On the VA Tech Tragedy
The big story all yesterday was of course the tragic events that unfolded at Virginia Tech. The lives of 32 people (at last count) were cut short. Gone are the doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists and world leaders they may have become and we should be saddened by the loss of what their contributions could have meant for society. My sympathies with the families of those who lost loved ones this day, even for the family of the shooter himself. This young man had some serious problems but we should not forget that his family lost someone too.
As with any time these types of tragedies occur, there arises a debate. Some call for more restrictive gun control laws while others say it is such laws that makes events like these worse. Wherever your opinion lies, we would all do well to remain silent for the time being. Let the victims grieve for their loss and then we can put ourselves to the task of attempting to see such loss never happens again.
Update: Never one to miss an opportunity to milk a tragedy for political capitol, word has it that President Bush is considering heading to VA to stand atop the rumble with a bull horn express his condolences to the victims. Anyone care to wager what Dubya will have to say?
Update II: Browsing thru the links compiled by Meme thus far, I see a few of the blogs on the right are hung up on the ethnicity of the shooter, no doubt hoping to prove correct their theory that all mass fatality incidents inside the US are the work of the ever present Islamofascists in our midst. But their hysterics seems misplaced since most news accounts report that the gunman was an Asian male. There is, however, another angle I expect the righties to pick up and run with: immigration. Seems he may also have been here on a student visa. I have a feeling that the discussion surrounding this incident will soon devolve from talk of our far too restrictive (to some) gun laws to our lax immigration policies.
Update III: As if to prove my point above, Debbie Schlussel has a post in which she not only laments the practice of allowing foreigners into the US to attend our schools but also makes the leap that because the MSM has only listed the gunman's ethnicity as "Asian" does not rule out the possibility that he was a Muslim extremist. She expands on this fear-mongering theme in a later post claiming that "this alien" did "the job that Americans just won't do" which I can only assume is to kill as many of "them" as humanly possible before they have a chance to come over here and kill us while they are studying for their doctorate in poli-sci. Since I refuse to link directly to something so odious as Cernig rightly calls it, here is the Meme link to the first post I mentioned.
As with any time these types of tragedies occur, there arises a debate. Some call for more restrictive gun control laws while others say it is such laws that makes events like these worse. Wherever your opinion lies, we would all do well to remain silent for the time being. Let the victims grieve for their loss and then we can put ourselves to the task of attempting to see such loss never happens again.
Update: Never one to miss an opportunity to milk a tragedy for political capitol, word has it that President Bush is considering heading to VA to
Update II: Browsing thru the links compiled by Meme thus far, I see a few of the blogs on the right are hung up on the ethnicity of the shooter, no doubt hoping to prove correct their theory that all mass fatality incidents inside the US are the work of the ever present Islamofascists in our midst. But their hysterics seems misplaced since most news accounts report that the gunman was an Asian male. There is, however, another angle I expect the righties to pick up and run with: immigration. Seems he may also have been here on a student visa. I have a feeling that the discussion surrounding this incident will soon devolve from talk of our far too restrictive (to some) gun laws to our lax immigration policies.
Update III: As if to prove my point above, Debbie Schlussel has a post in which she not only laments the practice of allowing foreigners into the US to attend our schools but also makes the leap that because the MSM has only listed the gunman's ethnicity as "Asian" does not rule out the possibility that he was a Muslim extremist. She expands on this fear-mongering theme in a later post claiming that "this alien" did "the job that Americans just won't do" which I can only assume is to kill as many of "them" as humanly possible before they have a chance to come over here and kill us while they are studying for their doctorate in poli-sci. Since I refuse to link directly to something so odious as Cernig rightly calls it, here is the Meme link to the first post I mentioned.
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