WHY?

IF THE WORLD DIDN'T PREVENT THE HOLOCAUST, HOW COULD VIRGINIA TECH HAVE PREVENTED ONE MANIAC FROM GOING ON HIS RAMPAGE? WHEN A UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY OF 26,000 PEOPLE EQUALS THE SIZE OF A SMALL COUNTY, THE NUMBER OF DEAD, 32, IS SMALL IN PROPORTION TO THE WHOLE. NEVERTHELESS, THE DEVIL PLAYED YESTERDAY. I APPROACH THIS MASSACRE FROM A WHOLLY DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE THAN LAW ENFORCEMENT, MEDIA, REGULATIONS AND IMPLICIT GRIEF. I SEE IT IN TERMS OF OUR DEMOCRACY AND CULTURE. WHAT INSPIRED THIS INDIVIDUAL'S TRAGEDY OF INFINITE CONSCIOUSNESS? HOW DID HE LEARN TO HATE AMERICA? HOW SHOULD OUR DEMOCRACY REACT? WHAT DO WE LEARN?

WE WASTE TIME AND ENERGY FOCUSING ON TECHNICALITIES, BLAME, GUN LAWS, POLITICALLY CORRECT COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES, DENIAL AND 2ND GUESSING. RATHER WE SHOULD PROFIT BY REFLECTING ON THE LACK OF A PERSONAL, PROPER PARENTING OR MENTORING FOR THIS INDIVIDUAL POSSESSED BY EVIL. YES, WHY DID HE DO IT?

LET US NOT LOSE THE PERSISTENT VISION OF POSSIBILITIES IN AMERICAN LIFE THAT THE FRENCHMAN ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE ADMIRED WHEN HE VISITED AMERICA IN 1831. LET US NOT FORGET WHAT JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, AN AMERICAN WRITER, SAID ABOUT US IN 1838, THAT "OUR DEMOCRACY IS BLESSED WITH A GENERAL ELEVATION IN THE CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE." COOPER ALSO WARNED ABOUT THE DRAWBACKS OF A DEMOCRACY. A FEW EXAMPLES : A TENDENCY TO MEDIOCRITY, A WANT OF NATIONAL MANLINESS AND CONTROL BY PUBLIC OPINION AND POPULAR IMPULSES. FURTHERMORE, COOPER WARNED THAT WE MUST NOT LET "THE FRAUDULENT AND AMBITIOUS" ... "FIND A MOTIVE TO MISLEAD, AND EVEN TO CORRUPT THE COMMON SENTIMENT, TO ATTAIN THEIR ENDS." UNFORTUNATELY POLITICIANS AND THE MEDIA ON DISPLAY YESTERDAY AND TODAY DEMONSTRATE THAT THEY HAVE THIS TACTIC DOWN TO AN ART FORM.
AMERICA'S NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS DOES NOT EMBODY ACQUIESCENCE. WE WILL CONTINUE TO LEARN ABOUT GRIEF, WHICH IN TURN WILL HELP US TO IMPROVE THE MORALITY OF OUR DEMOCRACY, OUR PARENTING AND CULTURE. THE DEVIL WILL ALWAYS BE WITH US BUT WE MUST BE EVER READY TO MAKE HIS JOB HARDER BY UNDERSTANDING HOW AND WHY HE DISGUISES A LIE AS A GOOD.