Virginia Tech Tragedy (this thread is NOT for the debate of "gun control")

[ziadel]

*sigh*

This is terrible guys, it honestly is.

[FailedEagle]

Shakran, I agree with you completely. Local Murders are broadcast on local news stations. My disdain is for the people that say that this isn't important. Assuming you are from the United States, let me ask you this, Did you feel the pain, anger, frustration, during the course of events that happened Sept. 11? The only thing that those innocent people did was go to work that morning. Are you saying that event wasn't important because we need to be worried about the rest of the world's deaths? Hell, I'll even take it a step further. I don't think it was just Americans that mourned those losses. Because it was a travesty. It's not necessarily just a loss of life that makes it so close to us, but it's the loss of innocent lives. When I read about the Tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean in '04, My thoughts and prayers went out to those people. They didn't do anything to create that devastation, it was thrust upon them. Yes, we all die, but it's the opportunity to live that was taken away.

[squirrelyburt]

I cannot believe you who politicize an insane criminal act.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.

[kangaeru]

33 college students who were in the prime of their life and poised to finally join the ranks of the adult were randomly gunned down. This is a national tragedy, and I mourn not only for the dead and their families but also for those people posting here and elsewhere who live their lives with such cynicism and despair that they are no longer capable of empathizing with such a loss of life.

yes, death happens every day. It is true that we can't mourn for everybody, but at least some of us still have enough compassion left in us to mourn for those we can.

[fhqwhgads]

I don't think that this is on the news because people believe that their deaths are more or less tragic than the deaths of those in war... it's the absurdity of the situation that makes it newsworthy.

If a lion eats a tribesman in the middle of the Serengeti, it's not newsworthy. If a lion eats a soccer mom in the middle of the supermarket, it's going to be all over friggin the news... not because of the social standing or the bank account of the victim, but because of the setting. No one expects Linda to get eaten while picking out her Pop-Tarts.

Deaths in Iraq are not as newsworthy because it is expected in wartime that there will be casualties. It doesn't make their deaths any less tragic, just less sensational.

[serlindsipity]

So, I need to add my statement.

Iraq - yes dangerous. its a war zone and people die. But you do need to factor in that these people (the americans at least)willingly signed up . <b>They were told they could die, and they are in the act of killing others as well. It sucks, but there is an undeniable risk to being in the military</b>.

However, these students and kids, well they didnt have a gun in their hands to fight back. They didn't have protective gear and they were not in a situation where they knew they could be hurt or killed.<u> They were fucking fish in a barrel</u>. Is this like Iraq? No, so stop comparing it. This is not apples to apples here.

It is tragic. We are not at war on our turf. There are many of us on this forum who are kids in college trying to learn to make a difference in hopes that neither random acts of violence or ridiculous wars do not continue on anyone's turf. We are rich and poor alike... although the numbers are different, we are still similar. We bleed the same and we still have many who mourn for us.

[Jetée]

Originally Posted by fhqwhgads

I don't think that this is on the news because people believe that their deaths are more or less tragic than the deaths of those in war... it's the absurdity of the situation that makes it newsworthy.

If a lion eats a tribesman in the middle of the Serengeti, it's not newsworthy. If a lion eats a soccer mom in the middle of the supermarket, it's going to be all over friggin the news... not because of the social standing or the bank account of the victim, but because of the setting. No one expects Linda to get eaten while picking out her Pop-Tarts.

Deaths in Iraq are not as newsworthy because it is expected in wartime that there will be casualties. It doesn't make their deaths any less tragic, just less sensational.

I truly thank you for putting this in perspective and in such a simple 'for-instance' scenario. This is exactly how one should approach the tragedy that occurred today. Not in the full scope of killings and deaths that happen worldwide, but in the sense that here, and now, there were 30+ innocent members of an institution of higher learning, yet more importantly, members of society at large, that were murdered in a hail of gunfire.

Killing is senseless, yet to deny that very statement because the media and societies in question decide to selectively report on what would be the most relevant to its target audience is ludicrous. This is only a mere effort to inform us, the general public, that death and slayings are not a commonplace. Or at the very least, they shouldn't be. If one chooses to disegard what happened today at VATech as just another incident, then that individual has become all too jaded by the way the world works. That is what I deem to be tragic.

