Thursday, April 19, 2007

Missing the Point

A lot of media coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings is focused on blaming someone. Why did it take two hours to notify students? Why was this kid allowed in school after he been deemed a danger to himself and others? I haven't heard one person mention the fact that in his rambling manifesto sent to NBC, he spewed a lot of hatred about the rich kids drinking and having sex. He hated those kids. Probably because they alienated him. They made him feel weak. They made him feel insignificant. They made him feel powerless. So he took back power the only way he knew how. But maybe if he hadn't been taken out of class. Maybe if girls hadn't called campus police on him. I'm not blaming anyone because I understand that his roommates tried to talk to him and he wouldn't speak. So he obviously was fucked up long before he came to Virginia Tech. But the fact that he was shunned and ignored and completely disassociated from the rest of the students made it easier for him to justify this killing spree.
Yesterday, in an e-mail to Jhughes I suggested that some of descriptions of the killer reminded me of descriptions of our former roommate Anton. If you don't know Anton this may not make much sense. But I didn't want to bring Anton into it because that would be making light of it. But Billy brought up Anton as well so it can't be a coincidence. And it also helps me make that point. Because we were friends with Anton he never descended to this point. But what if the girls Anton drew and photographed got freaked out and called campus police. What if he got kicked out of studio? Who knows?

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