Va. Tech Shooting: Privacy Laws Are Inhibiting Gun Control Legislation

<a href="http://www.groundreport.com/poetsdream">Ann Clemmons</a>
May 03, 2007

Cho Seung-Hui a tormented young man, already exhibiting crazed behavior, ignored the advice of a teacher, slipped through a mental health care facility, conned campus police, and bought two firearms. Teachers, students, and law enforcement personnel were not able to prevent this tragic event. It seems many people, agencies, and family members were aware of the fact that Cho Seung was "troubled" however, due to the so-called protection of privacy laws; they were unable to help him.

Privacy laws are inhibiting gun control legislation. There is now a bill before congress promoting states to report mental health records to the national database used to conduct background checks on people buying guns. Already federal law prohibits anyone involuntarily admitted as a "mental defective" from purchasing a firearm. However, only twenty-two states provide mental health records to the National Criminal Background Check System. At present, the National Criminal Background Check System, screens people before they can purchase a firearm. However, if states are not required to push mental health care facilities to provide mental health records, for all persons including voluntary commitments, what good is the law doing anyone?

This problem has been going on for years, and gun control advocates, special interest groups, and law enforcement officials have been trying to shed light on the this unpredictable reporting. However, the biggest obstacle has been the privacy law in relation to mental health care records. Evidently, if you are voluntarily committed to a mental health care facility, privacy laws prohibit the facility from reporting your time there.

If Virginia, had required mental health care facilities, to report voluntary records to the National Criminal Background Check, the people who died that day at Va. Tech., would still be alive. Cho Seung-Hui would not have been able to purchase the two firearms that killed thirty-three people, including him. Meaning, Virginia only reported involuntary commitments. Moreover, we do not know for sure when someone approaches the counter in a store, to purchase a firearm, if they have or have not threatened to harm themselves or others. We are in the dark as to whether they have or have not spent time in a mental institution.

In the case of Cho Seung-Hui he had voluntarily gone to St Alban&#39;s, after his involvement in two prior incidents with the police involving two female students. However, since Virginia did not require mental health care facilities too report voluntary commitments, Cho Seung-Hui was able to purchase two firearms. Therefore, someone who rattled off incoherent babble on a video tape, and then sent it to NBC was able to buy not one, but two guns! In fact, after the shootings police investigators were unable to get information about his mental health status, all due to the privacy act. It is no wonder that Cho Seung Hui shared the same characteristics as other school shooters. Privacy laws prevented these characteristics from becoming available to the proper authorities before the shootings took place.

What senseless acts, especially at a time of war, when we are already losing scores of human lives.

After Cho Seung gunned down two people, crossed the street into a classroom, bolted the door to keep help out, and fired two firearms into his fellow students, reaction around the world was that of sadness and outrage. Thirty-three students died that day, including Cho Seung Hui. When are we going to wake up? There are American kids across the world battling terrorism, and more are killed right here in our back yard, due to the American people&#39;s debate over gun control.

Since the first report of this shooting, we have heard urging from other nations on the need for reforming Americas gun control laws, and self -defensive attitude. By not implementing some changes in American policy and culture, we will earn more than the right to bear arms. We will also earn the right to bear unspeakable pain and sorrow, consequences that follow the lack of proper procedures in place to protect our citizens from the improper use of firearms.

--

Original Source: Ground Report
<a href="http://www.groundreport.com/articles.php?id=2833707">http://www.groundreport.com/articles.php?id=2833707</a>

This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License</a>.

Ann Clemmons

2007-06-05

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

eng

Virginia Tech Tragedy: A Revealing Sociological Tome

about 1 month ago by Nate Brugnone

The recent shootings at Virginia Tech are not only a tragedy at face-value, they are also a revealing tragedy on many social levels. As this story broke almost every headline across the US, and no doubt throughout much of the world, it&#39;s become apparent to me how much journalism today resembles a botch theatrical moral auction.

It&#39;s a "who can draw the most hits using the most visceral, emotive attractor" competition. First come the alligators of the shallow, murky riverbanks. These are the fat lizard spawn of necessary 24-hour news corporations -- the ones with catlike reflexes and the largest paychecks. They&#39;re bug-eyes keep a most sentinel vigil over "normalcy" amongst the crowd. Even the slightest ripple caused by a ubiquitous herbivore hoof could spell a ratings spike and a big payoff. And I&#39;m not just going to roll over here and give them the credit of, "[in a whiny, airy Bob Saget voice] well, they just want to get us the news we need to know about. They&#39;re looking out for us." If that&#39;s the case, then I&#39;m severely deluded as to the nature of mass media in the US and Rupert Murdock (or whomever) has a proportional messiah-complex. We know, at least considering the second statement, that this is untrue.

