Musings on Madness in America
As the Plaid Avenger sips a strong scotch and stares out his office window at a dozens and dozens of police cars and ambulances lining the street in front of me, I have to ask myself the question that perhaps so many of you are asking yourselves on this blustery, depressing day:
What the living fuck is wrong with people in this country?
As many of you know, and many others of you suspect, the Plaid Avenger is by day a mild-mannered college professor here on the campus of Virginia Tech…a typically picturesque, quaint college town in the eastern US. But today is anything but typical. Earlier, a single lost, distraught soul decided to end his life in flashy-Hollywood-style-format by taking at least 32 other folks with him, in what can only be described as an increasingly occurring 'American gunman psycho' rampage scenario. What an asshole.
I know that I'm writing too close to the events, and thus feelings and passions are still running hot, but the Plaid Avenger always speaks from the gut anyway. And this shit is fucking ridiculous. What has our society been reduced to? The still unidentified lone gunman's degeneration into madness—by all accounts and speculation I have gathered—started as a pitiful crime of passion: a blow-up with his girlfriend, who he then assassinated. And true to American form, once you start killing…why stop? He then proceeded to randomly destroy lives over in the engineering building, prematurely snuffing out lives of creative and energetic folks who would have certainly gone on to build, create, and help the would become a better place. What a fucking waste.
And for what? Because this one single guy was depressed? Unbalanced? Unhappy? Unloved? Hell I don't even know who he is yet, but he certainly had his issues. Unfortunately for our students, our university, and our country in general, this guy had a whole lot of issues and a whole lot of access to a whole lot of guns and ammunition. But I don't want to politicize the issue too much—I just think you radical NRA members and gun advocates have to keep in mind that when you fight tooth and nail to insure your personal right to own a fucking Uzi, you are simultaneously protecting the rights of unbalanced folks like this shooter to own a fucking Uzi. You and Charlton Heston can wrap yourselves in the American flag all you fucking want, but you might want to stay away from this campus for now.
But the bigger issue is why any American this young would be driven to such self-destruction, along with the destruction of others. I can't help but think of the scene from 'The Matrix' where Agent Smith is describing the need for the matrix: because when the computers made life idyllic and easy, the humans kept 'waking up' from the artificial world. They couldn't accept it. And here in the 21st century in the
Maybe that has become a problem for us. Things have been too good for too long, and therefore people have to create problems for themselves. What problem could be so big that you would end your life for, and/or the lives of others? A girl? A guy? A job? A grade in school? Your reputation? You must be fucking joking me.
It's too late to help the lost souls of this bleak day in Blacksburg, but for the rest of you that may read these words, here's a tip: when you get really down, really depressed, really anxious, really full of self-pity for your situation, then just do this: go to Africa. Go to the
Take the red pill. And I'll be on the other side to welcome you to the real world.
On a day of bitter tragedy such as this, perhaps I have no right to rant about such things. But we all cope in different ways, and I encourage you all to become even better, stronger, and more caring people for having witnessed this atrocity. This forum is always open for discussion, so go for it.
Remember what has happened. Pray for the families and friends. Help each other out. Strive to do more and be better. Fight for what is right. Always. That is all that we as humans can do.
Peace
-PA
Comments (23)
Thank you for your rant, I’m sure it is what a lot of us are feeling right now and you were able to put it into words, like you always do. It is such a senseless killing spree for nothing. What a tragedy
Good rant.
Also, nice to know that you’re okay.
How are we supposed to finish out the semester, how do you think they will handle this PA?
This absolutely fucking sickens me. I can’t think of a more selfish asshole thing to do than to punish innocent people – and for what? For a fucking broken heart? To make a statement? Who hasn’t had a broken heart, or felt sadness, or depression, or anger, or abandonment? Then, to top it off, the coward bastard takes his own life. What a prick. He couldn’t even take responsibility and face his punishment. My heart goes out to the families and friends of those innocent bystanders unlucky enough to be caught in the middle of this goddamn dick’s wounded ego. These poor people don’t get to see that justice is served. What a spineless fucking prick.
hope everybody is safe. prayers to all those who lost their lives and who are injured
What really blew me away is that when I went to http://www.bbc.uk (The BBC’s homepage), the cover story is “US University shooting kills 33″.
Too bad we’re making international news for the wrong reasons.
Dude, I totally agree with you PA. I don’t want to sound like liberal or conservative, I don’t care actually, but I think it’s way too easy to get guns here. There got to be some psycho test or something… How shitty that we need to go down in history with this bull. Sad, and support all families and people who were injured and killed. Thank God the dude finished his life, before people would need to waste money on courts and other crap, before killing him anyways.
I agree with JB … something is seriously wrong with this country. We try to ignore it and pretend like it isn’t there, but there is something crucially wrong with our way of life…
In the past 100 years, there have been a ton of different ideologies proposing “the best life for man” like Communism, Islamic extremism, etc… All of these have failed miserably (in my opinion), so we in the West think we have the absolute best way of life possible. However, I think that as long as we in the West see society as a bunch of self-interested individuals, as opposed to a community, we are missing something crucial. The solution to this problem is extremely hard, and is one that nobody has been able to come up with. However, I think there is something better than our current way of life.
In the next couple days, people are going to be coming together, forgetting about their petty little squabbles, ignoring the stupid materialistic concerns in their lives, praying together, giving each other hope and support, loving each other, and acting like a big Hokie Family. That’s beautiful. But, all I am saying is, why can’t society be like that all the time? Until people see humanity as one big community, I don’t think we can ever be really happy.
Thank you for this. My brother deeply respects you and, now, so do I.
