloody Africa stuff. There's all this so-called activism concerning Africa at the moment, as there should be. But heaps of the people don't really do anything for the cause, they do it to fit in. Back when I was in high school we had a showing of a Christian movie about Africa and the genocide. It made me sick that even with all the crap going on down there they still furthured their own agenda. Hey, if you really cared, you wouldn't call it a 'Christian' rally and make all people feel included. You wouldn't ask us all to pray for the kids in the school audotorium and make all us hippies annoyed.

And then it's cool again to sport a shirt with some slogan or another on it. These kids in my class made bracelets to support the people affected by the genocide and of course they didn't send the bloody profits anywhere. I just up and donated money to a charity rather than go through all this bracelet **** that will make my classmates think I'm a better person. Unless you really care, don't act like you do to fit in. Do it because it's bloody right. Don't make every small amount of charity you do noticably public and boast about it. Do it in the open but don't use it to gain popularity.

I just can't get my head around why people help others so they look better to their peers, and not for the people in need.

[boofhead]

"Why?"

Ask ****head murderer.

[Tostig]

But one of the most irritating things about the whole affair is not people's attempts to deal with it, but how they've gone about doing so - rather that trying to address how the situation came to pass, or the motivations of a man with a pair of pistols and a grudge, it's much easier to dismiss them as a "****head murderer."

Caricature. Dismiss as evil. Move on. If in doubt, Do not address.

[boofhead]

But one of the most irritating things about the whole affair is not people's attempts to deal with it, but how they've gone about doing so - rather that trying to address how the situation came to pass, or the motivations of a man with a pair of pistols and a grudge, it's much easier to dismiss them as a "****head murderer."

Caricature. Dismiss as evil. Move on. If in doubt, Do not address.

Good article Tostig, but the fact remains, the shooters are always ****s.

[removeduser_487563287433]

I was in the pub with my friends, and it came on TV. The sentiment we all shared was,

"Look. It happened again."
"Americans."
"Yup."

[jaklei]

I was in the pub with my friends, and it came on TV. The sentiment we all shared was,

"Look. It happened again."
"Americans."
"Yup."

That was our reaction too. We don't give a ****, i did give a **** when the news announced rain on friday though
Can any american in here tell us his wiew?

[Dunecat]

Honestly, the sensationalist American media will to anything to get ratings. This tragedy (or OMFGMASSACRE, as they like to call it) is a goldmine for them. They care nothing for the welfare of the innocent.

Meh. Just go on doing what you think is right, accept the things you cannot change, have the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

That was our reaction too. We don't give a ****, i did give a **** when the news announced rain on friday though
Can any american in here tell us his wiew?

I'm American, it sucks just like any other time some nutjob kills people...and that's about it.

[Elohim]

I was in the pub with my friends, and it came on TV. The sentiment we all shared was,

"Look. It happened again."
"Americans."
"Yup."

Almost the same as ours... We were at school. The next lines were (roughly).
"So he as reported as firing in professional manner..."
"Yup."
"And he had six hundred rounds."
"Yup."
"And he killed thirty people" (before the other four died in the doctor's hands)
"Yup."
"So he had what, a 20% success rate?"
"Looks like it."
"Professional my @#$£."

The more you lot indulge yourselves like this, the less seriously the rest of us will take you. Especially with films like Saving Private Ryan, or videogames like The Punisher around. Media-made violence eventually inures you to real-life violence reported by the media.

I swear, three days after the shooting, people were making jokes about it over here.

Yes, I do do Sociology. Why do you ask? lol

[VALIS]

Not to sound cold hearted and like an evil bastard but when it was announced i shrugged by shoulders and said "well.....more people killed in the world"
Then got on with what ever i was doing.

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

Or how about this drivel?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,266860,00.html

Fox News say Satan made him do it. Brilliant.

[removeduser_487563287433]

And of course:

[Tostig]

Good article Tostig, but the fact remains, the shooters are always ****s.

****s? Sorry, I don't comprehend censored words. Fs? Ss? Cs? Ts? In any case, so what, you disapprove of them. What does that mean? Diddly-squat. I feel the same way towards Angela Gossow, I guess. What does my feeling that Angela Gossow is a **** mean? Nothing.

[molonthegreat]

if you think how many people there is in the world 34 people is a drop in a ocean and blaming videogames and the devil for the killings are just plain stupid.

[Denny Crane!]

Well apparently he did it after watching Oldboy, what a shame we can't go back to the days before violent media when no one hurt anyone else. My friend commented that everyone at work was going on about it for a few days then after it left the headlines he pointed out 134 dead Iraqi's and one reply was "just a bunch of muslims" along with some other idiotic responses (thou shalt give equal worth to tragedies that occur in non english speaking countries as the ones that happen in English Speaking countries)

I think this sort of situation isn't good, but I don't really feel anything. I can't say it evokes any emotion in me, sometimes when these headlines come up you can feel disgust or empathy when reading or seeing something that puts the mental imagery in your head but the public outpouring of grief and government bulletins saying, "the nation is praying for their families" makes me gag.



The public mourning of Diana is a good example where there was a weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth with hysterical middle aged women having hysterics for someone they hadn't met. Public mouring is the egotistical way for people to show others that they care, charity ribbons are a fashion accessory to identify yourself as some sort of free thinking compassionate member of the right social group.

"Look I'm one of you, Identify with me, accept me and don't judge me!"

Peter