blame and everything after

“Blame confers an awesome power. And it’s simplifying, not only to onlookers and victims but to culprits most of all. It imposes order on slag. Blame conveys clear lessons in which others may take comfort: if only she hadn’t—, and by implication makes tragedy avoidable.” –Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About Kevin

The Blame Game, regarding Virginia Tech, has begun. Actually, it began about two minutes after the killing ended. This, I think, is par for the course in most societies. Or maybe just American society—I don’t know. Blame makes people feel better, and blaming someone who can subsequently be punished works best, because it’s hard to blame a dead man. It’s even harder to blame a man who was clearly mentally ill. Severely mentally ill. But somebody needs to be blamed, so where shall the blame be cast?

I’m not a big proponent of flinging blame every which way. Of course it’s easy for me to say that, since I never lost anybody through tragedy or negligence. But I just don’t understand how persecuting someone—say, the Virginia Tech president or Cho’s parents—is going to properly rectify this situation. It can’t be rectified. The damage is done. Nobody is coming back to life. All we can really do is study which mistakes were made and try to prevent them from happening again.

For whatever reason, I feel the need to break down this blame game into its individual compartments:

Blame #1. The Virginia Tech security team and administration are responsible. The campus have been locked down after the first shootings. The school have done more to alert students to what was going on. They waited two hours to send an email to all students and did nothing to lock down the campus.

Well, the cops thought it was an isolated domestic dispute and assumed the shooter left the campus. No, they shouldn’t have made that assumption, and it’s terrible that people died because of it, but here’s the thing: no one could’ve guessed what was going to happen. It’s like how, on 9/11, so many people weren’t told to leave the first tower when it was hit, because everyone thought it was an isolated incident that could be gotten under control. Many lives could’ve been saved if everyone had been ushered out of the building right away—out of both buildings—but really, no one could’ve guessed what was lurking on the horizon: a second plane, two collapses. Hindsight really is 20/20, you know? I told some friends that this reminds me of a Swedish proverb I once heard: “The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.”

Shawn pointed out that no one can lead a normal life if every event leads to a lockdown. Said Melissa: “Of course they should have not just assumed that the first gunman had left the state, but they did and there was something that told them that was the right decision, and I can guarantee that there are few people in the world who wish they could turn back time and lock down that campus more than the VT administration. We’re so quick to judge in this society, I suppose so we can tell ourselves oh, that would never happen to me because I would do x, y and z and absolutely prevent anything bad from ever befalling me. That, and we’ve learned to sue everyone for everything and assign blame improperly.”

Blame #2. America’s gun culture is to blame. Guns are too easy to get in the US.

I don’t like America’s gun culture because I don’t like guns. I’ve never held one; I never want to. I flinch when foreigners think that all Americans are card-carrying members of the NRA and are packing heat at any given moment. No, folks, we’re not all like that. I think I know a grand total of two people who own guns.

The gun issue is a complicated issue; it is gray and dense and can’t neatly be squeezed into the rigid confines of black and white, right and wrong. My personal belief is that rigid gun controls are essential, but there’s little point in trying to completely outlaw guns, because people who want guns will continue to get guns whether they’re illegal or not. Prohibition failed miserably. Drugs are still illegal and there’s no shortage of them in this country. It’s illegal for kids under age 21 to drink in this country but they still do it. All the time. Does that mean drugs should be legal and kids should be allowed to drink? I’m not saying this should or shouldn’t be the case—all I’m saying is that making something illegal doesn’t necessarily make it vanish into the ether.

I think Cho still would’ve gotten his hands on a gun even if they were illegal. It probably would’ve taken more work to obtain one, but it still would’ve happened. And if he hadn’t snagged a gun, then he would’ve achieved his goal through some other means. Strapped a bomb to himself, perhaps. Gone crazy with a machete. I know it seems like I’m being overly nihilistic here (“Whatever will be, will be; what’s the point of even trying”), but I just don’t see what good will come out of us saying that maybe this wouldn’t have happened if guns were illegal.

Blame #3. Blame the victims.

