Happy 4-20

Cho sent NBC a treat a few days back in the form of a multimedia powerpoint presentation of hate. The 1,800-word mumbled manifesto comes off like some depressed kid's livejournal entry.

Here's the video, linked in a chopped-up form from YouTube for reasons I'll talk about in a second. Cho looks down at his feet and mumbles in monotone.

"I had to... You had a hundred billion chances to avoid today, but you decided to spill my blood, etc."

You know the quotes by now. But take away everything you know about this story and imagine someone just sent you this video of a kid ranting like this and pointing firearms at a camera while looking tough. He comes off like any other idiot on the Internet; parading his darkness around for everyone to see, proudly reciting practiced and embarrassing speeches, and posing daringly.

So, naturally people need to get worked into a tizzy over NBC's decision to air the footage. And just like every time the news confronts you with something you don't want to see, it's time to get righteously indignant. It's time for a good ol' fashioned media spankin'! Immediately, news organizations begin censoring themselves.

NEW YORK - With a backlash developing against the news media for airing sickening photos from Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui, Fox News Channel said Thursday it would stop showing them and other networks said they would severely limit their use.

Well, the video was shocking to the families of the victims, to be sure. But how much worse can it be from the full-steam-ahead nonstop, no-end-in-sight coverage the media outlets have been using since Monday? And to be fair, Brian Jennings prefaced the footage with about 3 excruciating minutes of buildup and explanation. Anyone who had any problems with the video had oodles of time to get up from their chair, rip up the couch cushions to look for the remote to turn the volume down, head for the door, trip over the cat on the way out, fix the crooked picture of grandma hanging on the wall, scratch their nose and head for the kitchen for a snack before Cho's face popped up once in the coverage.

The police, ever the shining moral compass for the rest of the nation, said they were disappointed in the airing of the footage. I'd have a snarky comment about that, but getting pooh-poohed by a cop is like getting let off with a warning instead of a speeding ticket.

NBC defended its use of the video and they're the ones coming out on top of this whole mess. They had their scoop over everyone else and now other major news organizations are too limp-wristed to use the video themselves.

The gains of sensationalism aside, you can't let something like this go. As a reporter it's your job to fill in the public with as many details as you can. The first and biggest question out of everyone's mouth after something like this is "Why?" So "why" not give the killer a chance to speak for himself?

It's not like this is the first video of a school shooting the media ever ran. Recognize this? And in an era of Myspace where cameras are cheap and your personal dignity is easier than ever to sell out, Cho's videotaped rant is a historic moment where everyone with access to a computer can get inside the head of a lunatic.

People want to hear what he has to say. People *want* to see that tape. As much as they don't like to admit it, people want to look when they see a car accident on the side of the road.

Psychologists had this to say about the tape. I don't want to concede that they have a point, because I don't know if they do. I feel funny when people in suits tell me that the public should be protected from some kinds of speech, especially when its as ridiculous and bumbling as Cho's.

April 20 (4-20, geddit?) marks the 8th Anniversary of the Columbine Massacre. Marilyn Manson, gave several brilliant interviews as everyone was busy trying to stick his head on a pike as a warning other rock artists. Today, as reports try to turn this into Columbine 2.0 (remember the Natural Born Killers?) I think it might be worthwhile to link Manson's interview with Michael Moore. Manson said he would have listened to the killers. I don't think this would work in Cho's case, as Cho didn't really like to talk that much.

Fox Experts: Satan Turned Cho Evil!

Fox News interviewed more experts, one of which is from Oral Roberts University, who claimed that The Devil could have masterminded Cho's shooting.

Was Cho Seung-Hui schizophrenic … psychotic … manic-depressive? Or were the shooting deaths of 32 people, including Cho himself, at Virginia Tech University part of the ongoing struggle between God and Satan … good against evil … lightness and darkness?

Could Cho have been possessed by the Devil? Could that explain the massacre at Virginia Tech?