[Ballzor]

Originally Posted by kangaeru

33 college students who were in the prime of their life and poised to finally join the ranks of the adult were randomly gunned down. This is a national tragedy, and I mourn not only for the dead and their families but also for those people posting here and elsewhere who live their lives with such cynicism and despair that they are no longer capable of empathizing with such a loss of life.

yes, death happens every day. It is true that we can't mourn for everybody, but at least some of us still have enough compassion left in us to mourn for those we can.

this thread should be closed with this post moved to the top. anyone who wants to try to argue against this. You are, In Fact, wrong.. and you're a communist.

[Glory's Sun]

Originally Posted by Ballzor

this thread should be closed with this post moved to the top. anyone who wants to try to argue against this. You are, In Fact, wrong.. and you're a communist.

Oh noes!! The Communists are coming! The Communists are coming!!


You know, as I was watching some TV last night and every channel had something on about this tragedy.. I wonder if the same media coverage would have been given to an event like this if it took place in an inner city school. I think we'd just have a 5 minute clip about it and then "in other news.."

For anyone who says that the kids were fish in a barrel, or that troops oversees expect to be killed etc, since when was America so fucking safe that you didn't have to watch your back?? Maybe you people should have grown up where I grew up. The America I grew up in must be alot different.

You can live in the city with the lowest crime rate but that doesn't mean you're safe. So in my eyes, to call this a tragedy, and overlook all the other issues that abound is an even bigger tragedy.

[shesus]

Originally Posted by guccilver

You can live in the city with the lowest crime rate but that doesn't mean you're safe. So in my eyes, to call this a tragedy, and overlook all the other issues that abound is an even bigger tragedy.

Exactly what I was thinking. I find that whenever something happens in a 'safe' area, it's a tragedy. No where is safe, we should have learned that in 1999 or before. There are much bigger issues occurring in the country and the world. However, instead of dealing with the tougher issues, it's easier to be somber and discuss an issue like this where the problem committed suicide.

[warrrreagl]

I've worked on two different college campuses since 9/11. On both campuses, we were REQUIRED by Homeland Security to have security measures planned and documented for inspection. When I hear the VaTech president talk about how they had a meeting to determine HOW they were going to notify students, I just scream! That stuff has ALREADY BEEN decided and you're supposed to automatically throw into motion the procedures.

Believe me, school campuses all over the country have spent the past 5 years tuning and fine-tuning emergency procedures, so their official non-reaction to the first incident just seems totally ridiculous to me.

[The_Jazz]

Originally Posted by warrrreagl

I've worked on two different college campuses since 9/11. On both campuses, we were REQUIRED by Homeland Security to have security measures planned and documented for inspection. When I hear the VaTech president talk about how they had a meeting to determine HOW they were going to notify students, I just scream! That stuff has ALREADY BEEN decided and you're supposed to automatically throw into motion the procedures.

Believe me, school campuses all over the country have spent the past 5 years tuning and fine-tuning emergency procedures, so their official non-reaction to the first incident just seems totally ridiculous to me.

Until you mentioned this, it never occurred to me. Now that you have, I can't believe it! It's so blindingly obvious that there would be these procedures in place, if for no other reason than to deal with another 9/11-type situation. There should have been a big manual with a list of responsibilities and a chain of command.

I don't necessarily believe that the school dropped the ball in not cancelling classes and locking down campus after the dorm shooting because no one could have anticipated what was going to come next, but if the above is true, they did drop it on getting the news out and communicating with everyone.

[Ample]

Originally Posted by The_Jazz

I don't necessarily believe that the school dropped the ball in not cancelling classes and locking down campus after the dorm shooting because no one could have anticipated what was going to come next, but if the above is true, they did drop it on getting the news out and communicating with everyone.

Wouldn't you want to presume the worst? Take all the precautions, necessary or not?

When this happens again, I bet the future protocol of every school and college for this type of situation will be to cancel classes and shut down the school.

