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[RMJ12345]

At least 29 are dead from a shooting at Virginia Tech.

Jesus.

Tech is just down the road from me, and I was just talking about going there last night.

What a tragedy.

[littlefallsmets]

Man.

I... remember being in college and a class just... stopping so that we could watch in horror as Columbine went down.

And remembering how close my high school was to... happening to us.

Tragic.

Do you know anyone at that school, Rumjay? My condolences if anyone you know was hurt or, God forbid, worse.

[theinevitable]

it never ceases to amaze (is there a negative-connotation word for Amaze?) how Broken human beings can become. I guess the right word is maladjusted, or socially dysfunctional... but it seems like people just get broken. A few too many insults, a few to many petty injuries, a few neurotransmitters in the wrong amounts... and we break.

goddamn.

[side_show]

it never ceases to amaze (is there a negative-connotation word for Amaze?) how Broken human beings can become. I guess the right word is maladjusted, or socially dysfunctional... but it seems like people just get broken. A few too many insults, a few to many petty injuries, a few neurotransmitters in the wrong amounts... and we break.

goddamn.

Devastate maybe?

Man, what the hell? Don't be a cock to strangers!  Not ever.

[Charles Nelson Mandela]

What Asherdan said.

[V-Adore]

Goddamn. There are no words.

[linnea]

Holy shit, dude.

What I don't understand is that there was a report of shootings around 7AM, and then they got another report 2 hours later. Why wasn't the entire campus on lockdown after the first shooting? I went to CU-Boulder, a campus with 25,000 students, so I understand that such a lockdown would be logistically difficult...but damn!

Also, I cannot imagine what it would be like to orchestrate incident command for a mass casualty incident like that. Crazy. The winds are so high today that they couldn't get medevac helicopters out, either.

I can't imagine what people in VA must be feeling right now. My heart really goes out to them.

[RMJ12345]

What I don't understand is that there was a report of shootings around 7AM, and then they got another report 2 hours later. Why wasn't the entire campus on lockdown after the first shooting? I went to CU-Boulder, a campus with 25,000 students, so I understand that such a lockdown would be logistically difficult...but damn!

That's what I keep saying. People keep acting like it wasn't a mistake and they're blameless....31 people died in the second shooting, you can't write that off. I don't know how much the administration should be blamed, but you can't write that off. Lessons have to be learned.

I do not know many people at VTech. A friend there knew the young man who was murdered in the dorm.

[Teatime]

I have to agree. It must be insanely easy to go about obtaining weapons, and nearly impossible to predict an incident like this. The administration, then, needs to make sure that if an event like this happens, they can minimize the damage. Thirty-one people is a big deal.

I'm trying to stay away from making "oh, god, horrible tragedy" comments. I'd rather this never happened, but I'm much too far from the situation to really suffer.

EDIT: Wow, I sound like a real cunt in this post. I don't mean to make an uninformed assumption that the administration just pottered about while this happened, or that anyone with enough sympathy has no right to it. Sorry if that's how it came across.

[jough]

I had to turn the news off because it was making me so angry.

I can understand that the journalists are trained to be droids, but what's with the flat affect of the students that were there?  The droning monotone of each one, talking about the shootings with the same diction and expression they'd use to say that they were going to the mall to buy pizza was just appalling.  It's like everyone is prepared to perform on TV that they are acting instead of reacting because this is their 15 minutes.

Then there are the infographics - FoxNews.com (admittedly, I was already angry when I went there just to let them push me over the edge) had a map of the campus with little skulls and crossbones where each shooting took place.  I tried to find it an hour later so I could send the link to someone but it was gone.  I hope the person who made it (or requested it be made) was fired.

Then there are the wonks on another news network making the case for more guns - saying things like "If more people carried guns, only two people would have died - the first victim and then the shooter, because someone would have shot him."  Yes, clearly the point is to make these kinds of shootings even easier to initiate.  Clearly, that is the answer.

Fuck these sensationalist jackals.  Fuck them in the FACE.

Jough, pouring a bit of his 40oz out for the fallen.

[RMJ12345]

I can understand that the journalists are trained to be droids, but what's with the flat affect of the students that were there?  The droning monotone of each one, talking about the shootings with the same diction and expression they'd use to say that they were going to the mall to buy pizza was just appalling.  It's like everyone is prepared to perform on TV that they are acting instead of reacting because this is their 15 minutes.

I don't know, I mean, it's kind of hard to know how to react with that sort of thing. You don't want to break down on national television, either. Sometimes you just have to  shut down in order to function.

There was one girl I saw who got in a very sly plug for her messageboard, and I wondered about her. But I would guess that most of them are in shock/eliminating emotions soas to not break down.

[theinevitable]

personally, when people around me are really upset I start reflexively smiling. I do not know why this is... I always have to cover my mouth.

not that I'm advocating this at all, as modern people would find a way to fuck this up-- but it is true that the reason Wild West towns weren't actually that violent is that everyone had guns. Starting crazy shoot-out shit would have been asking to be plugged.

I kind of hate guns though, so, you know.

[Lister]

...what's with the flat affect of the students that were there?

I would call it verbal shock.  You have to be emotionless, or all of it will come out and you won't be able to walk or speak any more.

Your soul's so crushed your body runs on autopilot.

It won't be real to most of them, yet.  The first night is a bitch.  The first morning is worse.

Those students who were there will never be the same, and some of them are going to be kicking themselves for the rest of their lives for something they think they could have done to prevent just one death.

Those students you saw haven't even begun the process of comprehension.  Grief can't come until then.

[ImpyChick]

I have a very good friend that goes to VT.  When I first heard of the shooting I immediately grabbed my phone & sent her a text (I would've called, but I was @ work & we aren't even supposed to have our cell phones @ work).  A few minutes later she texted me back & we texted back & forth for awhile.  She admitted that the entire thing hadn't even sunk in yet.  For the people that actually witnessed the horrors that happened today, & especially the people who experienced them, I can imagine that they're in a state of shock.  Their minds must be in a place that we can't even comprehend.

What sickens me to no end, though...just when you think that this tragedy could get any worse...the Fred Phelps clan has announced that they're going to picket the funerals of all the people who died today.  I don't like the word "hate"...and I very rarely use it...but I hate that man.

[theinevitable]

I watched a video about those guys, and I kind of started digging on some Ultraviolence.