Not only is Roberts the president of the university, but he's also seen The Devil cast out of a person. That's why he's an expert on the subject.

They cite the Stanford Prison Experiment as an example of "outside demonic possession" or, how Satan gets into your soul from the outside. In the prison experiment, it says the prison environment allowed Satanic influence to pollute the hearts of the student volunteers. In Cho's case, the experts say, it's *obvious* it was outside satanic influence corrupting his mind because he left a note ranting against rich kids and charlatans.

While the prison experiment is a creepy read, I don't think it mentioned Satan once. But if I was the kind of person who saw the Devil's face in the 9-11 smoke, I'd be pretty alarmed at evil colleges and universities where this sort of thing went on:

Satanic “oppression," on the other hand, is "that which comes against." "It’s not in a person, but is coming against them, trying to put evil thoughts in their minds,” Roberts said.

Wouldn't you?

We're a little over 72 hours out from the shooting. Keep in mind that very little is known about Cho. His family is still in seclusion from the press. The truth will out, but in the meantime we can interpret and re-interpret the facts to fit whatever costume we want to dress it in. And afterword it won't even matter what actually happened!

Oddly enough, a pastor at the Crystal Cathedral had the most levelheaded comment in the entire article.

Rev. Robert H. Schuller, founding pastor of the Crystal Cathedral, who says he’s “not prepared to give the Devil credit for insanity.”

In addition to his theological accolades, Schuller has a background in psychology. He says of Cho: “I think it’s pure psychotic crack-up.

“I’m not denying that Satan himself could have been in this act. I’m just saying if he was, I’m not giving him credit for it.”

Speaking of which, I'm wondering about some of this attribution. What exactly constitutes Schuller's psychological background, for example? Wikipedia said he graduated with a liberal arts degree followed up by a theology degree, but makes no references to psychology. His Hour of Power homepage refers to him as Dr. Schuller, but his doctorate degrees are all honorary.

The closest thing to a "psychological background" I could find for him was a leadership award from the Munger Center of Psychological Services. I couldn't find a Web site, but I found it referenced on another Christian counseling Web site as a Christian psychology center located in Hollywood.

So Schuller isn't a doctor of anything, he may have only taken a psych course during his time at college and he has a leadership award from a faith-based counseling center that doesn't have any information online. Faith based counseling, as some of you remember, brings us things like the possibly damaging reparative therapy for homosexuals.


And yet he's attributed as source on psychology?

I know for us hip and cynical Internet people, this isn't a big surprise coming from Fox News. They carry their bias like a 20-pound sledge hammer. But it's the little subtle pinpricks like this that undermine the very basics of reporting. Imagine the *millions* of people who read that story and think "well he is an authority on psychology, he should know!"

Let's muscle this shooting into a debate on Iraq and Iran.

A blogger put this whole shooting into a -eh- perspective by comparing it to one day in Iraq. Posted under the title, "Now Do You Understand?" Larry Johnson compares Monday's body count to a pile of articles of Iraqi body counts.

He says:

The next time you hear Dick Cheney or George Bush blame the public attitude regarding Iraq on the media's failure to report "good news", examine carefully our reaction to the shooting at Virginia Tech. Look at our collective shock. Our horrified reaction. The public sorrow. Yet, in truth, this is an exceptional, unusual day in America. It is not our common experience. But we cannot say the same about Iraq.

First of all, I wanted to post this because - in addition to videogames, gun laws, campus security, and authority failure - we have now co-opted the shooting into a debate about Iraq and U.S. Foreign policy. I'm split on how I feel about his article. While this has certainly shocked the nation, I can't help but feel that every other college student in the country is reasonably certain they'll come home from class at the end of the day. That and the worst of it is already over. He did blow his brains out already and there isn't a few hundred Seung-Hui's willing to do the same like there is in Iraq.

