So, the response to the tragedy at Virginia Tech leaves me rather annoyed… More specifically, a few things: all the “today we’re all Hokies” Profile pictures on Facebook last week, and the wearing of VT’s colors last Friday.
It just seems like the American public, rather than expressing sympathies and making a difference, they jumped into a “me too” response (where, rather than doing something about it, they just change a profile picture or wear a different color that day). [Note: I’m over-generalizing with that last part, and I certainly realize that not everyone is guilty, but it is a somewhat disturbing trend amongst many…] Sure, it was a terrible event that few will forget in the near future, but what really resulted from it? What have we learned from it? What will change to make sure it never happens again?
That’s the part that gets me. Let’s think about Hurricane Katrina. This was another tragic event that occurred in August of 2005. Last week on NPR, they were in New Orleans talking about how things have been shaping up recently. There are still people in trailers, there is crime all over the place, and most of the promised FEMA funds haven’t arrived. Katrina was in the news for weeks, and lots of people went down to help, and lots of donations were sent. While many religious and campus organizations still spend their spring breaks down there, believe you me, the response is “attenuated”… What about the tsunami in Southeast Asia? Lots of people were left homeless and lots of money was sent initially. What about now? When was the last time you heard a report about that? What about the 140 people that died in Iraq the day after the VT shootings that went mostly unnoticed?
I guess I’m just trying to make sense of it all… It seems silly to me that we make ourselves feel better by trying to make ourselves a part of someone else’s tragedy, when we would all be better served by making a difference in our own lives and our own relationships to make sure the same mistakes aren’t made.
A week later, the VT tragedy is only barely in the news. They’ve [read: news organizations] all moved on already. They were so important last week – why not this week? What has changed?
Very little, and that’s the problem. Much like Katrina, the tsunami, Iraq and Columbine, we shouldn’t be surprised when this happens again.
i realize this was written some time ago, but i wanted to add my own “mindless ranting.” i think you’re making a wonderful point and that few have the courage to actually say these things. it’s as though it’s somehow taboo to say anything against the “outpouring of support” or whatever that “we are all hokies” bit was about. already, all those profile pics are gone and the hundreds of facebook groups that appeared are no longer visited. it’s great that people want to be sympathetic, but being proactive would be better. it’s like the surge of pseudo patriotism after 911. i think it’s the “pseudo” part that really annoys me.
on a positive note, texas a&m reevaluated their emergency system in response to VT and yesterday lauched a “Code Maroon” system that will send text messages to student/staff phones in the event of an emergency. so steps are being taken to avoid this sort of thing in the future.