Covering the rest of Noah&#39;s Ark here, we come to the wolves in peacocks&#39; feathers -- the journalists who find it necessary to employ visual aids, as if the headline, "33 College Students Slaughtered in Largest Killing Spree in US History," doesn&#39;t tweak tightly enough the heart muscles and gray matter of the soon-to-be-touched-upon emotional-parasites. "Here&#39;s a picture a bloodied boy barely clinging to life as he is carried out by fellow scholars." Blah blah blah... on & on.

Then in come the dumpster-diving raccoon collage artists, riding the coattails of those before, pasting, quoting other papers, quoting bloggers (dah!), in hopes of making a few more bucks. These things smell and are super lazy. Just look at the abundance of this type of roadkill for one week. Its prominence it staggering.

And the saddest of all, just our collective attention is turned furthest from the topic, we have monkeys parachuting into football stadiums with a sanctified howl of political co-opting. It used to annoy me to no end when someone called George Bush a monkey and blamed him for something he probably had no direct hand in, but after this ringmaster bit at VT I can say the man has no moral fiber of his own and is nothing more than the flaccid remnants of a fraternity kegger ... thus making him a monkey... er, something to that extent.

Now it feels like I&#39;m done here with this topic, but I can feel something; some animal has been overlooked. Ah, yes. The very foundation on which all the rest of these rely: <i>Heliactin bilopha</i>, the Horned Sungem. No bird flaps its wings faster and therefore no bird is more fickle. There are over 6 billion inhabiting the globe. Each determines which flowers shall bloom next year and the year after and so on. No single bird sees itself as the essential part of this zoo as it can freely and discriminately drink nectar from wherever it may choose...

I find it odd and also telling that year after year the same flowers come into bloom. We&#39;re interesting creatures...

--

Original Source: <a href="http://dormitem.com/blog/95">http://dormitem.com/blog/95</a>

Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States</a>.

Nate Brugnone

2007-06-02

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States

eng

In Cho&#39;s defence...

Saturday, April 21, 2007

<i>"this is a lesson for all o. i think those American parents should learn a lesson or 2 from this. with the way their kids tease other people of different nationalities. i went to school abroad as well, and i can tell you that most people, even the adult students have no regard for others. if you aint speaking the language like them, or don&#39;t look like them, its hard to mix. i&#39;m not generalizing, but its a pattern ive noticed. hence it leaves people feeling isolated from others. i think people should be taught these subtle signs and not to ignore others. no be by force, but at least make an effort to make other people feel welcome. this matter was a big issue in the school i went to. if you aint white, forget it. no-one wants to have anything to do with you, no matter how extroverted or social you are."</i> <b>- Soulpatrol (Nairaland)</b>

Being a foreigner myself set me thingking... what could have made a man shoot 31 innocent people before taking his own life?

It&#39;s easy to plant flowers at memorials, write words we don&#39;t mean on tombstones and whiteboards, talk about how good people were on facebook. . . if only we did this when we each could appreciate each other perhaps such episodes could be a thiing of the past. How could a fellow not have any friends for 4 years?? Everyone is talking about him being the weird kid who never talked, some are busy posting his plays on the internet, professors are describing a disturbed kid they think they did a huge favour by sending to see a psychiatrist. Where was everyone when a simple "how did your day go" would have averted this problem?

How many times was Cho abandoned in the back of the class with everyone sniggering at that "weird asian kid who never talked"? I find it so difficult to imagine me sharing a room with another individual and him having issues that warranted psychiatric evaluation and police questioning and yet doing absolutely nothing! Only to appear on CNN after the shootings to hug the limelights as the room mates of a weirdo!!!

His family never visited and no one cared to ask why. He never went on holidays and no one bothered to invite him home even when they lived just a stone&#39;s throw from the school. He wrote scary plays and his classmates prefered to turn them into discussion points rather than reach out to someone who was clearly troubled. How many times do we push people away because they don&#39;t look like us, talk like us or think like us? How many times have we been so ignorant and selfish forgetting to help those around us who need just one person to make them feel loved and accepted? It is easy to talk about healing, fly flags at halfmast, cancel school, while pretending to honor the memories of those that died when we are merely reaping the fruits of our selfishness, rejection of others and inability to stretch a hand of fellowship.

Of course this in no way attempts to justify Cho&#39;s act but it is a reminder to us that there are thousands of other Cho&#39;s around us. They may never pick up a gun and shoot their classmates but deep inside are living a life that is empty. Luxury can never take the place of love and acceptance, if one person cared for his neighbour perhaps much more than stricter gun laws, we may be able to save someone else from going the lonely road to perdition.

I wonder what would have happened to Cho had he not carried out his act. Many of us leave college with healthy memories that would linger forever. What would Cho have left with?

posted by david at 11:29 PM

--

Original Source: <a href="http://davidylan.blogspot.com/2007/04/in-chos-defence.html">http://davidylan.blogspot.com/2007/04/in-chos-defence.html</a>

Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5</a>.

