Remembering Virginia Tech

By Ben Cohen

(photo by MzMullerz)

Chez Pazienza recalls the horrific day, exactly two years ago, when the deadliest mass shooting in U.S history occurred:

Then, as the hours and hours passed and the body count skyrocketed --

the sheer enormity of the violence finally becoming clear -- I moved on

to logical analysis, followed by a kind of rational righteous

indignation. I shook my head at what I knew would surely be the

knee-jerk reaction to come: the hand-wringing and political posturing

over what might have been done to prevent what was, in reality, a

devastating human anomaly -- one that may have been anticipated, but

likely couldn't have been stopped by anything short of locking up a

troubled and dangerous kid who, until Monday morning, hadn't

technically broken the law. I swallowed outrage at the vile opportunism

of Scientologists, who were quick to claim that psychiatry was behind

the gunman's brutal impulses, and Jack Thompson, who wasn't even aware

of the killer's identity and yet was already pointing the finger of

blame at the time-honored boogeymen of video games and pop culture. I

clenched my fists, closed my eyes and exhaled my fury at one television

news anchor agreeing with a local pastor's unforgivably trite nostrum

that God sometimes works in mysterious ways. I worried about the

possibility that a substantial portion of creative, dark, shy or

otherwise unusual kids might now find themselves eyed with suspicion

and apprehension -- simply because of one twisted bastard with

delusions of martyrdom and the weaponry to bring his furious fantasies

to life. I wondered if someone might demand to know why it's as easy to

buy a Glock 19 in this country as it is to buy a Happy Meal -- and

finally do something about it.