[mixedmedia]

Originally Posted by shesus

Exactly what I was thinking. I find that whenever something happens in a 'safe' area, it's a tragedy. No where is safe, we should have learned that in 1999 or before. There are much bigger issues occurring in the country and the world. However, instead of dealing with the tougher issues, it's easier to be somber and discuss an issue like this where the problem committed suicide.

I think this is true. But frankly, I blame our post-9/11 "news" pageantry. It's obscene. I don't watch any of it anymore.

note: I realize that the news was obnoxious before, but since 9/11 it has kicked into ultra-emotional pornographic mode. The entire concept and its relation to commerce is a travesty.

That's my opinion anyway.

...and also, don't you ever get the feeling that the news media are always trying to recapture those "glory days" after 9/11?

...doesn't that make you kind of sick?

And I'm not trying to be mean and suggest that people in the media weren't devastated by 9/11...just that that "ching, ching" sound is a nice background noise to have during times of tragedy.

[abaya]

You know, I live in Iceland. I don't watch TV, and even if I did, I wouldn't know what they were saying about this... American news doesn't usually make it to prime-time or the front page, simply because they have their own tragedies here.

But I picked up the paper this morning and VT had made the front page. This is a big deal, even in a country where few people give a shit about what happens in America. These lives were NOT more important than what is happening in Iraq or anywhere else in the world. But the way in which these people died, not as soldiers but as students and professors sitting in a classroom, is what makes this kind of story into front page news. It is human interest. If this happened in ANY country, with any kind of media, it would be on the front page, no matter how many other people faced natural mortality or were shot in Iraq that day. Those are, for good or bad, "acceptable" ways for people to die.

This VT shooting was NOT a normal way or time for a group of people to die. Why is it so difficult for some of you to just have some friggin' empathy for the situation?

[shakran]

Originally Posted by mixedmedia

...and also, don't you ever get the feeling that the news media are always trying to recapture those "glory days" after 9/11?

Uh. No. We're not. We don't EVER want to have to cover something like that again. We don't EVER want to cover a shooting again. Do you have any idea what it means to the news crew when even one person gets murdered? They actually make us go up to the family that just found out their loved one was killed, and we have to talk to them. We hate it. Every single journalist out there absolutely HATES talking to victims relatives. We'd much rather cover politics or even some feature story.

The only glory part of that tragedy was that journalists, for once, were allowed to do what we're here to do - inform the public of the issues no matter what the cost, and without having to report bullshit like Anna Nichole. Of course that glory part was tarnished quite a bit for those of us that realized that 9/11 happened BECAUSE the media failed to inform the public of the growing danger from bin Laden and BECAUSE during the Clinton administration the media focused on a blowjob instead of the real issues.

...doesn't that make you kind of sick?

Yeah, pretty sickening that people think that we cheer at a mass tragedy.

And I'm not trying to be mean and suggest that people in the media weren't devastated by 9/11...just that that "ching, ching" sound is a nice background noise to have during times of tragedy.

Too bad none of us heard that. We lost money, BIGtime on 9/11. I'm not just talking about the transmitters that all of NYC broadcasters lost - although that's a few mil right there. But whenever you see us go wall to wall coverage - CNN did it for more than 24 hours, as did MSNBC, and even many locals went wall to wall for most of the day - we're losing shitloads of money. Wall to wall coverage = no ads, and no ads = no money coming in. Add to that the fact that we had to spend a crapload of money just logistically covering the story, and it all winds up being a big financial hit for us. But we did it anyway because the people needed to know what was going on. Heck CBS even produced a 2 hour 9/11 special a few weeks after the towers fell, and ran it with no ads. I was surprised and impressed by that - they didn't make any money doing that, yet they did it anyway.

Some of you guys don't seem to understand how much it costs to do even the crappy job that modern journalism does. Any time you see footage from a helicopter, it cost $1,000 just to start the engine on the bird, not to mention the fact that the helicopter itself was a million plus. Any time you see video of something that happened outside of the area the broadcast is happening, it was a few hundred for satellite time - and half a million minimum for the truck. Even local liveshots are done out of a $250,000 van.

