Sympathy for the Devil

April 17th, 2007Blog0 comments

Regarding the Virginia Tech shootings — I grieve for the victims. It’s immensely sad and unfair. I read that of the three professors that died, one was a Holocaust survivor: Professor Liviu Librescu. He died trying to save his students.

It’s interesting that various factions are trying to ride this one out to further their own agendas. Gun control or less gun control, etc., etc.. One thing that really bugs me is the attempt to humanize the shooter by calling him a confused kid, a loner, what have you like he’s Holden Caulfield.

I do see that it is natural to try to understand him and pick apart his motives. But I think that the moment a person kills an innocent he trades in his humanity. It is selfish in a way that is exponentially greater than a suicide — to deprive another person of their choices and their future, and their family of a loved one. This guy wasn’t a confused kid — he was an adult making an ugly, senseless choice. In that split second he transmogrified into a monster. And unless there were voices in his head telling him to kill, he deserves all the blame he gets. Fuck this guy.

And another thing — I read his plays and he was a shitty writer.