Jon22: The Website of Jonathan Dobres

How are we all feeling about the Virginia Tech shooting right now? I find myself largely detached from the whole thing, to be honest. It’s a terrible thing to have happened, of course, and I wish we lived in a world where something had prevented it. This insane, random act of violence killed several accomplished and respected professors and many students who were in the prime of their lives. It’s a tragedy, undoubtedly.

While I was checking CNN for news about the shooting a breaking headline appeared. One hundred and eighty-two people were killed in Iraq, just now. Bombed out of existence by some religious zealot. Should we have a moment of silence? A national day of mourning? Why is the Virginia Tech shooting more tragic than this?

There are a few reasons, I suppose. Virginia Tech is “at home,” for one. Most people can point to a map and tell you where Virginia is, whereas Iraq might as well be Candyland. Also, there are reasons for the violence in Iraq. There’s a logic to that violence. It’s convoluted, misguided, pointless, and nonsensical, but it’s still operating under some purported larger purpose. The Virginia Tech shooter was just angry and violent. No real logic, no real way for us to understand what happened. Without the ability to intellectualize the violence, we find ourselves emotionally vulnerable to its raw effects.

On September 11^th I was well and truly terrified. I had just moved to a major city with big buildings after a life in the quiet suburbs. My father had worked in the World Trade Center Complex until June of 2001. I couldn’t help but identify with the much less fortunate families and feel the fear.

In 1999, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School and started shooting their classmates, I felt that one, too.  Columbine was a high school exactly like mine. Same kinds of students, same kind of neighborhood, same kind of campus. Could’ve been my school, easily. For the rest of high school we had periodic “Invasion Drills,” procedures designed to minimize the damage if one of our students went insane with a gun.

CNN had a live video feed of Virginia Tech’s convocation, inviting users to click into it for free (how nice) and “Join in the national healing.” I care about the tragedy in Virginia, more than the endless violence in Iraq, but less than September 11^th or Columbine. The connection is there on a human level, but I can’t pretend to be bereaved. That’s why I resent CNN’s forced attempts to make it so. It’s a nice thought, but it’s pushing it to call this a national tragedy that affects us all. It’s a tragedy, certainly, but only for those directly affected by Monday’s events.  Isn’t that bad enough?