Virginia vs. Iraq

blueerica · 04-18-2007, 09:45 AM

Newspapers, news websites, radio and television are all businesses. There are an extreme few that aren't... but even they are, to an extent. They're there to attract attention, get clicks, have people looking at their pages, listening to and watching their commercials. The more they can get to "hang on" through the commercial, the more money they make. As altruistic as any of them want to be, as any individual may be, ends need to be met and few will work for free.

So, I try to impose no moral judgment on it. They have a business to run, and I recognize it for what it is. It's my job to sort it out - and it's my duty to friends and family to help keep their minds open to other possibilities, what isn't being said and to always learn for oneself.

Strangler Lewis · 04-18-2007, 10:04 AM

What happened in Virginia Tech is more horrifying to most people than what happens in Iraq, Rwanda, etc. not because we value young white southern lives more than young brown African lives but for the different--yet somewhat related--reason that Choi's act appears to be a horrible, arbitrary violation of the social contract.

In America, we live under the belief that we have tamed killing for the sheer pleasure of killing and we are confident that no one will run us over in the crosswalk because it amuses them to do so, and we fear what would happen if those internal checks disappeared on a mass scale. By contrast, we believe that the Iraqi and Rwandan factions have no social fabric to tear, that life is cheap over there and that the victims of these atrocities would happily be on the power end of the bomb or machete if given half a chance.

It's the same view that inspires the "fine, let them all kill each other" sentiment regarding American gang violence.

04-18-2007, 09:45 AM	#1
blueerica Nueve Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 6,497	Newspapers, news websites, radio and television are all businesses. There are an extreme few that aren't... but even they are, to an extent. They're there to attract attention, get clicks, have people looking at their pages, listening to and watching their commercials. The more they can get to "hang on" through the commercial, the more money they make. As altruistic as any of them want to be, as any individual may be, ends need to be met and few will work for free. So, I try to impose no moral judgment on it. They have a business to run, and I recognize it for what it is. It's my job to sort it out - and it's my duty to friends and family to help keep their minds open to other possibilities, what isn't being said and to always learn for oneself. __________________ Tomorrow is the day for you and me Last edited by blueerica : 04-18-2007 at 09:52 AM.
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04-18-2007, 10:04 AM	#2
Strangler Lewis Doing The Job Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: In a state Posts: 3,956	What happened in Virginia Tech is more horrifying to most people than what happens in Iraq, Rwanda, etc. not because we value young white southern lives more than young brown African lives but for the different--yet somewhat related--reason that Choi's act appears to be a horrible, arbitrary violation of the social contract. In America, we live under the belief that we have tamed killing for the sheer pleasure of killing and we are confident that no one will run us over in the crosswalk because it amuses them to do so, and we fear what would happen if those internal checks disappeared on a mass scale. By contrast, we believe that the Iraqi and Rwandan factions have no social fabric to tear, that life is cheap over there and that the victims of these atrocities would happily be on the power end of the bomb or machete if given half a chance. It's the same view that inspires the "fine, let them all kill each other" sentiment regarding American gang violence. __________________ Live now-pay later. Diner's Club!
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