David Adenuga

2007-06-02

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5

eng

Now You Have Blood On Your Hands That Will Never Come Off

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old senior majoring in English at Virginia <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/virginia+tech">Tech</a>, has completed his transformation from Clark Kent to, well, Rambo. Having killed and maimed over thirty people, in a calculated and merciless way, he has shown another facet of evil and pain to the world. Alone, bitter, unhappy and insane, his sad story reverberates on several levels.

Is it better to have stricter gun control, or have more guns in the hands of law abiding people to protect themselves? Have privacy laws and rights for the mentaly disabled gone too far, or should involuntary committment for treatment be easier to order? Has community and the support of family been destroyed by the cheapening of our culture, or has the stigma of needing help become so great that those most in need shun it?

There were heros at Virgina Tech - Professor Lucinda Roy, who tried so hard to get Mr. Cho the help he so badly needed; another Professor, Liviu Librescu, a 76 year old Holocaust survivor who gave his life offering his body as a shield for his students; during the aftermath the poet, Nikki Giovanni, leading students in a cheer to affirm that they will survive and be stronger - &#39;We are HOKIES!&#39;.

<i>But there is one party who will not be a hero during all this</i>, and that is the National Broadcasting Company news organization. After Mr. <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/cho">Cho</a> shot his first two victims in his dormitory, he made a rambling videotape with his jeremiad on debauched rich students and how they had driven him to this action, shortly before he entered a classroom, chained the doors shut and killed thirty more people. This insane person took the time to film and mail his video between murders, and <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/nbc">NBC</a> chose to make it public.

Poor Dylan Klebold - he never thought of making videos before killing his classmates at Columbine High School. Now, Mr. Cho has created a new item in the iconography of mass murder, one that we will surely see again. We have come a long way from the days when shooting Ronald Reagan to impress Jodie Foster was a ticket to fifteen minutes of fame and becoming an answer on a Trivial Pursuit card. Now we present a news network with 27 videos, 43 photographs and an 1,800-word narration described as "multimedia manifesto" from a "uniquely sick mind." NBC was quick to turn the package over to the FBI, right after making copies for itself.

Mr. Cho could be speaking to NBC when he observes, "You had 100 billion chances and ways to have avoided today, but you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now, you have blood on your hands that will never wash off." By choosing to give this presentation the validation of a platform, NBC has sent our nation and our heritage just one more step down a dank and violent road.

Update: From &#39;Below the Beltway&#39;, an informative tribute by Doug Mataconis about <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/librescu">Prof.</a> <a href="http://belowthebeltway.com/2007/04/20/a-hero-laid-to-rest/">Liviu Librescu</a>

posted by Peter Porcupine at 9:07 PM

--

Original Source: <a href="http://capecodporcupine.blogspot.com/2007/04/now-you-have-blood-on-your-hands-that.html">http://capecodporcupine.blogspot.com/2007/04/now-you-have-blood-on-your-hands-that.html</a>

Licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License</a>.

Peter Porcupine

2007-06-02

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License

eng

Virginia Tech shootings create media ethics debate

Jeff Vrabel / GateHouse Media
Thu Apr 19, 2007, 05:01 PM CDT

BLACKSBURG, VA - Regular readers of this column - and hello to all three of you - know that, when appropriate, partially appropriate, tangentially connected or carries the very slight possibility of being funny to someone somewhere, I have no problem resorting to remarks of questionable taste. Sometimes, if I can and my editors agree, I can slip a colorful adjective in there or two. When it comes to matters of obscenity and the maintenance of high culture, a conservative prude I am not.

But something about being unable to avoid pictures of Cho Seung-Hui pointing a gun at me Thursday was more nauseatingly loathsome than I might have even expected.

People with lengthier titles and livelier paychecks than mine will by now have spent hours and days debating the judiciousness of using the pictures of a killer doing what he did when he executed more than 30 people on Monday, pointing the gun at me, at you, at himself, at whatever purported demons he&#39;d invented. He did so on purpose, doing it with the intent to enrage after his death. With astonishing clarity, Cho&#39;s package to NBC News proved, over all else, that this was not a random bout of insanity, a snap. This was as premeditated a rampage as one could enact; one wouldn&#39;t be surprised if investigators soon discover a map and a set of blueprints.

I&#39;m not here to debate the news value, and were I sitting in the newsroom at NBC News when that package came in, I - nor any of you - have any idea how I would have reacted. But it feels an awful, awful lot like serving a black-hearted killer a drink at the bar and asking if he&#39;d like to keep the bottle for free.

This is what he wanted. This is what he&#39;s getting. There wasn&#39;t much chance that anything else would happen, really.