Then with that wall to wall coverage there was massive amounts of overtime being paid out.

The average midmarket station easily goes through 1-2 THOUSAND dollars a week just in gas.

In short, if the ads aren't playing, we're taking huge financial losses, so if you think 9/11 was awesome for us on a monetary basis, think again.

[warrrreagl]

Originally Posted by The_Jazz

There should have been a big manual with a list of responsibilities and a chain of command.

I guarantee you that on every single campus in the US receiving federal money (from pre-school all the way to graduate school) there IS such a manual.

[JustJess]

^^ Thanks, shakran. I find it very interesting, and actually comforting, to know these things about the other side of the media. I appreciate this, and I am glad to know you all don't want to be interviewing victims either... seems a shift in management wouldn't be a bad thing.

Back on topic, I think abaya's spot on, along with a few others here - look, I'm not exactly all torn up about this, it's too removed from my life. However, I do see it as a senseless, regrettable tragedy. I'm sorry for those families and students that now have serious fear introduced into their lives. And it is all about context and how numb we are. Gangbangers shooting each other? Mundane, occurs daily. Still a tragedy but overexposure has lost us the ability to react daily. Random, unexpected shooting of 33 people? Yeah, that's shocking. Context, people. Look it up.

That said.... there's a lot of shit we should be more upset about, all across the board. No doubt. As poppinjay once quoted...
"I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip." -Lydia Millet

[mixedmedia]

Then why do you do it?

Do you think we need to hear people to speak about their recently dead loved ones?

You have your perspective. I have mine. If that's no concern of yours, so be it.

And if you're going to try and tell someone that the news media is not in the business of making money and that the coverage of "big news" doesn't bring in more money then you might want to find someone else.

Yes, 9/11 affected us all and perhaps that was a bad analogy (which I tried to make up for with my latter comment), but in most "breaking news" situations, where what is being covered does not directly affect the dissemination of news, it is "opportunity" for news coverage.

I'm sorry that they make you interview people in mourning. But, just remind yourself, when you're talking to me about it, that you're not doing it for me.

[warrrreagl]

I just dug through my e-mails for this semester, and here is the latest one we received for campus emergency procedures. Although it is dated Feb. 19, we get a similar update once a year as our procedures are constantly being refined. I altered some of the wording to keep us anonymous, and please pay particular notice to the highlighted areas. Notice that our lock-down procedure is not new, but is in the process of improvement.

Several months ago we consulted with Mr. C, Director of Emergency Management in our area, regarding our campus emergency response and designated shelters. We learned two major things from Mr. C. First, he suggested a few changes to our shelter locations. Secondly, we discussed a “lock down” alarm and procedure.

In response to this walk through with Mr. C we have proposed a change to some of our designated shelter locations. We want to eliminate the biology labs and bathrooms on the lower level of B. Hall from our list of shelter locations. We will add second floor classrooms on the east side of the building to the list of shelters.

We also tested our campus alarm system so that we may add a fourth alarm, a lock down alarm. Why do we need a lock down response? Some examples for a lock down include hazardous materials in the air/area, domestic violence on campus, a need to isolate a current incident to its current location, etc. This really is a “stay put” alarm being referred to as lock down. In testing the alarms we learned that a couple of the alarms were difficult to distinguish between the two. Adding another alarm would not be easy or useful. We concluded that fewer alarms may be better.

The Safety and Security Committee met on two occasions (January 3 and February 16) to consider all of this information. The committee agreed that we should have fewer alarms not more. They voted we settle on two alarms, one for lock down and one for evacuation. The committee also agreed to create a flyer to post in all of the classrooms and bulletin boards on campus. The committee reviewed three flyers and chose the one attached. We would like to begin this new procedure on March 1, 2007 because the storm season is just around the corner. We will proceed with the posting of flyers and proceed with the new alarm procedure unless we receive compelling reasons to delay action.

Thank you to the Safety and Security Committee for your work.

This e-mail is by no means unique. Every campus in the US goes through similar procedures every year.