Yes, some people out there are bitching that the students didn’t do enough to subdue Cho. What a steaming stack of bollocks. In their situation I probably would’ve shit my pants and then passed out in terror. Okay, so maybe the number of people slaughtered would’ve been slightly lower if someone had tackled the guy, but how quick would you be to tackle a blank-faced dude with two guns and a belt of ammo wrapped around him? Especially when he catches you by surprise? Nobody can predict how s/he would act in this situation. Heroism is rarely planned; it just happens. And it did happen at Virginia Tech—just not in a huge, climactic way that ended with Cho being subdued.

People are comparing the Virginia Tech students with the passengers on Flight 93 on 9/11, wondering why the students didn’t follow the passengers’ lead and overcome their captor. Comparing these two situations is like comparing proverbial apples and oranges. Passengers on Flight 93 were brave, but they also had a lot more time to come to grips with what was happening. It’s not like they only realized they were being hijacked seconds before the plane plowed into the White House. They had time to realize what was happening and had time to call their loved ones to get the scoop on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They knew how their predicament was going to end and they were able to convene to discuss how to handle the situation. The Virginia Tech students and professors didn’t have this option. All they had was quick thinking and adrenaline, and neither one is a guarantee when a sudden, shocking cataclysm drops on your head.

Blame #4. Psychiatrists, Cho’s parents, and his professors are responsible—they didn’t do enough to get him locked up when they suspected he was unstable.

By now we’ve learned that more than a year before the massacre, Cho was accused of sending unwanted messages to two women and was taken to a psychiatric hospital for 48 hours—the longest they could hold him without any proof he was a danger to others. He was released with orders to undergo outpatient treatment. Also, his violence-filled writings and odd demeanor disturbed professors and students so much that he was removed from one English class and was repeatedly urged to get counseling.

Despite all this, I don’t see how anybody can be held accountable for failing to get him thrown long-term into a mental hospital. We live in a country where you can’t get somebody institutionalized against their will simply because you suspect he might be dangerous. You need some semblance of proof. And thank god for that!! I, for one, am glad this is the case. Not because I relish the idea of potential killers populating my daily life, but because I don’t want to live in a society where suspicion alone is enough to condemn a man who may be innocent. I don’t want to live in Soviet Russia, North Korea, or Myanmar, mmm’kay?

The operative word here is that people suspected he was unstable. Yes, he did turn out to be unstable in the end, but nobody knew this beyond a shadow of a doubt until he opened fire. It’s possible he lied his ass off when he was in that mental hospital—giving them the answers they wanted to hear. Violent writings do not automatically equal homicidal behavior. I wrote some creepy shit back in the day, too, and I’m no killer. Pestering crushes, being deemed “weird,” showing strange behavior, and having flattened affect can—although not always—indicate the presence of a mental illness, but the presence of a mental illness does not immediately indicate homicidal tendencies. And, biggest of all, being a loner does not automatically mean you’re a killer!

I know I’m being hyper-sensitive here, but I loathe when the media fixate on killers being loners. It just adds fuel to this society’s already rampant suspicion of anyone who likes being alone. Not all loners are one gun away from becoming killers! And not all killers are loners! Let’s recall Ted Bundy and the BTK killer, shall we? As a lifelong loner, this whole attitude is so offensive to me.

I just worry there’s a real risk that anybody who is different, acts unconventionally, writes strange things, or listens to strange music will become suspicious in everyone’s eyes—labeled a potential killer. I’m not saying everyone should turn a blind eye when there’s a person displaying noticeably strange, erratic behavior. But there has to be some sort of middle ground between automatically assuming every weird, introverted person is a killer and automatically assuming s/he’s just shy and harmless.

Moving on to far less significant things...

FilmFest is here, and, as always, there are a slew of films I want to see. Whereas in the past my selections were limited because of cash flow issues, this year it’s a time issue. I've just got too much freelancing on my plate to allow me to see many films. I think I’m going to squeeze in a Finnish film tomorrow and a French film on Friday, even though doing so will put a serious cramp in my freelancing schedule. Also, there’s an exhibit at the Sackler Gallery I really want to see, and because it ends on Sunday, I’ve got no choice but to hit it this weekend, which further impedes my freelancing. This is one of those rare instances when I’m not backed into a corner because of procrastination, but because I only just learned about the exhibit a few days ago. But, you know, regardless of my time crunch, I gotsta make room for art!


song heard most recently before posting:
Ngankarrparni (Sky Blue Reprise)—Peter Gabriel