Hopefully, at least some percentage of the country&#39;s 6 million pundits-posing-as-journalists will at least begin addressing the question of how much of the decision to run these photos was fueled by news judgment and how much was fueled by the media&#39;s increasingly desperate desire to keep up. By Tuesday, CNN had a bumper - not a segment, not a commercial, but one of those four-second clips that leads viewers into and out of ads - that flashed the phrase "CAMPUS SHOOTING" no fewer than eight times. Eight times! The font changed, got bigger, jumped around the screen, and finally settled front and center in bold type, where even if you were just flipping by or passing it at the airport, you could stop and wonder what&#39;s next. (Hilariously, the CNN outlet I was watching at the time punctuated its Cho coverage with a 90-second ad for a gun range.)

At this point, calls for judiciousness will fall on deaf ears; as the moment for pure sympathy and horror seems to have already passed - well, it is Friday - now we can get on with the ransacking of grief, the creation of logos and theme music and the mortifying - and, for the most part, unavoidable - capitulation to the wishes of a killer.

<i>Jeff Vrabel can be reached at www.jeffvrabel.com</i>

--

Original Source: <a href="http://www.chicagosuburbannews.com/stcharles/opinions/x1721527709">http://www.chicagosuburbannews.com/stcharles/opinions/x1721527709</a>

Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/</a>Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5
</a>.

Jeff Vrabel

2007-05-31

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5

eng

Blame Game and The Ghosts of Waco

Adam Roberts / <a href="http://themetropolistimes.blogspirit.com/">The Metropolis Times</a> (Blog)

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

<span style="font-style: italic">"There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre." - Kurt Vonnegut</span>

<b>I don&#39;t really want to write this blog.</b> I wanted to just take a few days off and give condolences to the victims at Virginia Tech. But before the bodies have even been identified, the media has already started playing the blame game. Apparently, if we had banned Hollywood, Nintendo and guns, this wouldn&#39;t have happened. I feel compelled to counter their bullshit.

It makes me very angry <a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/story/87/story_8770_1.html" >when moralists so brazenly exploit</a> a tragedy like this. I can&#39;t do anything about the murders, I can&#39;t stop people from trivializing deaths by turning them into moral panics, but maybe if I channel my anger into blogging, I can convince at least a few readers to pause before surrendering freedoms.

<b>Blaming guns is just stupid.</b> Guns were already banned on campus. The gun ban didn&#39;t work.

Last year, the State of Virginia dismissed a bill that would have allowed law-abiding students with a concealed-carry permit to bring their guns on campus, just as they are allowed to bring them anywhere else in the state. It was struck down. Its insensitive to say, but if just one of those hundreds of students had a single gun, more people would be alive today.

<a href="http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/wb/xp-50658"><span style="font-style: italic">"Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was defeated. &#39;I&#39;m sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly&#39;s actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.&#39;"</span></a>

<b>CNN Headline Prime kept showing movie posters for <span style="font-style: italic">Grindhouse</span></b> while Nancy Grace&#39;s substitute was blaming media violence. Apparently, <a href="http://themetropolistimes.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/04/07/review-grindhouse.html">the Tarrantino/Rodriguez double-feature</a> is going to be turned into <a href="http://www.revisionisthistory.org/matrix.html">the next <span style="font-style: italic">Matrix</span></a> by the media. (Marilyn Manson-blaming is out of style) I&#39;ve already heard the <a href="http://kotaku.com/gaming/feature/columbine-survivor-talks-about-columbine-rpg-171966.php">Super Columbine RPG</a> referenced on both Fox News and CNN Headline News, even though there is absolutely no reason to suggest that the killer even knew about the game, and the &#39;game&#39; is an anti-violent interactive documentary.

I remember coming home from seeing <span style="font-style: italic">Grindhouse</span> with a bunch of friends, and talking about how awesome the car battles were. We passed a real-life wreck on the freeway - the tone immediately changed and we all expressed sadness and hoped that no one was killed. There was no desensitization.

It is true that a small number of criticized studies have found links between exposure to media violence and aggression, especially in children. However, there has never been a study that showed exposure to media violence changed people into the type that commit real-life violent crimes. In fact, <a href="http://themetropolistimes.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/05/12/vlog-video-games-and-violence.html">there is probably a cathartic effect</a> - violence in video games helps quell natural violent tendencies.

<b>Nevertheless, violence in the media can sometimes inspire real-life violence. Its called the "Copycat Effect."</b> 19th Century terrorists called it "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_of_the_deed">Propaganda of the Deed</a>," modern terrorist fighters call it "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4GW">fourth generation warfare</a>." Simply put, alienated young male sees an example of how a violent death made someone infamous and important. Alienated young male is evil, depressed and angry enough to place his own lust for importance over his own life and the lives of others. So alienated young male becomes an anarchist, neo-Nazi or Mujahideen and plots a crime that he&#39;s sure will get him attention in the newspapers.