So I just don't understand their ignorance at Va Tech about emergency response.

[shakran]

Originally Posted by mixedmedia

Then why do you do it?

Because you watch it. I don't like it either.

Do you think we need to hear people to speak about their recently dead loved ones?

No.

And if you're going to try and tell someone that the news media is not in the business of making money and that the coverage of "big news" doesn't bring in more money then you might want to find someone else.

OK. Then you tell me how we made money off of 9/11 when we didn't sell ANY ads during the wall to wall coverage of it.

Yes, 9/11 affected us all and perhaps that was a bad analogy (which I tried to make up for with my latter comment), but in most "breaking news" situations, where what is being covered does not directly affect the dissemination of news, it is "opportunity" for news coverage.

I won't argue with that. I'll go further to say that most breaking news isn't breaking news, but rather another lame attempt to convince the viewer to watch - -one that I personally think the viewer sees through.

I'm sorry that they make you interview people in mourning. But, just remind yourself, when you're talking to me about it, that you're not doing it for me.

No, I'm not. But remember when you blast the entire media that your stereotypes do not apply to all of us.

[mixedmedia]

Originally Posted by shakran

Because you watch it. I don't like it either.

No. I don't.

No, I'm not. But remember when you blast the entire ____ that your stereotypes do not apply to all of us.

Ditto.

OK. Then you tell me how we made money off of 9/11 when we didn't sell ANY ads during the wall to wall coverage of it.

I already admitted that 9/11 was a bad analogy. Just every other "big news" event but 9/11, okay?

I don't want to butt heads with you again, shakran. But just like you, I don't mouth off and say the things I do unless it is something I truly care about. I DO NOT like to argue. Sometimes we just have to live with the fact that people have differing opinions, even if it's just for the sake of preserving our own sanity.

[Ourcrazymodern?]

Damnit, damnit, damnit, damnit, damnit!

My prayers (such as they are) are with the innocent victims and their families.
The gunman's motives, unclear, were still evil.

[ubertuber]

Originally Posted by warrrreagl

This e-mail is by no means unique. Every campus in the US goes through similar procedures every year.

That's not strictly true. I've worked in the administration of two schools (yes, both were federal aid recipients) and saw no such information or plans at either - and I worked in a department that would HAVE to know the policies and procedures. I think the reality is that a lot of schools are woefully unprepared for emergencies. This was something that made me quite anxious until I left.

I'm not saying that the schools shouldn't have these plans ready for execution or that they aren't required by law - just that some don't.

EDIT: Also, I'm rereading that email. I wish that we had things like that at the schools where I worked. However, from the email, it appears that the lockdown alarm at your institution would have been new. I'm sure you have information that is more accurate, having actually worked there.

[FailedEagle]

Originally Posted by guccilvr

You know, as I was watching some TV last night and every channel had something on about this tragedy.. I wonder if the same media coverage would have been given to an event like this if it took place in an inner city school. I think we'd just have a 5 minute clip about it and then "in other news.."

Right, because the victims of Katrina didn't get any news coverage or support.

Just because tragedy takes place in a low-income or inner city area, doesn't make the public care any less about them. (Just GW ) Same concept that took out hours of the medias time, not just a five minute clip.

Originally Posted by guccilvr

For anyone who says that the kids were fish in a barrel, or that troops oversees expect to be killed etc, since when was America so fucking safe that you didn't have to watch your back?? Maybe you people should have grown up where I grew up. The America I grew up in must be alot different.

You can live in the city with the lowest crime rate but that doesn't mean you're safe. So in my eyes, to call this a tragedy, and overlook all the other issues that abound is an even bigger tragedy.

Come on, man. It doesn't matter where you grow up, unexpected things can happen every day. I just I wonder if you would trivialize 9/11 or Katrina or even the soldiers dying Iraq, the way that you do the VT shootings.

[Glory's Sun]

Originally Posted by FailedEagle

Right, because the victims of Katrina didn't get any news coverage or support.

