No Comment

I had every intention of posting a cutesy blog today about karma finally biting me in the butt for laughing at Shauna falling flat on her face because that's exactly what I did this morning when leaving the gym, but my banged up knees and bruised ego will have to wait.

I just want to get out a few things that have been weighing on my mind since yesterday. But, if the media comes asking, I say No Comment.

What the h-e-double-hockey sticks is wrong with people and the media? Isn't it bad enough that over thirty people are dead because of one psychotic person? Why must we continue to crucify other people as a way to make ourselves feel better? I understand the feeling that people want to be able to blame someone when they are hurting or upset, I do, but when the person responsible is dead, that doesn't mean you lash out at others around you. Right now, there are a few things I take issue with circulating on the internet about the VTech shootings:

1. Why is his race so heavily being brought up? He moved to this country when he was 8 for G-d's sake. I hate to break it to the people who are throwing stones right now, but there are f-ed up people in EVERY race and his race has NOTHING to do with what happened. The way this country is going we will soon no longer have anybody left to racially profile because we will be pointing fingers at everyone.

2. Sure, it's great to be able to look back in hindsight and say that campus administration should have done things differently, but none of us were there, we don't know what they knew. And I think people are forgetting that college campuses are like small cities - can you imagine trying to lock down Canton because of a shooting on Boston St. It couldn't happen. And who is to say everyone would even listen? They were basing their decisions on what was known and at the time they believed it to be an isolated incident. Obviously, we know that to be a HUGE mistake now, but can we really crucify them for acting on what they knew? And frankly, let's say they had better security on campus, how do we know it would have changed the outcome at all? The University of Washington has a high-level safety team that was put in place after a murder-suicide. The aim was to move staffers who are in danger to other offices or provide them extra security protection. However, that system failed recently when a 26-year-old staffer was killed by her ex-boyfriend on April 2. I think this comes back to being able to blame someone, but the sooner people can stop pointing fingers, the sooner they can heal as a community and as a campus. The obvious disclaimer is that I am an outsider looking in because I don't know anyone that was killed, so I can't imagine the pain, but still -- there has to be some perspective over it. A disturbed individual did this and from the sounds of it he would have taken it out on anyone he could -- and if he had been in lockdown, maybe it would have been the dorm instead of the classroom since he was a student. How can a university decipher who is good and who is bad if it's one of their own? There are too many what ifs that will never be answered.

3. Why on earth would the media post the shooter's home address on the internet?? This is where his family lives, not him. People like to take things into their own hands, what has to happen to these people before the media realizes its mistake. Let the police take the time to do their job, figure out if the parents knew anything before you give people the option to punish them.

That's it for now ...