The suicide bombers in Iraq and their American foes also work with some ideology behind them. And with every new story that's published about Cho, it's more and more certain that "F--king Crazy" is not an ideology.

President Bush is more subtle.

At his speech at the U.S. Holocaust museum today, he honored Yitzhak Benhorin, the Holocaust-surviving professor that threw himself in front of Cho's gun to stop him from entering the classroom.

Serial killers and mass murderers traditionally are more famous than their victims. But Benhorin's actions showed a level of utter manliness that you can't even describe with a vulgar turn of phrase or a Chuck Norris joke.

Bush followed up his comments on Benhorin with this observation about Iran. I read a post on a forum that someone lamented that this shooting was the worst thing that could have happened to America at this point. I think the poster is insane. This shooting is the best thing to happen to politicking since the temperance movement.

And you who have survived evil know that the only way to defeat it is to look it in the face and not back down.

Westboro Baptist Church

It can't be a big crazy media circus if all of the big crazies aren't invited! GodHatesAmerica was updated today with this uplifting spiritual message.

Get this straight -- God sent this South Korean madman to kill 31 of your children at Virginia Tech. Was God asleep while this took place? Was He on vacation? Of course not. He willed this to happen to punish you for assailing His servants.

They're getting really snappy with their hate stunts. It took almost a week after the Tsunami for WBC to get the ball rolling.

"The South Korean Madman" sounds like a good name for a Pride fighter.

Disturbing writings in question

I know the Internet must have lapped me about a billion times on this, but here are those disturbing writings.

Too many people are calling them "disturbing writings." I'll call them "Wacky Plays" from now on.

I was at work and missed them. Timeliness?! BAH!


Hey, didn't someone make a play of the Ripper IRC drug overdose?
I wonder who will be the first to give these plays some stage time. I hear those Nigerian e-mail scammers are pretty good actors.

Ah who am I kidding? These plays suck. Hollywood does crazy people a lot better than the crazy people themselves.

With every national disaster that happens, a little more of our innocence gets sucked away. People lost their faith in the government during the Vietnam War, people lost their sense of safety after 9-11. And after reading those plays, I'm never going to hear Guns N' Roses in the same way ever again.

"Yes, this was free speech, but..." :Teacher Reacts to Disturbed writings

After everything that's happened since 9-11 and after everything that's happened as a result of the Hurricane Katrina, do you think that this time around we'll have more of the 1990s "Oh my god! Is it the Devil Music or irresponsible parents that make evil youth!" or more of the sleek and sexy "The people in charge are to blame!" attitude of the 2000s?

Already, we know that people are upset that the students weren't warned earlier. But now that some details are starting to file in about this derranged little guy:


"When I first heard about the multiple shootings at Virginia Tech yesterday, my first thought was about my friends," Ian MacFarlane wrote to AOL, "and my second thought was 'I bet it was Seung Cho'."


Forget knowing about this for 2 hours and not doing anything! Hell! These people knew how odd this guy was for YEARS and didn't do anything about it! Watch this!

Cho, an English major, never wrote about guns or killing people, she said. But his writing was disturbing enough that she went to police and other university officials to seek help. (Watch the professor tell how her student frightened her )

"Reporter: She tried and tried and tried to alert university officials to what she thought was a troubled student ."

"Lou: Such a remarkable woman... the idea that a student... could not be dealt with by the university and by dealt with I mean helped! Is that because of privacy law? What is the reason?


"Reporter: Well she told us the law needs to be changed. Yes, it was sort of an exercise of free speech exercised by the student in these writings... They told her that there was nothing warning of impending violence so because of that they said there was nothing to be done as far as pulling him out of that department, of pulling him out of that program."

Remember being in school and getting in trouble for some saying "I'm going to kill you!" to some jerk in gymn class? Well we have to go even farther than that!

VTech Admins may have been legally obligated to warn students?

In trying to hazard a guess at what topics might come into play over and over again in the coverage of the shooting, I think it's worthwhile to point out a line in the Haas e-mail that leads us to some interesting angles.