Historical examples are well-documented. Read <a href="http://hammernews.com/copycateffect.htm">Michael Hammerschlag&#39;s essay</a>. "<i style="font-style: italic">The 1774 Goethe book</i> The Sorrows of Young Werther <span style="font-style: italic">caused so many copycat suicides of lovelorn young men who dressed alike and shot themselves at the same time at their writing desk- straight from the story- that it was banned in Germany, Italy and Denmark</span>." Others include Shakespeare&#39;s <span style="font-style: italic">Romeo &amp; Juliet</span>, Stephen King&#39;s novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rage_%2528novel%2529"><span style="font-style: italic">Rage</span></a>, Scorsese&#39;s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hinckley%252C_Jr.#Obsession_with_Jodie_Foster"><span style="font-style: italic">Taxi Driver</span></a> and, more than any other, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapruder_film">Zapruder film</a>.

We don&#39;t know anything about the shooter yet, but it seems obvious that this was a Columbine-copycat. At this time every year, somewhere in the country, kids get caught planning a Columbine-style attack. This Virginia Tech terrorist was probably trying to outdo the Columbine murderers.

<b>The Columbine massacre occurred on April 20th - this Friday</b>. Although this is also Hitler&#39;s birthday, the murderers&#39; videos indicate that the attack was originally scheduled for April 19th - the same day at the Oklahoma City attack, which, according to their videos, the Columbine terrorists hoped to outdo. The Oklahoma City bombing of course, was scheduled for April 19th in order to avenge Janet Reno&#39;s misdeeds in the Waco disaster.

The shooter&#39;s actions demonstrate advance planning. He didn&#39;t get spurned by his girlfriend and suddenly decide to go on a rampage - although a domestic dispute could have pushed the massacre up a few days.

This is all just speculation. If the terrorist turns out to be an exchange student from overseas, he might not have been able to appreciate the significance of Columbine in our generation&#39;s psyche, and the timing could be coincidental.

People need someone to blame - the police, Hollywood, the NRA, our "culture of violence" - anyone.</b> It is almost incomprehensible that tragedies of this magnitude can happen for no good reason at all.

--

Original Source: <a href="http://themetropolistimes.blogspirit.com/free_markets/">http://themetropolistimes.blogspirit.com/free_markets/</a>

Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0</a>.

Adam Roberts

2007-05-29

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0

eng

Rightwingers Go Insane Over VT Shooting

Thursday, April 26, 2007

<span style="font-weight: bold;">The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website <a href="http://robertlindsay.blogspot.com/2007/03/katrina-death-toll-passes-4000.html">here</a>.</span>

Have any fellow Lefties noticed that the Blogosphere seems to be a disgusting, rightwing place? Have you noticed that it seems like rightwing blogs are far overrepresented in terms of the percentage of rightwingers in society, and leftwing and centrist blogs seem to be less common?

I do not know what the answer is, but it may have something to do with how organized the rightwing is in this country and how unorganized the Left and even the Center are. The whole newspaper, newsmagazine, TV news and radio news industry in the US is tilted towards the Right. The Left is broke or lack voices in a corporatized media.

Anyway, seems the VT shooting case has been most taken up by rightwing bloggers. Why is that? Doesn&#39;t the Left have anything to say about this?

But a look at the rightwing blogs and their take on this shooting is instructive. For one thing, the entire rightwing blogosphere is in hyper-defensive screech mode regarding gun control.

That&#39;s the only significant noise I hear out of the US media, bloggers or otherwise, these days on gun control and VT: <span style="font-weight: bold;"> Well, despite this shooting, we sure as Hell don&#39;t need gun control, now do we?</span> The cries for more gun control are few and far between. What a strange way to react to a mass shooting.

One wonders how many more mass shootings it will take before Americans come to their senses about gun control, if ever. The reaction of the foreign press is instructive: Most foreign outlets, from India to Britain, are flabbergasted at how easy it is to buy a gun in the US.

They treat Americans like a bunch of insane aliens and our society as sick and depraved. On that level, they are correct. Do we Americans deserve what we get? We love our guns, we react furiously to any attempts to control them, and consequently we put up with appalling amounts of gun crime and regular mass shootings. Are we asking for it?

Just as I suspected, a <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/20/virginiatechshooting/main2712826.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_2712826">poll</a> showed no change in Americans&#39; attitudes about gun control. The public is pretty much split down the middle on this issue, with 49% supporting no change or loosening of gun laws and 47% supporting increased restrictions.

60% of women support tightening gun laws, while only 35% of men do. 55% of minorities support tougher laws, while only 44% of Whites do. Urban dwellers support tougher laws, while suburban and rural residents (read: Whites) do not. 60% of Democrats support tougher gun laws, while only 35% of Republicans do.

What is truly insane about these statistics is that the populations that are least affected by gun violence are the most vociferous in favor of guns, usually on the basis that they are terrified of crime.

