Monday, April 23, 2007

Emmanuel Fires Teacher for No Good Reason

Unacceptable behavior by Emmanuel College as teacher Mr. Winset is fired for discussing Va. Tech shootings with his class (story). This extremist behavior is to the detriment of us all. Like the little kid who covers his eyes and thinks you don't exist. If we ignore him, maybe he'll just go away. My own school said it is reviewing its security policy in light of the shootings. I felt a depth of loss that they would respond so unthinkingly with knee-jerk platitudes and a lack of real open intellectual debate. My school often embarrasses me that way. America needs to face the real issues. It's not campus security. It's not limiting people's rights because they write dark stories (more about that later). Agav, Joyce, Marquez, Poe, and Hitchcock would all have been to the slammer. We would be an empty, Fascist regime.

First, the incidence of such violence is low. This was the biggest mass killing in America since 9/11. By comparison, Iraq saw 3 mass killings bigger in the last three weeks alone. Second, there are some freaks in every society. As long as we take social steps to discourage a mindset where this behavior seems appropriate, we are ok. We do not need to lock people up. Just need to build a peaceful society. As for the freaks who will always want to kill, we need to make sure they don't have access to the weapons.

2 comments:

Ferran Porta said...

It is just terrible how the dead are "worth" differently depending on the country. Something terrible like the VA Tech, 9/11/01, 3/11/04 (Madrid) or others, happening in the US or Europe, seem to be the end of the world. But when things like this happen in Iraq, Africa or so many other places, then we just take it as something "unavoidable"!
Interesting article at The Economist.
PS: Let me know if you prefer me not leaving any comments.

Teddy Douglas said...

Good point. Part of the response is that loss of American lives are closer to home and more frightening, but you have a point. There is this feeling that American life is worth more.

Your comments are always welcome.