Choosing Words
My students wanted to talk about VA Tech last night. It makes sense that in college classrooms everywhere, people would want to talk about the horrors they’ve seen, read about and can’t seem to escape.
I told them we would quickly reach the limits of my ability to talk about this subject.
I told them I have not followed the wall-to-wall coverage of the events.
I confessed that the only reports that have held my attention have been the stories about the victims being run at the end of different segments on NPR and other news outlets. I told them why I was interested in focusing on the victims here rather than the event, the massacre. I qualified my remarks by reminding them that I am a student of the history of political philosophy and someone who is interested in political rhetoric. I explained that naming the event was important and I further explained that focusing on the massacre, the events themselves – seemed fruitless to me.
This massacre at VA Tech (which certainly fits the definition of massacre in terms of numbers and method) seems to be different from the Srebrenica massacre, or the My Lai massacre, or any of the massacres committed by Saddman or other tyrants too numerous and infamous to name. We can and should call these things massacres because men can’t live with those who perpetrate such crimes against humanity. Furthermore, we can hold leaders and governments and maybe even peoples responsible. We can hold our leaders responsible either for committing them, or refusing to intervene when humanity and politics demands intervention. Our anger and even self-righteousness can be instruments of change, or at least signposts that there are those who are not cowed by tyrants and their horrors. We are not dogs and we will scream to high heaven when we see men and women murdered like dogs. If we cannot punish the political murderers in this time, we can condemn them in history and again, history means something to men.
I started to think about my use of the word tragedy, in contrast to someone who I love and respect using the term massacre to describe what happened earlier this week. I told them of the difference between the two terms, and the thoughtful position of my dear friend who said that VA Tech is best understood as a massacre. My students, for the most part thought massacre was the more appropriate term. I did not defend my use of the term tragedy to be a contradictory prick (although I can be that, no one knows that better than my students).
I continued by explaining, massacre elicits anger and demands retribution. Now consider the events from earlier this week….
Who ya gonna retribute against? Or how are you going to secure like institutions from this sort of thing ever happening again?
It was quiet in class, and as with many fine moments in teaching, chilling.
We all confronted, if not a deadly truth, a deadly reality about freedom, security, modernity, technology, leisure time, relative deprivation and the opportunity for one person to unleash mayhem.
Where does our anger get us? Some students wanted to see the murderer pay for his crimes, they wish he could stand trial.
I responded, who would be comforted by such a trial, who would be educated, who would be avenged, who would be deterred from future actions in the same mold? Wouldn’t this be like sentencing a killer tornado to death?
No response (although certainly there is one)
I explained that I choose to call this a tragedy and remember, with others, who we lost and not how they were lost. How they were lost is only a reminder of the waste. Who was lost, what they dreamt of doing (even if it is part of the media’s post-traumatic event puffery) still means something to those who are left. I looked at my class and told them:
“I can’t tell those who lost loved ones not to be angry. But, hearing the stories of those who were lost reminded me how lucky I am to know you at this time in your life. It is a privilege to work with you when you are so promising, hopeful, with only your dreams in front of you. Believe it or not folks, sometimes your parents and teachers forget what you are and what you represent, or only pay it lip service in some meaningless, political way. Out of the tragedy and knowing what the broken-hearted have lost, we can see who we still have and how precious you are.”
I told them we would quickly reach the limits of my ability to talk about this subject.
I told them I have not followed the wall-to-wall coverage of the events.
I confessed that the only reports that have held my attention have been the stories about the victims being run at the end of different segments on NPR and other news outlets. I told them why I was interested in focusing on the victims here rather than the event, the massacre. I qualified my remarks by reminding them that I am a student of the history of political philosophy and someone who is interested in political rhetoric. I explained that naming the event was important and I further explained that focusing on the massacre, the events themselves – seemed fruitless to me.
This massacre at VA Tech (which certainly fits the definition of massacre in terms of numbers and method) seems to be different from the Srebrenica massacre, or the My Lai massacre, or any of the massacres committed by Saddman or other tyrants too numerous and infamous to name. We can and should call these things massacres because men can’t live with those who perpetrate such crimes against humanity. Furthermore, we can hold leaders and governments and maybe even peoples responsible. We can hold our leaders responsible either for committing them, or refusing to intervene when humanity and politics demands intervention. Our anger and even self-righteousness can be instruments of change, or at least signposts that there are those who are not cowed by tyrants and their horrors. We are not dogs and we will scream to high heaven when we see men and women murdered like dogs. If we cannot punish the political murderers in this time, we can condemn them in history and again, history means something to men.
I started to think about my use of the word tragedy, in contrast to someone who I love and respect using the term massacre to describe what happened earlier this week. I told them of the difference between the two terms, and the thoughtful position of my dear friend who said that VA Tech is best understood as a massacre. My students, for the most part thought massacre was the more appropriate term. I did not defend my use of the term tragedy to be a contradictory prick (although I can be that, no one knows that better than my students).
I continued by explaining, massacre elicits anger and demands retribution. Now consider the events from earlier this week….
Who ya gonna retribute against? Or how are you going to secure like institutions from this sort of thing ever happening again?
It was quiet in class, and as with many fine moments in teaching, chilling.
We all confronted, if not a deadly truth, a deadly reality about freedom, security, modernity, technology, leisure time, relative deprivation and the opportunity for one person to unleash mayhem.
Where does our anger get us? Some students wanted to see the murderer pay for his crimes, they wish he could stand trial.
I responded, who would be comforted by such a trial, who would be educated, who would be avenged, who would be deterred from future actions in the same mold? Wouldn’t this be like sentencing a killer tornado to death?