Republican White suburban and rural males are the strongest gun supporters, yet they are the least likely males to be affected. Same with Republican White suburban and rural women. The more gun violence a population experiences, the more they are in favor of restrictions. The less gun violence an area experiences, the more strongly they want their guns.

I&#39;m sure there is a psychological explanation for this somewhere, but I wish someone would show it to me.

The political class is terrified of the issue, including both the Republican and Democratic Parties. Democratic Party operatives <a href="http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=618542007">blame</a> the party&#39;s pro-gun control stance to the party&#39;s losses in the 1994 elections and Al Gore&#39;s win, which the Supreme Court turned into a loss, in 2000.

For those who doubt that the US has an insane gun homicide rate, check out this statistic: America has a higher gun homicide rate amongst kids age 5-14 than in the top 25 other industrialized countries combined. Now tell me that statistic is caused by "too few guns" or has nothing to do with America being a gun-flooded society.

To show you just how deranged the US rightwing is, look at the coverage of the VT shooting. What was it focused on? Stupid liberals allowed the shooting to happen <span style="font-weight: bold;">by refusing to arm all your students</span>! I kid you not.

<span style="font-style: italic;">Update: As of April 30, in light of this case, Virginia has <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/30/gun.virginia.tech.ap/">tightened up</a> its gun laws so that no one who has ever been involuntarily hospitalized for psychiatric reasons can buy a gun in the state. Cho slipped through a loophole in a previous law because he was treated as an outpatient, and, while evaluated, he was not committed. The loophole enabled him to make his gun purchases.

Predictably, <span style="font-style: italic;">Furious Seasons</span> is <a href="http://www.furiousseasons.com/archives/2007/05/05012007_media_madness.html">opposed</a> to the new regulations. This blog strongly supports gun control and thinks hardly anyone should be able to own a handgun, much less someone with a record of being hospitalized as a danger to yourself or others.</span>

Another common theme was the lunatic Right&#39;s insane Islamophobia and outright hatred for all Muslims. Although Cho surely is about as far from being a Muslim as anyone can get, the Rightwing has been utterly obsessed, to the point of near-psychosis, with the notion that Cho must have been a Muslim terrorist! Evidence? Well, that Ismail Ax thing written on his arm. That proves he&#39;s Al Qaeda, right?

They have been digging up statistics showing that a whole 50 South Koreans are studying Islam at madrassas and that Islam is the fastest growing religion in (largely nonreligious) South Korea (a dubious statistic). All this proves that Cho is...a South Korean Muslim terrorist Al Qaeda!

What about Emily Hilscher, his first victim? Name sounds kinda...Jewish, huh? Bingo! Al Qaeda Muslim terrorist! He nailed a Jew first thing. None other than "Drudge" came up with that bit of insanity.

What about that Saudi reporter who shot the video camera footage of the shots outside Norris Hall? Investigate the Arab bastard! He was obviously in on it!

Not to mention, Arabia being evil enough, that his name is Bargouti, and he is really one of those evil Palestinian non-peoples; in fact, he is related to a prominent Palestinian family and one of his relatives is a dirty Pallie terrorist! Investigate the Arab-PLO-Saudi-South Korean Al Qaeda connection right now!

When people talk about Islamophobia or hatred of Arabs, I tend to roll my eyes. There is certainly a lot to criticize about Arab culture and Islam period, actually existing and historical versions. But the Rightwing&#39;s hatred for Arabs and Islam is simply pathological and insane, and nothing proves it more than the VT shooting.

How bout some other angles. I would have thought pulling an anti-immigrant angle out of this would be too low, but a number of rightwingers found reason to call for an end to immigration. Why? One guy, who immigrated 15 years ago, went nuts and killed some people. Let&#39;s lock down the borders!

We all know the Rightwing is racist, no matter how much they insist that they are not. What I didn&#39;t know is that they hate Asians too. But of course they do. When they weren&#39;t examining the hidden Cho-Al Qaeda link, they were plumbing the depths of something called "South Korean supremacism".

Does it even exist? Turns out a lot of South Koreans don&#39;t like Americans too much. Consequently, Cho being an anti-American South Korean Leftist radical and all that, this inscrutable Asian supremacism combined with Commie America-hatred surely spurred this mad spree.

You would think this is the lunatic Right, but no, what we are talking about is the solid 30% of population or so that continues to support George Bush and everything dumb he has ever done to the hilt. The "normal" Right and the insane Right in the US are equivalent. That&#39;s almost as scary as Mr. Cho.

