32 Plus 1: The Virginia Tech Massacre and Why He Snapped

It's not evil. It's not violent video games. It's not the Iraq War. It's not gun control. It's not the Administration. It's society. There is a rage that it cannot possibly relieve because of its narcissistic behavior and refusal to empathize. Virginia Tech isn't the first place to have taken this reality to heart, nor is it the last, so why does it surprise so many people that this happened?

Things like Youtube and Myspace make a mockery of what's considered to be 'life', presenting people's feelings and private lives for general perusal, showing how fickle friendships can be with the notorious 'Top 8', and in turn, causing younger generations to take relationships for granted...and to take life for granted.

Several VT students gave the typical post-trauma statement of "I knew it would happen, but I never thought it would happen to me!" How is that even rational? It happens everyday to everybody. There is no exception to that rule if you're a member of society. The kid that sits alone at lunch, the disgruntled janitor, and the ticked-off fry cook. These are all results of the same apathy which plagued Virginia Tech, just to different degrees; so why is everyone in awe? Because a gun was involved? Sure, but there's no wonder as to why this guy snapped. The gunman's classmates read his behavior and did nothing about it, which caused something that 'wasn't their problem' to plunge deeply into something that is clearly 'very much their problem'. A four-year-olds high-pitched scream pales in comparison to the effectiveness of listening.

Responsibility for this massacre lies in the hands of Apathy and her legions of suburbanite slobs, who called in sick that morning, turned on the television, watched the overweight officers raid Virginia Tech, read the headlines, and said "I'd kill myself too, if I was such an evil bastard." These are the same people who shirk off outsiders such as our lone gunman, failing to see the huge implications of their minuscule actions.