Sure they got coverage.. plenty of it. That doesn't mean that if this same scenario took place in an inner city school it would get the same coverage. Natural disasters are quite a bit different than some loser who decides to shoot some kids.

Just because tragedy takes place in a low-income or inner city area, doesn't make the public care any less about them. (Just GW ) Same concept that took out hours of the medias time, not just a five minute clip.

I'd bet money that you'd see very little of it. Hell we don't see much about the ghetto shootings that happen?? Why?? It happens everyday right? So we're used to it.. it's normal by now.

Come on, man. It doesn't matter where you grow up, unexpected things can happen every day. I just I wonder if you would trivialize 9/11 or Katrina or even the soldiers dying Iraq, the way that you do the VT shootings.

Look I don't really care about people dying. I don't care that it happened. All I'm trying to say is that if you want to call something a tragedy, then perhaps you (you being everyone) should really look at the tragedies that are rampant in the country and the world. Don't call one "random" act of shooting a tragedy, yet simply pretend and become numb to all the shootings that occur every fucking day.

[mixedmedia]

I care about people dying. I call it a tragedy. And I call all of mankind's ridiculous violent escapades tragedies.

So there.

[ShaniFaye]

Originally Posted by guccilvr

Look I don't really care about people dying. I don't care that it happened.

to me that statement is a tragedy

would you be as uncaring if any of these people had been your family?

[Jetée]

Originally Posted by Jetstream

If one chooses to disegard what happened today at VATech as just another incident, then that individual has become all too jaded by the way the world works. That is what I deem to be tragic.

I am trying to make a vital point here.

[World's King]

Blah... Blah... Blah...


I'm so annoyed with this...


In fact. I was annoyed with this pretty much five seconds after I found out about it.



When someone actually has something constructive to say or do about things like this then I'll start paying attention again. But for now I'm gonna ignore the pointless dribble coming out of people.


Oh wait... nothing will ever be done about things like this. Cause there isn't anything. Humans are violent by nature and they always will be. As long as we are still human, we will continue to kill each other. And I don't see us stop being human any time soon.

[serlindsipity]

I wont disagree with the fact people are violent by nature. But to lose hope that good will prevail is almost as bad.

[filtherton]

Originally Posted by World's King

...

It's funny you'd say that the way you said it, king. It seems like you wrote something that could be considered pointless and annoying about how pointless and annoying you're finding the things other people are writing. Is this some sort of attempt at sardonic irony, or do you really have nothing better to do than complain about people talking about this?

When tragic shit happens, one of the ways that people deal with it is to talk about it. Even if to you it seems like what they are saying is pointless and annoying, to them it can be a valuable way of dealing with and making sense of what has happened. Communication can be therapeutic.

So please stop trying to claim that discussion of the current matter is pointless, because for a lot of people it actually isn't.

[highthief]

Originally Posted by World's King

Oh wait... nothing will ever be done about things like this. Cause there isn't anything. Humans are violent by nature and they always will be. As long as we are still human, we will continue to kill each other. And I don't see us stop being human any time soon.

Yet the vast majority of humans never come close to killing another human.

So humans aren't really terribly violent by nature, I don't think. We do, however, have a number of defective people living within our societies.

[Glory's Sun]

Originally Posted by ShaniFaye

to me that statement is a tragedy

would you be as uncaring if any of these people had been your family?

Yes I would be as uncaring. I've had family members die. I didn't cry, I didn't feel hopeless, I didn't feel sorry for anyone. It's a fact of life. One that I'm not scared of and one that I'm not going to waste feelings on because it happens every day.

[shakran]

Originally Posted by mixedmedia

No. I don't.

I was grossly unclear there, and for that I apologize. I meant the generic "you the viewer," not YOU specifically. Unfortunately, most viewers aren't as enlightened as you are, and they DO watch that crap.

I already admitted that 9/11 was a bad analogy. Just every other "big news" event but 9/11, okay?

Again, it's going to depend on the news event. We don't make as much money off of big news as you think. We can't charge any more for advertising - it's not like the advertisers give a damn WHAT we're showing, just how many eyeballs we pull in. Big news requires lots of setup, special equipment, and often rentals. We make quite a bit more money doing those bullshit health stories, or those craptacular "it's warm out today!" stories than we make when we have to cover something big.