Examples? Look at the comment threads on <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://hotair.com/">Hot Air</a></span>, the huge rightwing blog, <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2007/04/17/new-vtech-thread-victims-roommate-debunks-the-jilted-lover-theory/">here</a>, <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2007/04/18/new-vtech-thread-was-cho-schizophrenic-mean-or-both/">here</a> and <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2007/04/19/new-vtech-thread-the-telegraph-fills-in-the-timeline-maybe/">here</a>. Check out the comment thread on the big rightwing blog <a href="http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2007/04/getting_inside_.html">Riehl World View</a>. Don&#39;t even bother with the comments - check the actual <a href="http://lordofswans.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech-blog-3208229018.html">post</a> itself on the loony <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://lordofswans.blogspot.com/">Lord of Swans</a></span> blog. That&#39;s pretty representative, but if you look around you find that insanity reproduced all over the rightwing blogosphere.

<span style="font-weight: bold;">Note: Readers should carefully read the <a href="http://robertlindsay.blogspot.com/2005/03/rules-on-commenting.html">Commenting Rules</a> before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.</span>

posted by Robert Lindsay at <a href="http://robertlindsay.blogspot.com/2007/04/rightwingers-go-insane-over-vt-shooting.html" title="permanent link">4/26/2007 06:00:00 PM</a>

--

Original Source: <a href="http://robertlindsay.blogspot.com/2007/04/rightwingers-go-insane-over-vt-shooting.html">http://robertlindsay.blogspot.com/2007/04/rightwingers-go-insane-over-vt-shooting.html</a>

Licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License</a>.

Robert Lindsay

2007-05-29

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5

eng

Virginia Tech Grieves Online

Posted by <a href="http://www.profy.com/profile/cyndy-aleo-carreira/">Cyndy Aleo-Carreira</a> on April 17th, 2007

I know that I speak for everyone here at Profy when I say that our thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims of yesterday&#39;s events at <a href="http://www.vt.edu/">Virginia Tech</a>.

The horror of yesterday will live in the hearts and minds of the Virginia Tech community, the United States, and much of the world for some time to come, but what moved me the most was the way in which what would have been a local, and somewhat national, event even a few years ago moved worldwide due to a global online community.

The first reports of what was happening on the VT campus came from students sending reports via their cell phones. Today, the grief of the VT community has moved online.

On the University&#39;s own <a href="http://www.vt.edu/tragedy/">website on the tragedy</a>, updates are presented in blog format, the Convocation held today was streamed live, and is available to students, faculty, and families as a podcast, as it contains information on resources available for counseling and information.

On <a href="http://www.livejournal.com">LiveJournal</a>, a professor shares his grief online, giving us a mere glimpse of the person (and student) that <a href="http://tekmagika.livejournal.com/672246.html">Reema Samaha</a> was.

On <a href="http://www.facebook.com">Facebook</a>, comments have been left on the pages of victims from friends as well as students at rival schools, and sorority sisters and fraternity brothers from other chapters.
<a href="http://www.myspace.com">MySpace</a> includes an &quot;official&quot; <a href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&amp;friendid=42548491">VT page</a>&nbsp;called HokieNation which has been updated with a VT emblem with wings and a cartoon showing anthropomorphic characters of other universities gathered around the VT character with the caption &quot;Today we are all Hokies.&quot; Many user icons of VT alums and students as well as people affiliated with the university, like radio stations that broadcast VT games have changed their avatars to a black ribbon with the VT emblem.

And comments have been left on articles ranging from blogs to news sites.

Twenty years ago, we&#39;d have seen this as a tragedy, watched the footage on CNN, and that would have been the end of it. In the age of Web 2.0, anyone with enough inclination and five minutes of time can reach out to those most closely affected by events and let them know how many people are thinking of them. Over 650 comments have been left on the HokieNation MySpace page alone in the past two days.

If Web 2.0 is remembered for nothing else, it will be remembered for giving us this ability to quickly connect with people. In this instance, it gives a personal insight into the lives of the victims that makes them much more than simply a name in a newcast.

Additional information: <a href="http://www.people.com">People</a>

--

Original Source: <a href="http://www.profy.com/2007/04/17/virginia-tech-grieves-online/">http://www.profy.com/2007/04/17/virginia-tech-grieves-online/</a>

Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/">Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication</a>.

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

2007-05-29

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication

eng

Death in America, an ode to siblings

Monday, April 16, 2007

It was a crisp, clear, bright autumn day, the kind of day you drink in with every essence of your being. I was sleepy, woken early by my parents for the drive from Nashville to Blacksburg. But I was excited. Not only were we attending a Virginia Tech football game, I was going to see my brother, a student at VT and horn player in the marching band. The campus was quiet, beautiful, almost idyllic, and I was overwhelmed by my first views of college life.

My brother attended Virginia Tech in the mid-80&#39;s and graduated with a degree in nuclear engineering. His devotion to his alma mater has continued, as an alumnus and frequently attending football games. It isn&#39;t surprising, the mood of the campus that day was intoxicating, and had I showed any inclination towards engineering, science or mathematics, I might have returned there for my own college education. Blacksburg itself was a village filled with charm and friendly people, hip hangouts and the best record store I had ever been in.