We want the Grand Valley community to know that we have had emergency response plans in place for many years. We test, review and update those plans regularly - we did so most recently after the murder of a student at another Michigan university.

A quick Google search to refresh my memory lead me to this story from Detroit. Late last month, a story broke raising questions that school officials at Eastern Michigan University had reason to suspect foul play over the rape and death of a student.... oooonly they might not have told anyone about it.

Despite the implications the death was viewed as suspicious early on by police, university officials did not back down from their earlier statement of no foul play until Taylor was arrested Feb. 23.

University spokesman Ward Mullens said he could not discuss when the university learned it was a possible murder or how the university handled the case.

"I'm not able to say anything relative to the case," he said.

The university's handling of the case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education, and the college has hired Detroit-based law firm Butzel Long P.C. to do an internal review.

Now this is a big deal according to the Clery Act, which states that universities MUST disclose information about crime on or near campus.

Obviously this puts school administrators in the hot seat. On one hand you don't want to scare the bejesus out of your paying custom- er- students. But on the other hand you can't (legally) act like a creepy shadow government and cover up a murder.

Well, connect the dots on your own and see how yesterday's shooting and this murder compare to each other. I heard on NPR today that the VTech president was welcomed with a standing ovation at a memorial service today, how much longer before palm sunday ends and everyone's calling for his execution once this little tidbit of info gets linked to what is already being called a dispicable response time?

Well, what is the news saying?

Students were not warned of any danger until more than two hours after Monday's first attack - at a dormitory where two people were killed.

I guess the defense in that case could be that it's really hard to alert thousands of students all at once. But in the words of a friend of mine "if you started runing around the campus shrieking at the top of your lungs, people would eventually get the idea."

So when you're reading your concerned e-mails from the university admins, keep this story in mind.

Grand Valley State University mass e-mail

In an earlier post, I thought it would be interesting to gauge public reaction to the shooting by posting the en-masse e-mails universities are sending to their students. A reader sent this to me from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. The school has an enrollment of about 23,300 which is comparable to V-Tech though I'm not sure how that number breaks down between the university's branch campuses.

Message from President Haas on Virginia Tech

The entire Grand Valley State University community is horrified by the tragic events that occurred yesterday at Virginia Tech. We are saddened by the loss of life and injuries, and we offer our deepest condolences to all at Virginia Tech.

We want the Grand Valley community to know that we have had emergency response plans in place for many years. We test, review and update those plans regularly - we did so most recently after the murder of a student at another Michigan university. The university conducts drills of those plans periodically, often
with the cooperation of other public safety agencies, to look for areas where we can improve. We want also to ensure substantive and timely communication.

Dean of Students Bart Merkle and Student Senate president Frank Foster are working together to send a message of condolence on our behalf to their counterparts at Virginia Tech.

Nothing is more important than the safety and well being of our faculty, staff, students and guests. It will always have my undivided attention.

Thomas J. Haas
President
Grand Valley State University

The student had this to say about it:

"I thought it was quite well-written myself, and was pleasantly surprised to see that our university will actually be sending a personal message of condolence."

This e-mail invokes those magical "plans" we talked about earlier, while also going on to say that they're working on showing their sympathy in something a little more tangible than an e-mail or a press release. And really, what more can you do?

My friend from Findlay tells me their student security workers are having a meeting tonight regarding this. Is this happening anywhere else? E-mail me at billiamforty@hotmail.com

Thanks to the student who mailed me this e-mail! I'm waiting on a few more to come in from some people. E-mail me yours!

University of Findlay e-mails students

Someone forwarded me this today. The President of Student Services e-mailed everyone at the school (about 4,500 students) to tell them to keep the victims in their thoughts and prayers. Findlay is a small university located in Western Ohio.

Compare this simple e-mail to the Fox News Experts reaction.

