18 April 2007
The Sun never sets on tragedy
While Americans (and our loving media) continue to allow the killer to play out his fantasy by endlessly obsessing over him and his massacre, the rest of the world falls father from our radar. The obsession is no surprise of course; the killer himself anticipated it in developing his fantasy and in executing his plan. In fact, he cared so much about the media exposure that he paused his killing spree to head to the Post Office so that he himself could mail his own personal media kit to NBC. Death is news, after all, and damned if he wasn't gonna cut out the middleman.
32 people killed anywhere at anytime is certainly a tragedy. Luckily for Americans it is a tragedy that does not befall us with any great frequency. Can you imagine if such a massacre were to occur every day for years and years? Resulting in thousands, then tens of thousands, and maybe even hundreds of thousands of innocent people killed while undertaking innocent pursuits like shopping, working, and even studying? In a country like that, a boy like Cho wouldn't be news at all. Lucky for Cho, then, that he wasn't from Iraq.
Yes, as America went about developing its latest tragic obsession today, more Iraqis died. 233, as a matter of fact. 183 in Baghdad alone, a city in which we have been told we need invest only a bit more blood in order to surge our way to victory. There, 32 is nothing. And our own troops? Our own young men and woman who did not happen to find themselves in a college classroom, but instead on the dusty streets of a city whose residents they did not know? They are dying, too:
32 people killed anywhere at anytime is certainly a tragedy. Luckily for Americans it is a tragedy that does not befall us with any great frequency. Can you imagine if such a massacre were to occur every day for years and years? Resulting in thousands, then tens of thousands, and maybe even hundreds of thousands of innocent people killed while undertaking innocent pursuits like shopping, working, and even studying? In a country like that, a boy like Cho wouldn't be news at all. Lucky for Cho, then, that he wasn't from Iraq.
Yes, as America went about developing its latest tragic obsession today, more Iraqis died. 233, as a matter of fact. 183 in Baghdad alone, a city in which we have been told we need invest only a bit more blood in order to surge our way to victory. There, 32 is nothing. And our own troops? Our own young men and woman who did not happen to find themselves in a college classroom, but instead on the dusty streets of a city whose residents they did not know? They are dying, too:
From October 2006 through last month, 532 American soldiers were killed, the most during any six-month period of the war. March also marked the first time that the U.S. military suffered four straight months of 80 or more fatalities. April, with at least 58 service members killed through Monday, is on pace to be one of the deadliest months for American forces.While the media continues to throw THE GREATEST MASSACRE IN AMERICAN HISTORY up on it's blinking flashing scrolling headline bars (making plenty of ad dollars in the process), we should be sad. We should be outraged that such a killing spree was able to happen, that so many innocents died. Outraged that so many students will never be able to realize their dreams, and outraged that even more students will never be able to learn from the several brilliant professors who were also slaughtered. However, we should not forget. We should not lose perspective. Death in Iraq may be far less surprising than death in Virginia, but it does not mean that it should be any less subject to our outrage nor to our demands that it must stop.
Labels: iraq, outrage, virginia
¶ 9:52 PM 3 comments
On Virginia, and blame
Longtime Cicero Jones reader, frequent comment, and sometimes contributor Chosun has been kind enough to provide us with some thoughts on the tragic crimes against humanity committed on the Virginia Tech campus. As a Korean-American (like the killer), Chosun offers a unique perspective.
From Chosun:
We’ve all heard about the killings in Virginia Tech by now, which is undoubtedly a horrible and horrific incident. Interestingly enough, Cicero sent me an article which had a comment that I found to be very disturbing. The subheading states, “THIS is the face of the girl who may have sparked the worst school shooting in US history” and has a picture of the first victim of the shooting—eighteen-year-old Emily Jane Hilscher. Disgusted by this subheading, I immediately posted a comment about how ridiculous and thoughtless this subtitle is. Apparently, I wasn’t alone in feeling this way—there are currently 379 comments slamming the article for this as well.
Oddly enough, only about 10 minutes before reading this article, I had been contacted by a Korean friend of mine (I am Korean) in NYC who warned me that a Korean Association in NYC had been contacted by the Korean Consulate’s office warning that Koreans (and Asians in general) should be careful in case of retaliations. I took it as a big joke and nothing to worry about, and Cicero and I even joked about how stupid people would have to be to try to “retaliate” against Koreans. It was right around this point when Cicero said something that made me consider this a little more seriously—he said something like, “wait until Fox News has a headline like, ‘South Korea: the source of the crazed gunman.’” I’m wondering if a headline like this would cause retaliations from people (especially in VA) against Koreans. Likewise, is it possible that Emily Jane Hilscher’s family will suffer from attacks from the families of the other victims/friends as a result of this article?
These thoughts have made me want to pose a question to my fellow Cicero Jones readers: What safeguards are there that some media outlets wouldn’t be so attention-starved and/or careless to say something completely ridiculous as “THIS is the face of the girl who may have sparked the worst school shooting in US history”? Should journalists, reporters, and/or companies be held personally liable for crimes committed as a result of careless/sensational reporting tactics?
On a side note, two plays written by Cho Seung Hui can be found here and here. They show how disturbed he actually was.
From Chosun:
We’ve all heard about the killings in Virginia Tech by now, which is undoubtedly a horrible and horrific incident. Interestingly enough, Cicero sent me an article which had a comment that I found to be very disturbing. The subheading states, “THIS is the face of the girl who may have sparked the worst school shooting in US history” and has a picture of the first victim of the shooting—eighteen-year-old Emily Jane Hilscher. Disgusted by this subheading, I immediately posted a comment about how ridiculous and thoughtless this subtitle is. Apparently, I wasn’t alone in feeling this way—there are currently 379 comments slamming the article for this as well.
Oddly enough, only about 10 minutes before reading this article, I had been contacted by a Korean friend of mine (I am Korean) in NYC who warned me that a Korean Association in NYC had been contacted by the Korean Consulate’s office warning that Koreans (and Asians in general) should be careful in case of retaliations. I took it as a big joke and nothing to worry about, and Cicero and I even joked about how stupid people would have to be to try to “retaliate” against Koreans. It was right around this point when Cicero said something that made me consider this a little more seriously—he said something like, “wait until Fox News has a headline like, ‘South Korea: the source of the crazed gunman.’” I’m wondering if a headline like this would cause retaliations from people (especially in VA) against Koreans. Likewise, is it possible that Emily Jane Hilscher’s family will suffer from attacks from the families of the other victims/friends as a result of this article?
These thoughts have made me want to pose a question to my fellow Cicero Jones readers: What safeguards are there that some media outlets wouldn’t be so attention-starved and/or careless to say something completely ridiculous as “THIS is the face of the girl who may have sparked the worst school shooting in US history”? Should journalists, reporters, and/or companies be held personally liable for crimes committed as a result of careless/sensational reporting tactics?
On a side note, two plays written by Cho Seung Hui can be found here and here. They show how disturbed he actually was.
Labels: blame, virginia, what's next from fox
¶ 8:51 AM 4 comments
