“This didn’t have to happen”, Cho Seung-Hui said, after murdering thirty-two people at Virginia Tech University.

And this terrible tragedy of sons, daughters, mothers and fathers didn’t have to happen, if we’d only listened.

But we never listen.

We never listen to those that are different from us- the outcasts, the lonely, the homeless, the ones that are unspoken for. We don’t try to understand. We shun them and put them out of our minds because of our fear that we will become like them.

And these people become more and more lonely and alienated in their isolation.

Words like “creep”, “deranged misfit” and “psycho” devalue this killer’s humanity so we don’t have to face how similar he is to us. Cries of “how could he have been stopped” are uttered by media quick to sensationalize and gain market share, when the words “how could he have been listened to” are never considered.

Because we don’t want to listen.

We don’t want to hear about loneliness and alienation when we’re all so busy with our lives, making money and making friends. And the unpopular, the ones that don’t fit in, the lonely ones are ignored or made fun of because we don’t care to understand anything about them.

This man who clearly needed help, Cho Seung-Hui, devalued himself so much that he called himself “Question Mark”.

There are more “Question Marks” out there. There are millions of them. And if we don’t listen to them, they will follow the same path again and again, because people are not connecting. We are becoming more and more disconnected from each other, creating more and more “Question Marks” every day.

Most “Question Marks” don’t become murderers. Some just kill themselves. Most harm no one and live just as we do, needing antidepressants to appear what we call “normal”. They may be someone you know, someone you love.

This “Question Mark” was once a little boy, who cried, and smiled and loved, He wanted to fit in just like you and I. But that desire to fit in transformed itself into anger towards a society that shunned and ignored him.

How many more times will we shun and ignore the one that doesn’t fit in, the one in the corner, the one that’s different? When all we have to do is listen, before it’s too late.

But we won’t.

Thirty-two human beings who did not know Cho Seung-Hui were murdered.
They were sons, daughters, fathers and mothers, with dreams of futures that will never come and children that will never be born. The thirty-two leave behind people that love them. People that are now scarred for life by this horrible day of death.

To most of us that have not been directly involved, this tragedy will become a memory and fade like all the others that came before.

And the “Question Marks” will appear with more frequency, again and again, because we don’t listen.

We never do.

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http://www.x-thc.com

It’s so disgusting to see the reactions on all this, and it’s even more disgusting to see that people are centering this based on race and ethnicity.

These were fellow human beings. Innocent ones. That’s all there is to it. It’s not about Americans or South Koreans or Arabs or Indian. These were innocent human beings whose lives were lost and we should mourn them all equally.

This event was horribly tragic. It brought tears to my eyes. College campuses are supposed to be sheltering and securing–places to learn, engage, and party. This tragedy ruined it. So many people died senselessly, people who were going places and who were making something of themselves and enjoying life. Because this sick psychopath felt like it. I mean imagine the horror of being shot at it in a classroom, or in a hallway struggling to open a padlocked door. Disgusting and absolutely tragic.

I was astonished at the diversity of the victims’ list. I mean we have two Arab victims, two Asian victims, an Indian professor, a Jewish professor, two Hispanics, a Black RA, and the rest being white Americans of various origins.

Interesting survey that examines why children of dry cleaners may be more prone to psychological defects.

Moving tribute to the victims, who suffered senselessly. My heart and prayers go out to their families and to their souls.

The video tribute to Ryan Clark moved me to tears. He seemed like an outstanding person with so much to live for. None of these people deserved to have their lives cut short like this.

I have great respect for the AAJA as an association and also for the SPJ, but you can bet that NO ONE would care if the ethnicity or race of the the shooter had been mentioned even more aggressively offensively had the kille rbeen Arab. There would beno debate because the mainstream American is biased and bigoted and they are also hypocrites.

No one cares when Arabs are bashed, at least not enough to risk their jobs to speak out against it. It’s easier to bash Arabs because that is What Americans have come to expect and journalists now often play to their “audiences,” giving them what they expect and only pushing on issues when they think they can get away with it as is being done with the issue of the killer being Asian.

This is no different than the Imus affair. Had Imus blasted Arabs, he would have been promoted, given a raise and he’d be a celebrity speaker at a White House dinner.

Ray Hanania
http://www.hanania.com

I Don’t Like Mondays Either, But …

I don’t get this gun control issue. Per capita, Canada has more guns than US. Wtf wrong with Americans? It’s the culture not gun control, although gun control can help.

I think gun control issues are becoming increasingly alarming in the U.S, after a string of shootings it’s about time to address this problem.