I'm guessing similar e-mails are going out. Could you e-mail them to me, please at billiamforty@hotmail.com?

From: Dave Emsweller
To:
Subject: Situation at Virginia Tech
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 8:28 PM

To UF Students, Faculty, and Staff:

As many of you may already be aware, news sources are reporting that 31 people lost their life today on the Virginia Tech campus when an armed man opened fire in a residence hall and then in an academic building. Please keep the Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff in your thoughts and prayers as they cope with this tragic event.

Dave

David Emsweller
Vice President for Student Services
The University of Findlay
Findlay, OH 45840

You're the Man Now Dog: Laughing at Tragedy

YTMND.com's users made a few ytmnd's responding to the attacks.

"sad... very sad." Going along with a picture of a student standing at what appears to be a memorial, the page plays the Enya song "Only Time." I kept wating for Yakkity Sax to kick in with the cell phone video comically sped up.

"Virginia Police Surround the Shooter" takes a dig at the shooter being Asian.

"VT was the best day ever" Faces of terrorists hovering over a student's body while a song from Spongebob Squarepants plays.


"Finding Humor in Tragedy" How long until videogames get blamed by anti-game nut Jack Thompson? Uh... 3 p.m. yesterday. "I think this qualifies as a new record..."


"Post Game Carnage Report" Speaking of videogames.

"World of Warcraft Players Have No Compassion" More videogames.

"We should have seen it sooner."

World's Reaction: Sympathy and gun control.

This story broke in the AP just a little under the 24 hour mark. The world leaders reacting to the shooting.

Most expressed shock at the shooting but few said they were surprised - criticizing the availability of guns in the U.S., lax gun controls and the number of Americans who cling to the constitutional right that allows them to bear arms.

"The Queen was shocked and saddened to hear of the news of the shooting in Virginia," Buckingham Palace said. Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, are scheduled to visit Virginia May 3-4.

British Home Office Minister, Tony McNulty, earned a masters degree in political science at Virginia Tech in 1982.

"I think if this does prompt a serious and reflective debate on gun issues and gun law in the states then some good may come from this woeful tragedy," McNulty said.

Oddly enough the least political article comes from Tehran, Iran. The statement was made this morning, circulated by Iran's foreign ministry spokesman. Or maybe it's slanted in that they're trying to win back some favor after the big sailor fiasco and other such nonsense.

"Attacking innocent people, irrespective of their race and nationality, is contrary to divine and human values no matter which group or person carries out such an act under any name," the Iranian statement said.

Local Police "We Have A Plan."

While VT administrators are already coming under fire for what appears to be a plodding response to an out-and-out massacre. Local newspapers are picking up on the question of "us too?" Breathe easy because police have a plan!

"Local Agencies Prepared to Handle Violence"

This article deals with how local law enforcement and emergency workers in Trumbull County, Ohio could respond to a seemingly-random and senseless situation in which someone snaps and decides to gun down a lot of people. Local law enforcement has "a plan" which includes:

• A violent crimes task force
• hostage negotiators
• a quickly-mobilized emergency medical worker response plan
• tips
  

But the Youngstown State University (enrollment of about 13,000) police chief was frank with the reporter. He was graceful in not yielding to either the "it can't happen here! we have a plan!" side or the "we need stricter security standards!" side.

John J. Gocala, chief of the Youngstown State University Police Department, said that although it’s difficult to predict and prevent similar tragic situations from occurring because of the open atmosphere on most college campuses, his and other law enforcement agencies are doing their best to do just that.

Other law officers said they were ready to swoop in at a moment's notice.

Warren Police Chief John Mandopoulos said there are cameras placed inside city schools that can be accessed from the outside by police. He said Warren police would react rapidly in case of a crisis situation, getting police officers into the building within 15 minutes.

‘‘We have had this plan in place since Columbine happened in 1999,’’ the chief said. ‘‘These things are always in the back of my mind.’’