I’ve often thought about this idea that America is perhaps *too* perfect. You took the words right out of my mouth, PA. Well said. If I were in charge of this country I would make it mandatory for citizens to spend at least a year in a foreign country (similar to the Australian thing – I met a guy from Australia in Berlin back in January who said they are pretty much forced to travel around the world before they start full-time jobs). Why can’t we do that???
And I totally agree – what a fucking waste of human life. There really are no words to describe what happened yesterday.
People say there are no words, but there are always words. We just haven’t found them yet. There is no rush, we have time. This is a situation that above all else inspires confusion. There is no emotion which comprehensively encapsulates what we are going through. Our world has been turned upside-down and shaken. Our trust has been betrayed and our friends have been killed. Those that seemed constant and reliable parts in our lives have disappeared, and we haven’t had a chance to reconcile this yet. There is no student here who will not be grieving the death of a friend or helping another through their grief. We can no longer be strangers, we must be friends if we are to get through this.
What has happened to Virginia Tech is an unprecedented tragedy. We as a school will never be the same. However, in our time of need we must accept the love around us. We must not forget as we mourn that life is beautiful and worth cherishing. We must not bring to question that Virginia Tech is strong and resilient and that we will rise from our grief and overcome. We are Hokies and we are strong, and this too shall pass.
I’m glad to hear you’re okay PA. I was travelling Sunday evening and didn’t hear the news until late Monday…I was worried about you. My heart goes out to all those families whose members were lost or hurt. Stay strong.
PA: Great rant…so many don’t see the anger and self loathing that walks all around us every day. Most are ego-centric or innocent or “too busy” and rarely look into another’s soul. I agree that the MURDERER is an asshole. But how could someone with that much anger live among us and be invisible? This is EXACTLY what we do to the rest of the world. How do we treat others? Wake up people. Reach out to the other timebombs around you. Be the first to act. I know death and I pray for the families left behind. Thank you PA!
Very great rant plaid.
I want to say that as a student and a friend to Emily Hilscher that she was NOT involved with this murdering ass. I went to High School with both Emily and her longtime boyfriend who is a student at Radford, and any kind of romantic relationship between her and her killer is not possible. Maybe he stalked her, that I dont know, maybe he went to the room for someone else and was confronted. Will we ever know what truly happened to this wonderful young girl and what set this murderer off on such a senseless act?
JF
Self-responsibility is the only true defense. That means being responsible enough not to act out your emotional difficulties on other people. It also means not being dependent on other people for your safety and relying on a false sense of security. Too bad the campus “Gun Free Zone” banning concealed weapons kept the dead from being able to exercise that second part of self-responsibility.
And no, it’s not a political argument. It’s about protecting my body. And if I’m supposed to get all emotional about the sanctity and privacy of a uterus, and the self-responsibility to make decisions about that, then damn right I deserve to exercise self-responsibility for my safety. Everyone who is looking for an external factor to blame will never be able to answer why self-responsibility for protecting one’s own body was DENIED BY LAW to the dead in this situation. You can have all the external societal factors in the world, but at some point you must answer: why can’t you defend yourself? And then: “Why won’t you?”, no matter what John Law says?
Hey John, I’m glad I got to speak with you yesterday. Very well said in all facets.
Stay safe man, peace from the east
Excellent rant Boyer. Let me know if you need any help with anything.
Power to you, Plaid. As horrific as Monday was, I was looking forward to your class on Thursday, and skipping all others. I’m sure the class will be anxious to hear your thoughts on Tuesday.
VT
I disagree with comment 16. With that kind of reasoning, America is not close to overcoming its culture of fear and violence. Why respond to one violent act with another? Defend yourself, certainly, yes, but there are many ways of doing so without a weapon. Arming yourself to the hilt is not the answer – hasn’t the sad soul behind this horrible event proven this tenfold already?
I agree with comment 16 don’t want to get political but things might have played out different if one of them was armed.
Please, how many of you can say if you had a gun on you that you would have been able to get over the shock quick enough to react. It is a nice theory, but give me a break. Just because this was a “Gun Free Zone,” well that really stopped that lowlife from having a gun didn’t it? You could have kept one with you, just don’t be like Jim Webb and get caught. It is easy to look back and say “well if we had this, X wouldn’t have happened” but you don’t know. Hell, he could have shot someone with a gun, took that gun and shot more. And, yes, I am fully aware that nearly all who carry guns do it for protection only and not to kill innocent people.
So just stop being ignorant people. Yes, we should have a gun if we want it, but to say that having them on campus would have stopped this is just stupid. If someone wants to kill, they will find a way, period.
It is a uniquely American event, mass shootings at schools.
If there were no guns for Cho to buy, or ammunition clips by the shit-ton just up the street at Wal-Mart, we wouldn’t be where we are today. GUNS KILL PEOPLE FAST AND THEY DON’T FIRE THEMSELVES. other weapons take much longer to do the job, allowing time for escape, or perhaps the killer to realize what he is doing and stop. Cho had lots of ammo left, maybe he stopped because he realized what he was doing was sick, wrong and totally fucked up…it certainly wasn’t the police knocking down doors that made him stop the rampage. If he had to hack every one of his victims to death, perhaps there would have been fewer of them.
America. Land of the free to do what big business profits from…like gun sales, or drugs (the legal ones only, for the illegal ones you get to go to privatized, for profit, overcrowded jails and then lose your right to vote.)
It’s time for a revolution, people. Our government no longer serves the people and it’s time we took it back.
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Thanks PA, yes it was a rant but I agree with you. Matrix referance and all, especially to people in America. Your average college student who looks at their life compared to those of the countries should wake up and see that they dont have it that bad. Also I can’t understand someone being so pissed off that they would want to end other’s lives as well, bullshit. I am speaking from the gut as well and my comments should be viewed as such. I live in AJ and my prayers are with everyone.
No partying for a while but eventually we owe it to the fallen to move on…