I am <a href="http://news.ert.gr/en/4/24574.asp">grieving</a> the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6560685.stm">shootings at Virginia Tech</a>, the shots that rang out across the peaceful campus, killing many, wounding others, and deafening the ears of college students that today learned one of the hardest lessons life can teach. I mourn the deaths with the families, friends, and teachers, and wish them all peace in the days and months ahead. But mostly I mourn for the siblings who, unlike me, will never again have the joy of seeing their brother or sister on campus after a sleepy drive through the fog laden mountains to that small college town that has lost so much today.

posted by melusina at 9:15 PM

--

Original Source: <a href="http://litochoro.blogspot.com/2007/04/death-in-america-ode-to-siblings.html">http://litochoro.blogspot.com/2007/04/death-in-america-ode-to-siblings.html</a>

Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5</a>.

Melusina

2007-05-27

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5

eng

NBC Should Never Have Aired the Virginia Tech Video

By: Jack Myers / <a href="http://blogs.mediavillage.com/jack/">Jack Myers Think Tank</a> (Blog)

May 07, 2007

The more I think and talk to people about NBC&#39;s handling of Cho Seung-Hui&#39;s videos following the tragedy at Virginia Tech, the more convinced I am the decision was mishandled and wrong. Roger Delaney of Zephyr Media Group commented "I think that, even knowing that the data would make it into the public domain though other channels, NBC erred when they decided to air Cho&#39;s &#39;multimedia manifesto&#39;. There is no question that he accomplished exactly what he&#39;d hoped to - his heinous actions gave him a forum through which he could spew his venomous message to the entire nation. Did any of us need to see that? Did airing that footage do anything other than grant Cho the postmortem glory he was clearly seeking? And was there any way for NBC to air that footage without appearing to be chasing ratings? The answer to all those questions is, in my mind, unequivocally &#39;no&#39;."

Neale Martin of Ntlec, whose daughter is a sophomore at VT, added, "NBC should never have provided a platform for this lunatic; it will encourage every sociopath to strive toward even more carnage. Even posted on YouTube, it would not have the same impact as being put on broadcast news. My daughter is a sophomore at VT and three classmates from her Monday 8 am class were killed the next period. As a former journalist I am sickened by how low this profession has sunk."

There are endless arguments about free speech, about how the videos would have found their way into the public eye and, of course, NBC&#39;s responsibility not only to the audience but to shareholders as well, for whom any ratings opportunity is more important than issues of the public good.

My initial instinct was to accept that NBC aired the videos, but to criticize both NBC and other networks for the gratuitous promotions they ran and the hype leading up to the news reports. In retrospect, I believe NBC has done great harm to the NBC network news brand, to Brian Williams, and to the overall public perception of network broadcast news. What an extraordinary opportunity NBC had to stand above the obvious commercial opportunism and draw a line in the sand. This is not about military action about which there is ongoing national debate. This is not about a major ongoing news story or about a celebrity or political figure.

This was about one mass murderer broadcasting his message of hate in America&#39;s most prestigious and trusted environment. This was a classically disturbed person who saw the media as his road to immortality - murder was the affect but media exposure was the cause. And NBC, through its actions, fell prey to the most base instincts of tabloid media upon which Cho depended.

What would have been the end result if NBC has moved the videos onto the NBC news website, losing the ratings opportunity? Or what if NBC had simply refused to air the video at all and had turned it over to the FBI? Jeff Beliveau of Consumer Networks asked "Before acting, did my fellow human beings ask themselves &#39;Is what I&#39;m about to do creating good? Or evil? Am I doing nothing other than causing harm by pursuing my own narrow self-interests?&#39;" There are many arguments being used to justify NBC&#39;s decision, and it&#39;s unlikely any other network would have responded differently.

But what&#39;s missing in the aftermath of Virginia Tech is a true industry debate and dialogue on NBC&#39;s decision and the role of network broadcast news in a media environment in which news is ubiquitous and all-pervasive. Do the broadcast networks - ABC, CBS and NBC - have a responsibility to stand above the onrush of tabloid journalism? Is it their responsibility to air or not to air the rantings of crazed killers? Is it appropriate to give those people who have no further rights to be a part of our society the credibility that broadcast network television infers? Be a part of the debate. Let me know your opinion.

Share your comments at <a href="http://www.mediavillage.com/sound_off/">MediaVillage SoundOff</a>.

--

Original Source: <a href="http://blogs.mediavillage.com/jack/archives/2007/05/nbc_should_neve.html">http://blogs.mediavillage.com/jack/archives/2007/05/nbc_should_neve.html</a>

Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5</a>.

Jack Myers

2007-05-27

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5

eng