By the way, how are officers in your hometown preparing for something like this? Would you mind e-mailing me ( billiamforty@hotmail.com ) similar articles like the one I just posted? I'm interested in hearing what people are claiming or calling for. I know people are writing about it.

Vtech Dies. Too Soon?

While every talking head is assuring everyone reading the news that they feel sorry and will be praying for the families of the victims, we can count on the Internet to give us stuff like this Web site.

I already pointed it out, but I didn't want it to get glossed over. I don't browse /b/ or anything, but from the comments on the parody site, it's obvious that this came from 4chan. I don't have a link to the exact picture, but within hours of the 9-11 attacks, some SomethingAwful forum members had gag photoshop pictures of the attack, showing the explosions with the Counter Strike catchphrase "Terrorists Win."

Certain to cause some guilty laughs and even more certain to show up on a news broadcast sometime down the road. Keep an eye out for another ashen-faced talking head telling people that this isn't funny.

The Internet is Black Humor's big break.

Fox Experts: This can't be prevented

Here's Fox News with a piece about campus security.

The unprecedented school massacre at Virginia Tech has underscored one terrifying fact: Such attacks can never be completely prevented, and college campuses are especially vulnerable.

The experts argue that while campus security isn't entirely achievable (I agree in that there's nothing stopping a person who's genuinely bonkers) it's still possible for campuses to take stricter preventative measures such as:

• Marksmanship training of campus police officers
• bagchecks at campus events
• more campus police officers
• ID scanners in classrooms and dorms
• metal detectors in classrooms and dorms
• security cameras

Could this be the first call for what results in you having to empty your pockets before going to a school football game? Well, anyone who would take the Fox Experts argument has a little more ammo because of the woeful campus response to the shootings.

McCain: 33 Deaths and I won't take your guns!

This AP News article I just read has all of the 2008 presidential hopefuls weighing in on the shootings, with McCain casually pointing out that he's behind the Second Amendment. Not even 24 hours out and we're already beefing up our defenses along party lines.

"We have to look at what happened here, but it doesn't change my views on the Second Amendment, except to make sure that these kinds of weapons don't fall into the hands of bad people," McCain said Monday in response to a question.

This is as sincere as you can hope to get. Maybe we can hold some cheap political point drinking game as this school shooting is clearly going to be a doozy.

President Bush invokes shooting, right to bear arms.

From the Associated Press linked here. This story was reported at 1:14 p.m., almost exactly six hours after the first shots were fired. Six hours later, Bush wants to reaffirm his position on the right to bear arms. As one commenter pointed out, the bodies aren't even cold yet.

"The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed," Perino said, noting that Bush and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings held a conference on school gun violence last October. "Certainly, bringing a gun into a school domitory and shooting ... is against the law and something someone should be held accountable for," Perino [the deputy press secretary] said."

MSNBC Speculates on Killer's motive and Pat Robertson may be the real deal!

MSNBC speculates on a motive for the killer with a professor of criminology. It seems the news has gotten so used to these shootings that they're already asking if the shooter was an aloof loner. In this article we have a reference to a violent movie and a disaffected youth scare.

Like in “Falling Down,” the Michael Douglas movie?
A really good example, actually. But what I think now is that you can be 16 or 21 and have suffered for a long period of time--for most of your life. We’re talking about young people who have endured a whole set of frustrating circumstances. They may have been bullied in high school, shy kids suffering from physical defects or mental handicaps. The point is you can still be young and profoundly frustrated. So frustrated that you don’t want to go on living and you want to get even.

I would imagine many younger people don’t also quite have the same sense of the value of life either.
There are teenagers I would call “temporary sociopaths.” They’ll commit a hideous act, such as the taking of human life with impunity, when they’re 16 or 19. They wouldn’t dream of doing the same thing when they’re 30. There’s a lot of evidence that this is, in part, a developmental issue. The brain of an adolescent is quite different from the brain of an adult. Many young people don’t think about consequences--whether it’s spending 30 years behind bars or getting lung cancer 30 years from now. So it’s hard to deal with and discourage violent behavior on the part of those few teenagers so frustrated with life that that they want desperately to get sweet revenge.