I'm cool with you "mouthing off" as you said (I don't think of it that way) on whatever you want, but if I see something inaccurate, I will step in and point it out. An opinion formed on faulty facts is not a good opinion.

[snowy]

Originally Posted by ubertuber

That's not strictly true. I've worked in the administration of two schools (yes, both were federal aid recipients) and saw no such information or plans at either - and I worked in a department that would HAVE to know the policies and procedures. I think the reality is that a lot of schools are woefully unprepared for emergencies. This was something that made me quite anxious until I left.

I'm not saying that the schools shouldn't have these plans ready for execution or that they aren't required by law - just that some don't.

EDIT: Also, I'm rereading that email. I wish that we had things like that at the schools where I worked. However, from the email, it appears that the lockdown alarm at your institution would have been new. I'm sure you have information that is more accurate, having actually worked there.

I think for colleges one of the problems with having a campus safety plan is the sheer size of the operation. At my university, there are over a hundred buildings on campus and each one has to have an evacuation plan. Good luck on getting all of the students (over 20,000 of them) to learn it for each building they have classes in. Colleges also don't drill students on evacuations or emergency procedures the way other schools do. I guess they figure that by the time we're adults we should know what to do in certain situations, but the POINT of emergency plans is to have a clear procedure to follow so that when push comes to shove people don't panic--because even adults panic, and to assume we can handle ourselves in an emergency situation is pushing it, I think.

By contrast, every school I've ever worked at, every school district I've worked for has had a clear emergency plan for every campus and every situation. The last high school I worked at had a handbook and a quick-flip guide for teachers to keep in their desks. They practice fire drills once a month and earthquake drills every quarter. My university has no such thing, but I am glad to say the president has already drafted a response to the VT tragedy, and I'm quite sure campus safety, Oregon State Police, and the administration will be working together to make my campus safer in the future, for future students.

[mixedmedia]

Again, it's going to depend on the news event. We don't make as much money off of big news as you think. We can't charge any more for advertising - it's not like the advertisers give a damn WHAT we're showing, just how many eyeballs we pull in. Big news requires lots of setup, special equipment, and often rentals. We make quite a bit more money doing those bullshit health stories, or those craptacular "it's warm out today!" stories than we make when we have to cover something big.

I'm cool with you "mouthing off" as you said (I don't think of it that way) on whatever you want, but if I see something inaccurate, I will step in and point it out. An opinion formed on faulty facts is not a good opinion.

Fine. I will take you assertion as an insider that tv news doesn't exploit tragedy for money. But (significantly) they exploit it, and for whatever reason it is that they do so, I am opposed to it.

[mrklixx]

I think it would be a good idea for the admins to keep this thread handy to give to the FBI when one of the posters here does something similar. Because they are either starved for attention and trolling with macho bravado bullshit, or they are sociopathic timebombs. Cho Seung-Hui held the same amoral, "anti-rich" views as those expressed here. And I'd be willing to bet money that there are similar posts by Cho out there on a board/blog/chatroom.

[mixedmedia]

Originally Posted by mrklixx

I think it would be a good idea for the admins to keep this thread handy to give to the FBI when one of the posters here does something similar. Because they are either starved for attention and trolling with macho bravado bullshit, or they are sociopathic timebombs. Cho Seung-Hui held the same amoral, "anti-rich" views as those expressed here. And I'd be willing to bet money that there are similar posts by Cho out there on a board/blog/chatroom.

Who are you referring to exactly?

[World's King]

Originally Posted by mrklixx

I think it would be a good idea for the admins to keep this thread handy to give to the FBI when one of the posters here does something similar. Because they are either starved for attention and trolling with macho bravado bullshit, or they are sociopathic timebombs. Cho Seung-Hui held the same amoral, "anti-rich" views as those expressed here. And I'd be willing to bet money that there are similar posts by Cho out there on a board/blog/chatroom.

I'll be the first to say that I may or may not be a sociopathic time bomb.