Watching all the pundits on TV after the killings at VA Tech yesterday, there were a handful of things that kept getting repeated that are just stupid. Usually they also require an impossible level of hindsight (which a good number of the pundits have, it seems). I've just got to rant about this for a few minutes.
A couple of examples:
One news show profiler got all angry, demanding to know WHEN the authorities were going to stop these sort of crimes. Her big point was that campus security wasn't armed and there wasn't enough armed protection to prevent the crime. I can understand the level of emotion this horrendous event caused, but there is SIMPLY NO WAY that everyone can be protected at all times from a person bent on doing harm.
A person armed with a knife, gun, bomb, car or club, and bent on hurting people, will almost always be able to hurt some people before they are stopped.
In essence, what this woman was demanding was that there be well-trained, armed guards protecting ANY gathering of people at ALL times. It simply can't be done. I don't believe that even a totalitarian police state could achieve that level of "security" and an open, democratic one NEVER could.
The other thing was the constant questioning about why the entire campus wasn't under some type of lockdown after the first two killings. Now, this campus has as large a population as the largest city near where I live. How many of us live in a city of 25,000 where a murder causes a citywide lockdown, especially a murder that seems like a domestic event? It simply never happens, and is logistically an impossibility to do in a couple of hours.
I think at times that people live in an unreal world filled with illusions created by watching TV shows. I watched a couple of shows over the weekend where a crime was committed, and before the person was a few feet away from the scene of the crime, you could hear police sirens in the background. How unreal is that? I belong to a wilderness search and rescue group, and I'm in a really rural state, and whenever we're called out, it's often 10 or 12 hours from the time someone is reported missing before searchers are in the woods.
Command posts have to be created, search groups put on stand-by or activated, you have to get to the staging area, get assignments, etc. etc. The idea of an instant response by authorities to a situtation is a TV and movie myth.
This was partly seen by people questioning why the SWAT teams didn't just charge into the building sooner and perhaps save more lives. This is another hindsight complaint. The police coming into a situation like this often have no idea what is going on, except shots are being fired and people are getting killed. Is it one shooter, or 10? Do they have explosives? Is it a trap set to kill the SWAT team members and then take and use their weapons for an even greater slaughter? It's insane to question someone who's willing to risk their lives for you for taking a few minutes to try to assess a situation as carefully as possible.
People want to DO something about situations that are just so often simply beyond resonable or rational control. "Let's make new laws," they cry. They are usually what I call "feel good laws." It makes the authority seem like thay've taken action, but in reality the "law" will have no effect on stopping that type of crime whatsoever. I'm reminded of how, following Columbine, the local school board debated making it a mandatory expulsion for a kid to bring a gun to school. I was covering the meeting as a journalist, and I simply had to ask them, "Do you really think that the threat of being expelled from school will be any kind of a deterrant to a kid who has decided to take a gun to school, murder some people and then kill themselves?"
End of rant.
S4
VA Tech Incident - Stupid Things People Say
by Seeker4 27 Replies latest jw friends
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Seeker4
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aSphereisnotaCircle
amen
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Shutterbug
Excellent post Seeker. All of very well thought out and true. Another irritatting rant I heard on CNN was someone spouting off about gun control. This comes up everytime something like this happens and nothing is accomplished in spite of all that hot air that comes over the TV screen. Bottom line, someone ready to die who wants to take other people with him is going to find a way. If not with guns, then with explosives (Oklahoma City) or gas/chemicals, fire or some other way of killing.
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rebel8
True!
One I heard this a.m. was a journalist asking the college president why it took an hour for the college to send an email notifying students of the first shooting. Um....hello! Would ya really prefer the college to make sending an email a priority over securing the premises, catching the shooter, and taking care of the wounded? And why do ya think an email would be totally effective in making everyone go inside immediately? It's email--not like everyone reads it and takes action immediately. -
sf
sKally
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Brother Apostate
Yep,
Whatever sells.
And sweeping, generalized, feel-good messages are what sells.
Won't fix a thing.
Next time it happens, same result.
But it "feels" good.
BA- Realist
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jaguarbass
The new law I would like to see come out of this incident would be to require all sane citizens to carry handguns and receive training with them.
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Hortensia
"and sweeping, generalized, feel-good messages are what sells."
And righteous outrage sells - a lot of television journalists seem to deal in righteous outrage. Nancy Grace, for instance. Very good post, thank you!
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purplesofa
good post Seeker.
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uninformed
seeker 4,
good post. Most of the people crying for more protection and more laws are pissed off when they have to go to the airport 2 hours early to stand in line while security is checking Grandma Jones and some woman with a 3 month old baby.
There are already too many laws, and there is no way to protect everyone. I say bring back the Colt 45 Peacemaker. (Partially joking- however, if everyone was carrying the guy wouldnh't have killed over 30 people.
Many liberals that want more government control also bitch about the "Homeland Security" laws and complain about losing our freedoms.
Its just a crazy world, and everyone tries to play the blame game or the lets protect everyone all the time.
700,000 people a year die from doctors mistakes.
50,000 a year die from car accidents (including drunk drivers)
How many hundred thousand a year die from smoking?
It just goes on and on.
Thanks for posting this subject.
Your post was pause for thought.
Brant