I have a story to post, but I feel cheesy posting it when the entire internet is buzzing with the shooting at Virginia Tech.

Normally I don't play into the media-hysteria thing, I don't get wrapped up in the news like that.

But this one freaks me out. I can't get my mind off of it.

Please stay tuned, this regularly-scheduled blog will return shortly.

Comments

[Matthew g]

33 people. wow! that's so many. how many of our brothers and sisters have died in Iraq? 3308? and how about Just.. This.. Month? 62. If the Media can Ignore such a disgusting figure, I think we can ignore the media on this one. Keep posting Dan.

[Matthew g]

This isn't the proper place for comments like the one I just left. I apologize to Dan, and to his many readers. I had just been to Rosie O' Donnell's Blog, and she fires up my blood. I won't post here until at least 45 minutes after reading her blog. Again, Sorry Dan. There is no delete button for comments..

[scooterzz]

imho, i don't think matthew's original comment was inappropriate at all...

[jules]

Matthew, my first reaction to the final number of victims at VT was exactly the same as yours-- I immediately thought about how many of our troops have been killed in Iraq. Today while listening to the reporting on NPR, I did tear up several times and found it really difficult to listen to some of the students tell their versions of what happened. When it comes down to it, any death too soon is tragic. I agree with scooterzz, I don't think what you wrote was inappropriate.

[Erica aka GroovyYaYa]

Don't apologize. I'm horrified for the Virginia Tech students... and yet, like Rosie said, numb. (I was teaching during the time of Columbine and other school shootings - those really got to me) Saying that our troops deserve coverage and grief doesn't take anything away from the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Sadly the two can exist at the same time and with 24 hour news, shouldn't there be room for extensive coverage of both?

[Aimee]

Going to class and going to war aren't the same thing. While the troops dying and not getting the coverage they deserve is horrible, being in a war you know that you have a chance of dying. Going to french class you dont think you could wind up dead.

[Nicole]

I don't see how you can even compare the two events. YES the war deserves more coverage but once again, soldiers know what they are getting into and they prepare themselves for that situation.

NO ONE prepares for what happened at VT. I'm a student right now at Texas Tech and if a fellow student opened fire on 31 of my classmates, I would want and expect the news to react the way it as. Any media coverage that brings light to mental health and personal safety issues on college campuses deserves to be talked about. 32 college students were shot to death IN CLASS. Not in the streets of Baghdad.

[Denny]

This murder rampage made me think of how it must feel to live in Iraq, where this many innocent people are killed every day - and often many more (230+, just yesterday) ...

Imagine if this happened EVERY DAY here - that's what the Iraqis, who kiss the whole family goodbye every time they leave the house for any reason, must deal with. Sobering thought.