MSNBC also is reporting that this might be a terrorist attack.

And I guess Pat Robertson warned about some mass tragedy not four months ago. Could this resurface in some way?

Not 12 hours later...

If I had a huge, annoying ego, I would have posted "I guessed it!" But I think you'd have to be brutally retarded to not know something like this was bound to happen.

Maybe some of you are familiar with the Brady Campaign. They're a gun law reform group that has a hand in The Million Mom March.


Well it's about 6:15 as I write this and the shooting isn't even 12 hours behind us. At some point in that time period, a PR rep had to research, gather quotes, write, and publish this press release on the Brady Campaign's web site.

Here's a statement by Paul Helmke, the group's president.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the Virginia Tech University community, and to the families of the victims of what appears to be one of the worst mass shootings in American history.

"Details are still forthcoming about what motivated the shooter in this case to act, and how he was able to arm himself. It is well known, however, how easy it is for an individual to get powerful weapons in our country.

"Eight years ago this week, the young people in Littleton, Colorado suffered a horrible attack at Columbine High School, and almost exactly six months ago, five young people were killed at an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania. Since these killings, we've done nothing as a country to end gun violence in our schools and communities. If anything, we've made it easier to access powerful weapons.

"We have now seen another horrible tragedy that will never be forgotten. It is long overdue for us to take some common-sense actions to prevent tragedies like this from continuing to occur."

After invoking not only V-tech and Columbine, but also the Amish school shooting, the press release ends with links to the following Web site.

I promise that I will stop prefacing my points with disclaimers, but I probably should just once more for good measure.

I'm not saying whether or not I feel the Brady Campaign is worthwhile, but I want everyone to know that this shooting is already being invoked along with a political cause!

Transcript of Interview with Survivor

This is the transcript of this video:
Video of Trey Perkins, brother of SomethingAwful.com forum member.

Trey Perkins: I was in my German class this morning. I remember looking at my phone; it was about 9:40, and we started to hear some wild pops, but none of us really thought that it could have been gunshots because it wasn't really loud like that, and then a guy comes into the room. He shot our teacher and then we all got on the ground real quick and then he started just shooting around at different people. I'm not sure how long it lasted; it felt like a really long time but it was probably only about a minute or so, and then he finally left the room. And myself and two other students, one of whom is Derek O'Dell who had called in earlier...and we went up to the door and put our feet against it to hold it shut in case he started to come back again...and he started to try to open the door again and started to shoot through the door, probably 4, 5, 6 shots. Fortunately, none of those shots hit anyone and he finally stopped trying to get in the room and, I guess, continued on to other rooms because we kept hearing shots. After that I just went around and tried to help people that were shot just with, like, taking off my sweatshirt and trying to stop any bleeding that I could and just doing anything I could to help people.

MSNBC: what was the scene like in your room after he was gone?

Trey: It was...so hard to describe. People shot, blood pretty much everywhere, just completely unreal, it's so hard to describe.

MSNBC: Trey, Did he say anything throughout this time?

Trey: Not a word. He didn't say a single word the whole time.

MSNBC: So there was never any indication of why he was doing this?

Trey: Not at all. He didn't say get down, he didn't say anything, he just came in and started shooting.

MSNBC: Did you get a good look at his face? Can you at least describe how he looked? Was he calm? What did he look like?

Trey: I guess you could say serious. He didn't look frightened at all, he didn't look angry. He just looked...just like a straight face.

MSNBC: When this all started, Trey, what went through your mind? what did you try to do?

