by Zach Bigalke

Created on: April 20, 2007   Last Updated: April 23, 2007

The tragedy in Blacksburg was horrible. It is, too sadly, indicative of a culture of violence inherent in popular American society. It is the bloodlust that led the nation to initially support Bush, Democrats and Republicans alike, in the march to war. It is why gang violence and a Fight Club mentality are too-often glorified in our society. The kid, Cho Seung-Hui, was suffering from an imbalance (spiritual, chemical, or otherwise) which caused violence to become an acceptable solution to life's problems. The only difference between this youth and our president is that the president has the power to send other people in to kill, whereas Cho was forced to do the deeds himself. I am by no means condoning these actions; rather, because I have grown up in the same violent society, I can understand what might compel someone to rebel in such a manner.

But, whether an act of war or of terrorism or of sheer unmitigated violence, no logic can justify murder. Survival of the fittest goes completely out of the construct once the "fittest" becomes the one with the guns and the ammunition. Then it becomes the exertion of blind power over another which no nation or individual should ever be able to commit. On an individual level, it is homicide; on a grander scale genocide wreaks its ugly havoc once one state has it in its head that it should lord hegemonic power over others.

Weep for the families across the globe who suffer daily at the hands of unexpected killers. The families in the favelas of Sao Paolo... the civilians surrounded by blood-splattered walls in Fallujah... the brothers and sisters of those slain in Compton and Harlem and every other less-palatable urban squalor. Not all the world enjoys the pleasures of gated communities and automobiles or even computers like the one on which I currently type. Privilege does not issue a mandate to use force on the less-fortunate peoples of the world.

The deaths of the thirty-three at the hands - or assault weapons - of Cho Seung-Hui on the Virginia Tech campus once again open our nation's eyes to the folly of violence. It is a similar sting on a smaller scale to that felt on 11 September 2001. It is the pain we felt when the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building toppled under Timothy McVeigh's master plan in Oklahoma City. We look apathetically at tragedies around the globe; only once something catastrophic happens within our borders do Americans stand up from their malaise and wonder just what the hell is going wrong in our society.

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