No response (although certainly there is one)
I explained that I choose to call this a tragedy and remember, with others, who we lost and not how they were lost. How they were lost is only a reminder of the waste. Who was lost, what they dreamt of doing (even if it is part of the media’s post-traumatic event puffery) still means something to those who are left. I looked at my class and told them:
“I can’t tell those who lost loved ones not to be angry. But, hearing the stories of those who were lost reminded me how lucky I am to know you at this time in your life. It is a privilege to work with you when you are so promising, hopeful, with only your dreams in front of you. Believe it or not folks, sometimes your parents and teachers forget what you are and what you represent, or only pay it lip service in some meaningless, political way. Out of the tragedy and knowing what the broken-hearted have lost, we can see who we still have and how precious you are.”
posted by edP | 7:55 PM
7 Comments:
I am tired of talking about this crap myself but I just reiterate something I posted on Lies blogs. I posted it before the tapes where out of this nut job and his rantings. May be I am having a different perspective because I have dealt with mental illness in my family and my wifes. It sucks big huge donkey balls! No one wants to talk about it, most don’t believe it, people treat mentally ill people like they are weak and it’s there fault. Trust me these people REALLY don’t want to be crazy. The desperately want help but it’s a catch 22. If you ask for help you be told there is nothing wrong with you and suck it up. Or you get locked away and treated like a leper.
I am more upset that the signs where all there. He was reported, arrested, evaluated, locked up and told to seek help. The system then said well unless he asks for help are hands are tied until it escalates. (that’s gov and pych speak for turns violent.) I have heard those words from a doctor about my brother in law. He was hearing voices, seeing demons and doing really weird shit. He had threatened my wife before and I explained to him sick or not he talks to her like that I will beat him with-in an inch of his life, break his leg, arms and fingers. He never threatened my wife again and even started to look at me as fellow protector. Any way I just think some one knew this poor soul was a bomb about to go off. The are protected by not having to release their files, or they are shredded by now, under medical privacy.
I am tying to excuse this guy of his part in this. I just am scared shitless that I know there are a lot more like him out there. They are on the fringe of madness and the system won’t do anything until they do something like this. Even if they caught that guy would wouldn’t have sent him to prison. He just didn’t have the feel of your typical sicko, to me at least.
I am more afraid that we talked about the crazy person in our family last week. He ant doing so well. One thing I can’t get out of my mind that my father in law said last week was. They found a receipt for a pawnshop and asked him about it. His reply was none of you business. I think we will have to make our business and find out just what the fuck he is buying at a pawnshop.
I could be wrong and I am just seeing a lot of the same signs in this guy as I have seen in our family member. I have also said and keep saying that our family member needs to stay at a mental facility. I know it sucks because he is about 70/30 good to bad days. The problem is with the 30% bad. When will it happen, how bad will it be and who will be there to help.
The media is already portraying him as a monster, a coward the face of evil. What if he is just sick and we could have helped? What if the problem isn’t with him cracking but with us not willing to help because mental illness scares the hell out of people because, “they look so normal.”
The media, politicians and any one involved with this will take the easy road and put it all on this kid. It would be to hard to look in the mirror and realize we might all share some blame.
Well said, fellas. Meathead, I feel for you in your struggles - I have some experience with that myself and it does indeed suck big huge donkey balls.
The point that keeps gnawing at me is that slaughters on this scale happen EVERY DAY in places like Iraq and Darfur and probably a dozen other places around the world. The day of the VT shooting, there was also a huge incident in Baghdad - the death toll there was around 150. 33; 150. Isolated incident; daily event. So daily it's barely newsworthy anymore. So daily that nobody calls for candlelight vigils. Are there even enough candles in the world to honor all the people slaughtered in Baghdad alone in the last four years?
I'm not saying the VT incident is overblown; I'm saying the tallies of broken-hearted people are far larger than we'd care to admit - because we just can't carry that much sadness and still greet the sun. So an incident like VT, with a horrible body-count but not likely to happen again tomorrow, is much easier to wrap our minds and hearts around - most especially because we seem to think we're the only civilized nation, and such barbarity isn't supposed to happen here.
Uh-oh, rambling now. Hit the brakes.
Edp, your closing paragraph was terrific. I'm sure it brought great comfort to your students.
Off the subject, but Today's the day to post this... Happy birthday to your little jedi knight (or is he his daddy's "padawan learner"? hee hee!)
Yes! Happy Birthday Young Alex! Use the force!
Is it Alex's B-day? Happy Birthday, Alex! Congratulations on taking yer old man out in the light saber battle.
I think that the appropriate focus should be two fold. Why wasn't he flagged on his background check and why wasn't he given much more thorough mental health treatment.
I think in our very litigious nation, people are slow to do anything for fear of violating someone's rights and being sued. As time goes on we keep creating new laws and modifying others so that knowing exactly what is appropriate and what isn't in these cases is harder and harder to know. That is extremely problematic since law is supposed to protect us from our lesser selves.
Just one narrow point for Michael: His background check didn't throw any flags up, because there was no record of mental illness. I seem to recall in all the noise about it, that he was never treated.
There were, however, plenty of warnings - actual warnings - in his writing. Are you in favor of a pre-emptive strike (excuse me) pre-emptive action or restraint in cases like his (I mean, before someone actually kills people).
Joe, he was treated briefly and given a diagnoses of being a serious threat to himself and others and was neither flagged on his background check or given the mental health care he needed.
The major breakdown here is that current laws that would have taken care of both these problems were not enforced. People knew he was a ticking time bomb but nothing was done to remedy the situation. I can understand everyone wanting to lay off while people mourn but I want to know why the system that was supposed to prevent this was either not in place or broken.
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