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The "Virginia Tech Massacre" was without a doubt, a tragedy. So many lives were taken violently, and even more were changed forever. The rest of us are left wondering why. Why did he do it? Why didn't the victims run or hide or fight back? Why didn't the school do more?

This sort of violence, however, is not new. It has happened before in middle schools, high schools, colleges, and places of work. This case is perhaps more shocking really only because of the high body count. Video games, music videos, television, and movies revel in this sort of behavior all of the time and we as a society can't get enough of it. The more blood, guts, and drama-the better. And yet this tragic event comes as a shock to us. We sit in front of our television sets and pour over newspaper articles, searching for answers.

The answer is: this is our fault-collectively. We live in a country that makes it easy for people to own guns, because after all guns don't kill people-people kill people. We support freedom of speech and freedom of press, no matter how violent or sadistic that speech or press is. We allow our children to play video games, listen to music with warning labels and watch R rated movies because, hey it's not real.

We may never know why the man that committed these murders did what he did. He may never have played a video game or watched a violent movie. And even if he had, these factors may have played no role in his acts yesterday. However, it seems somewhat hypocritical for us to now seem so shocked and appalled. Yes, clearly these acts were both shocking and appalling, and I am in no way trying to excuse his behavior. I am simply trying to make sure that we don't excuse our behavior either.

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