Trey: I got on the ground, and I was just thinking "there's no way I can survive this." All I could really think about was my mom, and just what she would go through if something were to happen to me. And then I eventually started thinking "is there anything I can do?" But the angle he was at, there was no way I could get up and try to do anything, because I was blocked in by desks that were overturned.

MSNBC: So people were throwing desks over and just trying to protect themselves?

Trey: Yeah, just trying to get as much in-between themselves and the shooter as they could.

MSNBC: Trey, Have you had a chance to talk to your parents since then?

Trey: Yes I have contacted them, and they are on their way here to come see me.

And within hours money starts changing hands

Now, I want to keep some semblance of impartiality to the blog. Before much longer, we'll hear as many opinions on this tragedy as we can handle. I don't think that's what I'm trying to do here. I'd like this to be as detatched as possible. While this is certainly horrible, I do want to observe people's reactions through this blog.

For example, isn't it odd that money starts changing hands just hours after these people were murdered out of the blue? These can be commercials on cable TV news networks or a simple Web search. How long before the advertisements show up in any search for Virginia Tech? Anyone want to take some bets?

Video Coverage of the Tragedy

Video captured from a cell phone camera, shows police firing at an unknown gunman on the campus of Virginia Tech.

The video was taken by Jamal Albarghouti with his cell phone and posted to CNN i-Report.



MSNBC video of an injured student describing the chaos.



Video of Trey Perkins, brother of SomethingAwful.com forum member.

We've seen this before , let's keep an eye on it.

This seems morbidly familiar doesn't it?

Using what we know about teenagers and people in their early twenties, we can reasonably guess that whoever shot 33 (maybe more) at V-Tech this morning is in hell talking to the greasy shades of the Columbine killers. They'll look at him disdainfully and say something like:

"School shooter? Pfft... Yeah, we did that when it was still cool. Now it's all trendy and stuff."

Then they'll go back to designing custom maps on Doom.

The thing is, they'd be right. We've all seen this before. We know that the news will run increasingly ridiculous coverage for 24-solid-hours today. We know that some sort of scapegoat (is it videogames or rock music this time?) is likely to surface. We'll know that people will likely be inspired to superhuman acts of kindness. We also know that some people's reaction to this will make our SKIN CRAWL .

This is sure to inspire a huge range of reactions in people. And since this is the (what number school shooting is this again?) we might as well take the time *now* to pay attention to what people said, how they responded, how they helped and how they hurt people. Who knows when this event will be mentioned in upcoming speeches about gun control, about anti-gun control, about needing tougher law enforcement in our schools, about needing broader executive privileges, about our country vs. the terrorists, about needing more faith in our schools.

We don't know when, but we certainly know that it will happen.

Something we all noticed is that somewhere after the initial shock of the event wears off, huge tragedies are turned into their own sort of modern mythologies. Recall where you were and how you felt when you watched 9-11 unfold for the first time over and over again on CNN all day long. Compare it to the cheap knick knacks people sell today of a golden eagle flying over plastic recreations of the World Trade Center. How do the two compare?

I think everyone can agree that something of the reality was lost in that time frame. Wouldn't it be worth it to be able to go back and compare the two?

Well that's why we need to point out new media as it surfaces. From the first few shocked videos to the point where hatemonger preachers start calling this God's Wrath. We are getting an inkling that horrible events like these and the horrible events that come after are going to be a reoccurring theme in our society. If only one good thing can come out of filth like this, let us at least be able to learn from ourselves.

Welcome to Virginia Tech's Internet Memorial

This is our blog: Virginia Tech's Internet Memorial.

We saw throughout this horrible day that as information started leaking out about the shooting at Virginia Tech, people started tossing news about it on the internet all at once.

People traded facebook profiles, videos of the shootings and even jokes about the shootings
almost simultaneously. In the days and weeks to come, who knows what might surface. We thought this was interesting and we'd like to use this blog as a touchstone for people looking for new internet media about this event.

Call it a sociological phenomena. We want to blog it as it happens. Maybe we can all learn something in the process.