Lori Dixon writes on it better than I ever could, so I've c/p what she thinks about it here:
So, I've been avoiding talking about Virginia Tech, because it's pretty awful(clearly, an understatement). But after seeing the hundredth or so anchorperson ask "do you get the feeling that anyone's angry", I almost had to post, if only to comment on how obtuse the media portrayal of it has been.
First, give everyone a day or two to deal with the shock of it. Second, quit trying to coerce students into blaming the school, themselves, police, etc. Shit happens, and sometimes it can't be prevented. No one can control the actions of crazy people with easy access to guns (except possibly make it harder for them to get the guns, but that is another argument for another time).
Really, really bad shit happens. If any generation has learned that, I'd say ours has.
I mean, think about it. Columbine happened when I was in 10th grade. Tenth grade. And after that, schools weren't quite the same. Copycats and bomb threats happened in lots of places, and there has been school shooting after school shooting. Combine that with the events of 9/11, and you have another set of hugely tragic events that yet again, we had no control over. There was anger, obviously, which catapulted us into a gruesome, unrelated war that we again, have no control over. And then Hurricane Katrina--again, no control over Mother Nature. Again, anger, but a year and half later, what has that anger accomplished? One less incompetant person heading FEMA, sure, but people are still living in FEMA trailers and still struggling to get their lives back together.
So can you really expect people to be angry, when nothing seems to come of it? Finding blame hasn't solved anything for our generation; in fact, it's only hurt us. I'm just thankful that for once, the people directly affected by a tragedy *aren't* looking to point fingers. They're trying to focus on healing, and all the media wants to do is turn these hurt people into blame puppets so they can draw out the air time. And I'm not saying there's something wrong with being angry.
Anger's fine, so long as it's directed in the right direction, and genuine. The news lately just seems to be jumping down people's throats and trying to create it. Anger has plenty of potential for motivating people, but equal potential for harm when it's misdirected. That's more the point I'm trying to make. After all, misdirected anger is at least partly what caused this shooting to begin with, it seems.
On a related, but slightly different note:Somewhere someone mentioned they were surprised more students weren't bawling/crying/obviously shaken up. I'm not surprised. At this point, tragedy is becoming almost commonplace. I'm not saying that's how it should be, but that's what it is. We're becoming more and more desensitized to these kind of horrific events, not because of TV shows and movies, but because they keep happening for real, and end up, after a week or two, followed in the news cycle by stories about Anna Nicole Smith or a dog that supposedly performed the Heimlich. A lot of people ignore them altogether, or stop, say "oh, that's sad" and then flip to a different TV channel.
It is surreal to watch the news about VA Tech and have it followed by a commerical for the newest iPod or food special at McDonald's. It's no wonder we can't get together and make something real happen towards saving Darfur or slowing AIDS in Africa, seeing as we barely stop our lives long enough to worry about the events in our own country (hell, we can't even get Sanjaya off American Idol).
And at the same time, it's almost the only way we can cope. "What next?" is all we seem to focus on unless we're in the middle of whatever tragedy is going on.
We are becoming a generation that seeks distraction from reality.
-Lori Dixon
On that note, Sanjaya's off American Idol.
And the V Tech tragedy doesnt get me as much as the departure of Calvin.
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