Modern Times

[via e-mail]

Dad:
Anything going on at USCB about the Virginia Tech thing? I was on the VT campus about 20 yrs ago; it's very pretty, & remote.

Me:
Um there was a candlelight vigil Monday night and the chancellor sent everyone emails and stuff. I don't know, I guess not too much. I don't really get it... I mean, I know it's a terrible tragedy, but people die every day from dumb shit like that. I mean, Iraq? hello? and they're glorifying the shooter sooo much... in the NY Times every day since Monday there has been at least a page dedicated to articles about the shooter, but barely anything for the victims, who are the ones who really matter. It seems like it just encourages copycats because of all the media attention this guy is getting.
Whatever.
The front page of the NY Times today was ridiculously depressing. Bombs in Baghdad, the supreme court decision about abortion, the shooter, an article about how colleges can't do shit about people like that, more suicide bomber things.

Why don't people do anything good these days? I mean, I know they do, but we never hear about it. It's very discouraging.

Dad:
It's one more tragedy in a world full of them, but you might expect it to hit home more on a college campus, just like the Columbine thing resonated with high schoolers and their parents, and 9/11 particularly with those (including me) who had some connection to the WTC (one of my first big consulting clients was on the 104/105 floors and lost more people than any other company). We're not going to change the 2nd amendment, but the best comment I've seen directed at the NRA is: "what part of 'well regulated' don't you understand?"

Don't know if you've discussed this in class or outside, but I have, especially lately: we're in a war that we went into without a clear objective and found ourselves in a no-win situation. It's Vietnam revisited. Back then there was a lot of noise, organized protest, eventually resulting in, among other things, shootings on college campuses, in Ohio and Mississippi, at least, not by wackos but by local authorities. Also resulting in the media taking a stand against the war, starting with Walter Cronkite, resulting in a President refusing to run for re-election, and ultimately withdrawal. But now, there's no protests, the media is way too unwilling to rock the boat or investigate and tell the truth. I have a hypothesis that with all the new media outlets since then, internet, cable tv, satellite radio, etc., what remains of the responsible press can't make enough money to keep going, so they have to pander to corporate owners and political contributors. There's never been any money in reporting on what good things people do, and now there's not enough profit in the business to allow for those kinds of things. There's no draft, so nobody is being asked to sacrifice anything, we all go about our daily lives pretty oblivious to the war. It's being run by an incompetent and corrupt administration for reasons of ego and personal enrichment. Finally the people have spoken in the last election, but the administration still doesn't listen. Phil Ochs wrote "it's always the old who lead us to the war / it's always the young who fall" I'm afraid it's up to you. . . .